Mexico Time Zones

How many time zones does Mexico have?

Mexico has four official time zones, from west to east: Northwest, Pacific, Central, and Southeast. Most of the country sits on Central Time (UTC−06:00 year-round). This page shows four live cards for those zones, with example cities Tijuana, Hermosillo, Mexico City, and Cancún.

Since a 2022 federal reform, most of Mexico does not observe Daylight Saving Time. The main exceptions are Baja California (statewide) and certain northern border municipalities, which continue to observe daylight saving time so they stay aligned with neighboring U.S. states.

What do Mexico’s time zones cover?

Below are the four zones on our map, with their usual UTC offsets and the IANA identifiers used by the clocks on this page.

Northwest Zone (IANA ID: America/Tijuana)

Standard: UTC−08:00 (PST) | Daylight: UTC−07:00 (PDT).
Covers the state of Baja California. It follows the same Pacific Time DST schedule as California, so Tijuana matches San Diego and Los Angeles year-round. Example city on this page: Tijuana.

Pacific Zone (IANA ID: America/Hermosillo)

UTC−07:00 year-round (no DST on this card).
The Pacific Zone covers Sonora, Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, and most of Nayarit (Bahía de Banderas municipality is Central, so it stays aligned with Puerto Vallarta). This page uses Hermosillo (America/Hermosillo) as the example—Sonora stays on permanent UTC−07:00, numerically equal to Arizona Mountain Standard Time year-round. Other Pacific Zone places are commonly represented in IANA as America/Mazatlan; since 2022 they also stay on UTC−07:00 year-round.

Central Zone (IANA ID: America/Mexico_City)

UTC−06:00 year-round for most of the zone (no DST since 30 October 2022).
Covers most of Mexico, including Mexico City and the bulk of the mainland. A few northern border municipalities still observe DST to match neighboring U.S. zones—for example Ciudad Juárez (America/Ciudad_Juarez) tracks U.S. Mountain Time with El Paso, rather than staying on Mexico City’s fixed Central offset. Example city on this page: Mexico City.

Southeast Zone (IANA ID: America/Cancun)

UTC−05:00 year-round (no DST).
Covers Quintana Roo, including Cancún, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum—one hour ahead of Mexico City. Example city on this page: Cancún.

The map near the top of this page is a static color-coded image of Mexico’s time zones. It is not an interactive or region-by-region boundary tool.

How does Daylight Saving Time work in Mexico?

For most of Mexico—including Mexico City, Hermosillo, and Cancún—clocks do not change with the seasons.

Where DST still applies (Baja California and certain municipalities in Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas), clocks follow the common North American dates used in much of the United States:

• Spring forward: second Sunday in March, at 2:00 a.m. local standard time (clocks jump to 3:00 a.m.).
• Fall back: first Sunday in November, at 2:00 a.m. local daylight time (clocks go back to 1:00 a.m.).

On this page, the Northwest card (Tijuana) changes with DST. The Pacific, Central, and Southeast cards stay on fixed offsets year-round. Border cities such as Ciudad Juárez also change clocks even though they are not shown as a separate card here.

What is the time difference across Mexico?

Relative to Mexico City (Central Zone, UTC−06:00 year-round on this page), the usual gaps are:

• Tijuana (Northwest): 2 hours behind in U.S. winter (PST); 1 hour behind in U.S. summer (PDT). Tijuana still matches California in both seasons.
• Hermosillo (Pacific): 1 hour behind year-round.
• Cancún (Southeast): 1 hour ahead year-round.

Across the border, Baja California tracks U.S. Pacific DST while most of Mexico does not, and Sonora stays on permanent UTC−07:00 (equal to Arizona MST) year-round. Use Mexico ↔ United States above to line up Los Angeles, Phoenix, Chicago, and New York next to Mexican zones (the board converts against Mexico City). You can also convert Pacific vs Arizona-style Mountain times on Arizona time (MST), read why Arizona ignores DST, open the U.S. time zone page, or plan several cities in the World Meeting Planner.

Who sets Mexico’s time zones?

Mexico’s legal time zones are set by federal law (the Law on Time Zones in the United Mexican States / Ley de los Husos Horarios), not by each state inventing its own clock. Congress defines the zone map and whether Daylight Saving Time applies.

That is why the 2022 reform could drop DST for most of the country in one step, while still allowing Baja California and certain northern border municipalities to keep the U.S. schedule for cross-border work, travel, and trade.

A brief history of Mexico’s time zones

Mexico long used a nationwide Daylight Saving Time schedule (with Sonora as a long-standing year-round exception, aligned with Arizona). Baja California has followed a Pacific-style DST pattern for decades so Tijuana stays in sync with California.

On 30 October 2022, federal law abolished DST for most of the country after the final seasonal clock change that day. Baja California kept statewide DST, and certain northern border municipalities kept the U.S. clock-change dates so border cities would not drift an hour apart from their U.S. neighbors.

Where does this page get its time data?

The clocks and zone labels on this page follow the IANA Time Zone Database. Tijuana (America/Tijuana) changes with Daylight Saving Time; Hermosillo, Mexico City, and Cancún stay on fixed standard offsets on these cards. For a broader overview of Mexican time zones, see Time in Mexico (opens in new tab). For the U.S. side of the border, see our U.S. time zone page.

• Most of Mexico (excluding the Northwest Zone / Baja California): fixed UTC−6 (Central), UTC−7 (Pacific), UTC−5 (Southeast) since 30 October 2022.
• Baja California: tracks U.S. Pacific DST and matches California; gap vs Mexico City varies with the U.S. season.
• Cancún (UTC−5): matches U.S. EST in winter, one hour behind EDT in summer.