Mexico and US Time Difference: Mexico City, Cancún and the Border

Last updated November 4, 2026 · Written by Han with AI assistance, fact-checked against official sources.

Mexico gives three answers to one question. Most of the country keeps one clock all year, Cancún keeps another, and the towns along the US border change their clocks with the Americans.

Compare New York and Mexico City on a date of your choice in the Meeting Planner.

Which Mexican clock matches which US city

The table is calculated from the time zone database for 2026. January shows US standard time and July shows US daylight saving time. Places marked "no" keep one offset all year, so the US side is the one that moves.

Four rows keep the same US partner all year: Tijuana with Los Angeles, Ciudad Juárez with Denver, the Tamaulipas and Coahuila border with Chicago, and Sonora and Sinaloa with Phoenix. Mexico City and Cancún switch partners with the season.

Mexico City against every US time zone

Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey share Central Mexico time. This table puts that clock against seven US cities.

Office hours line up well. New York and Mexico City share 7 hours of a 9-to-5 day in winter and 6 in summer, and Chicago shares the full 8 hours in winter. Even Honolulu, 4 hours behind, gets half a working day.

The two dates the gap changes

US daylight saving time starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. On those dates the gap from the US to Mexico City and Cancún moves by one hour, and nothing changes there. Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez and the Tamaulipas border move on the same night as the US, so their gap stays the same. 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 9 a.m. in Mexico City in winter and 8 a.m. in summer. If the team in Mexico starts at 9, decide which city owns the meeting time and name it in the invite. The guide to recurring meetings and clock changes shows how calendar apps handle this.

Why most of Mexico stopped changing its clocks

Mexico used summer time from 1996 to 2022. The Time Zones Law, published in the Diario Oficial on October 28, 2022, set four zones and kept a seasonal clock only on the northern border. Central Mexico fell back for the last time on Sunday, October 30, 2022, and has stayed on UTC−6 since.

The law names the four zones by meridian. The Southeast zone, at 75 degrees west, is Quintana Roo. The Central zone, at 90 degrees, covers most of the country. The Pacific zone, at 105 degrees, covers Baja California Sur, Nayarit except Bahía de Banderas, Sinaloa and Sonora. The Northwest zone, at 120 degrees, is Baja California.

The border towns that follow the US

Article 5 of the law lists the places that still change their clocks, from 2 a.m. on the second Sunday in March to 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in November, the same rule as the US:

• Baja California, including Tijuana and Mexicali, on Pacific time with San Diego.
• Ciudad Juárez and four other Chihuahua border towns on Mountain time with El Paso. A reform published on November 29, 2022 added them. The time zone database shows Juárez going back one hour at the end of November 2022, a month after the rest of the country.
• Ojinaga and two neighbors in Chihuahua, plus Matamoros, Reynosa, Nuevo Laredo, Piedras Negras and the other listed towns in Tamaulipas, Nuevo León and Coahuila, on Central time with Texas.

The rest of Chihuahua, including the city of Chihuahua, moved to Central Mexico time with the 2022 law. Sonora has kept UTC−7 without summer time since 1999, which is why Hermosillo and Phoenix share a clock all year.

Cancún sits one hour east

Quintana Roo moved its clock forward one hour on February 1, 2015, according to the time zone database, and has stayed on UTC−5 since. That puts Cancún, Tulum and Playa del Carmen one hour ahead of Mexico City all year. A flight from Mexico City to Cancún gains an hour on the clock, and a tour booked "at 8" in Cancún is 7 a.m. in Mexico City.

For US travelers, Cancún matches New York from November to March. From March to November it is one hour behind New York and the same as Chicago. Check hotel check-in, tour pickups and return flights against Cancún time, not the time on a laptop still set to home.

Quick checks before you book

• Name the city, not the country. "Mexico time" can mean UTC−5, −6, −7 or −8.
• Check the weeks after the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November. A call fixed in US time moves for Mexico City and Cancún.
• CST is ambiguous in invites. Central Mexico now keeps CST all year, while Chicago switches to CDT in summer. Write "Mexico City time" or "UTC−6", or see CST (Central).

Open the Meeting Planner to test a time, or see the city pages for Mexico City, Cancún, Tijuana, Chicago and Los Angeles. The Canada and Latin America time zones guide covers the rest of the Americas, and Arizona Time Zone explains the other no-DST clock next door.