Time Zones| Zone areas | Time now | January 2026 | July 2026 | Largest cities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rio Branco, Eirunepe | --:-- | UTC−5 | UTC−5 | Rio Branco, Cruzeiro do Sul, Sena Madureira, Tarauacá |
| Manaus, Campo Grande, Cuiaba, Porto Velho, Boa Vista | --:-- | UTC−4 | UTC−4 | Manaus, Itacoatiara, Manacapuru, Parintins |
| Sao Paulo, Bahia, Fortaleza, Recife, Belem, Maceio and 2 more | --:-- | UTC−3 | UTC−3 | São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Brasília |
| Noronha | --:-- | UTC−2 | UTC−2 | no large city |
How many times does Brazil have?
The IANA database lists 16 separate zone areas for Brazil. Grouped by the time they actually show through 2026, that makes 4 different clocks, listed above. The offsets in use run from UTC−5 to UTC−2 in January.
None of them changes its clocks during the year.
Planning across the country
When you fix a call or a broadcast for people in several parts of Brazil, give the time with its zone, or use the converter to show every zone at once.
Where most people are
Measured by the people living in towns of 15,000 or more (GeoNames figures), the busiest clock in Brazil is the one kept in São Paulo, UTC−3 in January: about 177 million people, or 93% of the total across all the zone areas. Next comes the clock of Manaus (UTC−4) with about 11 million. At the other end, 1 of the 4 clocks covers less than 1% of those people.
A worked example
When it is 9:00 am in São Paulo in January, it is 7:00 am in Rio Branco, 8:00 am in Manaus, 10:00 am in Noronha.
The widest gap inside the country
The two clocks that are farthest apart differ by 3 hours in January, and by the same amount in July. On the map, the main cities run from Benjamin Constant at about 70° west to Recife at about 34.9° west. By the sun alone those two are about 2 hours 21 minutes apart.
The sun across Brazil
Clocks are set by law, but the sun keeps its own time. In Benjamin Constant, the most westerly of the main cities (about 70° west), the sun is highest at about 11:40 am by the clock in January. In Recife, the most easterly (about 34.9° west), it is highest at about 11:20 am. The closer that figure is to 12:00, the better the clock fits the daylight in that city. From north to south the length of the day differs too: around 21 June the sun is up for about 12 hours 17 minutes in Boa Vista and about 10 hours 41 minutes in São Paulo.
Brazil and the rest of the world
When it is 12:00 noon in São Paulo, it is 8:30 pm in India; 3:00 pm in London in January and 4:00 pm in July; 10:00 am in New York in January and 11:00 am in July. Other parts of Brazil are earlier or later than that by the amounts in the table at the top of this page.