Disclosed herein is a liquid crystal display capable of reducing a side effect during local LED dimming to reduce power consumption and improve display quality. The liquid crystal display includes a liquid crystal panel having a plurality of liquid crystal cells formed respectively in a plurality of pixel areas defined by intersections of a plurality of gate lines and a plurality of data lines, a data driver for supplying data voltages to the data lines, a gate driver for supplying scan signals to the gate lines, a timing controller for controlling the data driver and gate driver and outputting a plurality of dimming signals based on an average picture level (APL) detected based on video data supplied to the liquid crystal panel, and a light emitting diode (LED) backlight unit for partitioning the liquid crystal panel into a plurality of areas and supplying appropriate pulse width modulation (PWM) control signals based on the dimming signals to a plurality of LED arrays installed to correspond respectively to the partitioned areas, to supply light to the liquid crystal panel.