Local time · Rapid City
What time is it in Rapid City, South Dakota?
2:51:28AM
- Time zone
- MST
- America/Denver
- UTC offset
- −7:00
- Standard is −7:00
- Daylight saving
- Not in force
- Starts Sun, Mar 14
- Population
- 79,894
- City proper
Around the world
About this clock
Rapid City does not keep South Dakota's usual time
Most of South Dakota is on Central Standard Time, but Rapid City keeps Mountain Standard Time — 1 hour behind the rest of the state. This is the kind of thing that catches people out, and it is why the zone is resolved from the city’s own coordinates rather than assumed from the state.
Rapid City is currently on standard time. The next change is Sunday, March 14, 2027, when 2:00 am becomes 3:00 am local time.
Rapid City sits at 44.07°N, 103.22°W. For sunrise and sunset there — which do depend on exactly where it is, unlike the clock — see sunrise and sunset in Rapid City.
Clock time against sun time
The clock says the same thing everywhere in Mountain Standard Time, but the sun does not. Over Rapid City it is highest at 11:37 am today — 23 minutes before clock noon.
At 103.2°W, Rapid City sits almost exactly on Mountain Standard Time’s 105° meridian, so on standard time the clock and the sun agree to within a few minutes.
Daylight in Rapid City today
- Sunrise
- 6:45 am
- Sunset
- 4:28 pm
- Day length
- 9 hours 43 minutes
- Longest day
- 15 hours 30 minutes
Today runs 9 hours 43 minutes in Rapid City, and the day is getting shorter by 2 minutes a day. Across the year it swings 6 hours 37 minutes, from 15 hours 30 minutes at the June solstice down to 8 hours 53 minutes in December.
At 44.1°N that puts Rapid City between Kailua at 2 hours 22 minutes and Fairbanks at 18 hours 9 minutes.