Daylight Saving Time in Mexico

* The Mexico Senate approved a law to end the use of daylight saving time in most of Mexico. Mexico did not resume the usage of daylight saving time as in April of 2023. Instead the country remained on standard time year round. The ten Mexico municipalities which share a border with the United States 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.

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 and abbreviations frequently used to indicate the current local time in each time zone change along with Daylight Saving Time. Central Standard Time (CST) becomes Central Daylight Time (CDT), and so forth. The states of Sonora and Quintana Roo do not observe Daylight Saving Time.

Mexico Daylight Saving Time Start and End Dates

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. The municipalities which are now permitted by law to observe daylight saving time consistent with the United States are:

City, State
Acuna, Coahuila
Anahuac, Nuevo Leon
Juarez, Chihuahua* See note below
Matamoros, Tamaulipas
Mexicali, Baja California
Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas
Ojinaga, Chihuahua* See note below
Piedras Negras, Coahuila
Reynosa, Tamaulipas
Tijuana, Baja California

Important Note: Chihuahua has announced that effective 10/30/2022 the state will observe GMT/UTC - 6h year round. It is not yet clear if the cities of Juarez and Ojinaga will continue to observe daylight saving time consistent with the United States.

This change in daylight saving time observance was requested by local governments and political leaders to help facilitate commerce with the United States. Industries such as transportation and banking were especially affected by the differences in daylight saving time. In some cases businesses had to to open an hour early than usual to conduct business with US companies during the 3 weeks in March when the two countries were on different times.

Since 2010 other smaller municipalities and towns near the border with the United States have begun to unofficially observing daylight saving time consistent with the United States . The chart below indicates municipalities that are officially and unofficially observing daylight saving time consistent with the United States.

The observation of daylight saving time for municipalities observing daylight saving time consistent with the United States begins at 2:00 a.m. local time on the second Sunday in March. On the first Sunday in November these areas will return to Standard Time at 2:00 a.m. local time.

Mexico Border Towns - Current Times