MEXICO TIME ZONES

Mexico uses four time zones. Most of the country uses Central Standard which is officially named Zona Centro or Central Zone. The Mexico state of Quintana Roo uses Eastern Standard Time officially named Zona Sureste or Southeast Zone.

The states of Nayarit, Sonora, Sinaloa and Baja California Sur use Mountain Standard Time officially named Zona Pacifico or Pacific Zone and Baja California Norte uses Pacific Standard Time officially named Zona Noroeste or Northwest Zone.

All island territories including reefs and keys observe the time zone based upon the longitude of their location.

Previously Mexico used three time zones. Effective February 1, 2015 at 2:00 am local time the state of Quintana Roo advanced clocks forward by one hour and now observe the newly created time zone named Zona Sureste or Eastern Standard Time.

* The Mexico Senate has approved a law to end the use of daylight saving time in most of Mexico. Mexico will not resume the usage of daylight saving time as previously planned in April of 2023. Instead the country will remain on standard time year round. The ten Mexico municipalities which share a border with the United States will continue to observe a daylight light saving time pattern consistent with the United States. Also Chihuahua has announced that effective 10/30/2022 the state will observe GMT/UTC - 6h year round with the exception of Chihuahua municipalities which share a border with the United States will continue to observe a daylight light saving time pattern consistent with the United States.

Previous to the law ending the use of daylight saving time in 2023 most of Mexico began daylight saving time at 2:00 a.m. local time on the first Sunday in April. On the last Sunday in October areas on Daylight Saving Time fell back to Standard Time at 2:00 a.m. The names in each time zone changed along with Daylight Saving Time. Central Standard Time (CST) became Central Daylight Time (CDT), and so forth. The states of Sonora and Quintana Roo do not observe Daylight Saving Time.

In 2010 ten Mexico municipalities which share a border with the United States began a pattern of starting daylight saving time three weeks earlier on the second Sunday in March and ending on the first Sunday in November. Previously all of Mexico, with the exception of the state of Sonora which does not observe daylight saving time, began and ended daylight saving time at the same time. The Congress of Mexico passed legislation in December 2009 which allowed these ten border cities to adopt a daylight saving time pattern consistent with the United States. Read more.

Mexico Time Zone Map

Some border areas observe an extended daylight saving time schedule