Brazil and US Time Difference: São Paulo and Every US Zone

Last updated November 9, 2026 · Written by Han with AI assistance, fact-checked against official sources.

Brazil stopped changing its clocks in 2019, so the gap to the US now moves only on the two US change dates. Older answers that say "3 hours" describe the summers before that.

Compare New York and São Paulo on a date of your choice in the Meeting Planner.

São Paulo against every US time zone

The table is calculated from the time zone database for 2026. January shows US standard time and July shows US daylight saving time. Phoenix and Honolulu never change, and neither does Brazil, so those two gaps stay fixed.

The East Coast shares most of a working day with Brazil: 6 hours in winter and 7 in summer. From Los Angeles a São Paulo office closes at noon or 1 p.m., so West Coast calls belong in the morning.

Brazil's four time zones against New York

Brazil has four zones and none of them changes its clocks. "Brazil time" usually means Brasília time, but a contact in Manaus or Cuiabá is an hour behind São Paulo.

Manaus lines up with New York from March to November, and Rio Branco lines up with New York from November to March. No Brazilian clock keeps the same US partner all year, because Brazil never changes and the US cities it matches do.

Why the gap used to be 3 hours

Until 2019, south and central Brazil moved its clocks forward one hour in the southern summer, from October or November to February. That was the same months the US was on standard time, so the two changes stacked. On November 4, 2018, New York fell back and São Paulo sprang forward on the same night, and the gap went from 1 hour to 3. The table compares the 15th of each month in 2018, the last full year with Brazilian summer time, with 2026.

From March to October nothing changed. The November to February rows dropped from 3 hours to 2. If a converter, an old email signature or a travel book says São Paulo is 3 hours ahead of New York in December, it is using the old rule.

When the gap changes now

US daylight saving time starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. Those two nights change the gap to every Brazilian city by one hour, and nothing happens in Brazil. The next change is on Sunday, March 14, 2027, when US clocks spring forward.

A weekly call fixed at 10 a.m. in New York is at noon in São Paulo in winter and 11 a.m. in summer. If the Brazilian side owns the slot, the New York time moves instead. Name the city that sets the time in the invite; the guide to recurring meetings and clock changes shows what calendar apps do on those weeks.

How Brazil ended summer time

Decree 9,772, dated April 25, 2019 and published in the Diário Oficial on April 26, says in its first article that summer time is ended across the national territory. The 2018 to 2019 season had already finished. The time zone database shows São Paulo clocks going back from midnight to 11 p.m. on Saturday, February 16, 2019, and the next season, due that November, never started.

In the last seasons the change covered the South, the Southeast and the Center-West, including Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. The North and the Northeast kept one clock. So in a December before 2019, Cuiabá was on UTC−3 and Manaus on UTC−4, even though both sit in the same zone today.

Acre's clock moved twice

Acre spent five years an hour closer to the rest of the country. The time zone database shows Rio Branco moving from UTC−5 to UTC−4 in June 2008. Law 12,876 of October 30, 2013 put it back. The law sets a fourth zone at "Greenwich minus five hours" for Acre and the part of Amazonas west of a line from Tabatinga to Porto Acre, and it took effect on the second Sunday of the next month. That was November 10, 2013, when Rio Branco clocks went back from midnight to 11 p.m. on the 9th.

For a US caller, Rio Branco is on the same clock as New York in winter and the same as Chicago in summer. It stays two hours behind São Paulo all year.

Quick checks before you book

• Ask which city. "Brazil time" can mean UTC−2, −3, −4 or −5.
• Check the weeks after the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November. A call fixed in US time moves by an hour in Brazil.
• Write BRT or "Brasília time" for UTC−3. Brazil no longer has a summer code to confuse it with, but US EST and EDT still swap during the year; see EST.

Open the Meeting Planner to test a time, or see the city pages for São Paulo, Manaus, New York and Los Angeles. The Canada and Latin America time zones guide covers Brazil's neighbors, and Mexico and US Time Difference works through another country that stopped changing its clocks.