Time Zones| Zone areas | Time now | January 2026 | July 2026 | Largest cities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tijuana | --:-- | UTC−8 | UTC−7 | Tijuana, Mexicali, Ensenada, Rosarito |
| Ciudad Juarez | --:-- | UTC−7 | UTC−6 | Ciudad Juárez |
| Hermosillo, Mazatlan | --:-- | UTC−7 | UTC−7 | Hermosillo, Ciudad Obregón, Nogales, San Luis Río Colorado |
| Mexico City, Merida, Monterrey, Chihuahua, Bahia Banderas | --:-- | UTC−6 | UTC−6 | Mexico City, Iztapalapa, Puebla, Ecatepec de Morelos |
| Matamoros, Ojinaga | --:-- | UTC−6 | UTC−5 | Reynosa, Heroica Matamoros, Nuevo Laredo, Ciudad Acuña |
| Cancun | --:-- | UTC−5 | UTC−5 | Cancún, Chetumal, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel |
How many times does Mexico have?
The IANA database lists 12 separate zone areas for Mexico. Grouped by the time they actually show through 2026, that makes 6 different clocks, listed above. The offsets in use run from UTC−8 to UTC−5 in January.
4 of the 12 areas change their clocks during the year. Open an area to see its dates.
Planning across the country
When you fix a call or a broadcast for people in several parts of Mexico, 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 Mexico is the one kept in Mexico City, UTC−6 in January: about 75 million people, or 84% of the total across all the zone areas. Next comes the clock of Culiacán (UTC−7) with about 5.2 million.
A worked example
When it is 9:00 am in Mexico City in January, it is 7:00 am in Tijuana, 8:00 am in Culiacán, 8:00 am in Ciudad Juárez, 9:00 am in Reynosa, 10:00 am in Cancún.
A worked example for July
When it is 9:00 am in Mexico City in July, it is 8:00 am in Culiacán, 8:00 am in Tijuana, 9:00 am in Ciudad Juárez, 10:00 am in Reynosa, 10:00 am in Cancún.
The widest gap inside the country
The two clocks that are farthest apart differ by 3 hours in January and by 2 hours in July, because not every part moves its clocks. On the map, the main cities run from Tijuana at about 117° west to Cancún at about 86.8° west. By the sun alone those two are about 2 hours 1 minute apart.
The sun across Mexico
Clocks are set by law, but the sun keeps its own time. In Tijuana, the most westerly of the main cities (about 117° west), the sun is highest at about 11:48 am by the clock in January. In Cancún, the most easterly (about 86.8° west), it is highest at about 12:47 pm. 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 14 hours 17 minutes in Tijuana and about 13 hours 18 minutes in Mexico City.
Mexico and the rest of the world
When it is 12:00 noon in Mexico City, it is 11:30 pm in India; 6:00 pm in London in January and 7:00 pm in July; 1:00 pm in New York in January and 2:00 pm in July. Other parts of Mexico are earlier or later than that by the amounts in the table at the top of this page.
Clock changes in 2026
In Tijuana the dates are: Sunday 8 March 2026: at 2:00 am clocks go forward 1 hour to 3:00 am; Sunday 1 November 2026: at 2:00 am clocks go back 1 hour to 1:00 am. These areas do not move their clocks at all: Bahia Banderas, Cancun, Chihuahua, Hermosillo, Mazatlan, Merida, Mexico City, Monterrey. So the time difference between them and the rest of the country changes twice a year.