Time ZonesAbout this time zone
Cancun is one of the 12 time zone areas of Mexico. Computers and phones know it by the zone name America/Cancun. Its time is UTC−5, which means it is 5 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) all year round. The short name used for this time is EST. Compared with India (IST), it is 10 hours 30 minutes behind India.
Clock changes in 2026 and 2027
Cancun does not change its clocks in 2026 or 2027. The time stays at UTC−5 all year, so there is no daylight saving time to remember.
Time difference with major cities
| When it is 12:00 noon in Cancun, it is | In January 2026 | In July 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| India | 10:30 pm10 hours 30 minutes ahead | 10:30 pm10 hours 30 minutes ahead |
| United Kingdom | 5:00 pm5 hours ahead | 6:00 pm6 hours ahead |
| France | 6:00 pm6 hours ahead | 7:00 pm7 hours ahead |
| New York, United States | 12:00 pmsame time | 1:00 pm1 hour ahead |
| Chicago, United States | 11:00 am1 hour behind | 12:00 pmsame time |
| Los Angeles, United States | 9:00 am3 hours behind | 10:00 am2 hours behind |
| United Arab Emirates | 9:00 pm9 hours ahead | 9:00 pm9 hours ahead |
| Singapore | 1:00 am next day13 hours ahead | 1:00 am next day13 hours ahead |
| Japan | 2:00 am next day14 hours ahead | 2:00 am next day14 hours ahead |
| Sydney, Australia | 4:00 am next day16 hours ahead | 3:00 am next day15 hours ahead |
The table uses the offsets in force in mid January and mid July 2026. Use the converter for any other date.
Clock time and sun time in Cancun
A time zone is an agreement, and the sun does not follow it exactly. Cancún, the largest city in this zone, lies at about 86.8° west. Each degree of longitude is worth four minutes, so by the sun alone its time would be about 5 hours 47 minutes behind UTC. The clock is set to UTC−5. The sun is therefore highest in the sky at about 12:47 pm by the clock, not at 12:00. The clock runs ahead of the sun here, which means later sunrises and lighter evenings than the map alone would give. Other places in the zone, to the east or west of Cancún, see the sun peak a little earlier or later. Through the year the figure also drifts by up to a quarter of an hour either way.
How long the day is
Cancún is about 21.2° north of the equator. On the longest day of the year, around 21 June, the sun is up for about 13 hours 25 minutes. On the shortest, around 21 December, for about 10 hours 51 minutes. The difference between summer and winter is about 2 hours 35 minutes, and the clocks stay the same all year.
Office hours shared with other places
If both sides work from 9 am to 6 pm, these are the hours when a call falls inside the working day at both ends. Times are for Cancun.
- With India, all year: no shared office hour: 9:00 am here is 7:30 pm in India, and 6:00 pm here is 4:30 am there, so one side has to start early or stay late.
- With London, in January: 9:00 am to 1:00 pm here, which is 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm in London (4 hours shared). In July: 9:00 am to 12:00 pm here, which is 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm in London (3 hours shared).
- With New York, in January: 9:00 am to 6:00 pm here, which is 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in New York (9 hours shared). In July: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm here, which is 10:00 am to 6:00 pm in New York (8 hours shared).
How many people keep this time
The GeoNames list has 6 towns and cities of 15,000 people or more in this zone area, with about 1.3 million people between them. People in villages and smaller towns are not in that count, so the true number on this clock is higher.
Cities that keep this time
The largest cities in this zone: Cancún, Chetumal, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Tulum.
Places with exactly the same time
These zones show the same time as Cancun through the whole year: Bogota, Colombia, Cayman, Cayman Islands, Eirunepe, Brazil, Guayaquil, Ecuador, Jamaica, Lima, Peru, Panama, Rio Branco, Brazil.
The clock above uses your device's clock and the time zone rules built into your browser. Rules on this page: IANA time zone database 2026f. See About and data sources.