Mexico City, Mexico · UTC-6
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Mexico City is the capital of Mexico and one of the western hemisphere’s largest cities, home to over 20 million people in the metropolitan area. In 2022, the Mexican Senate voted to eliminate daylight saving time for most of the country. Mexico City has run on Central Standard Time, UTC-6, year-round since then.
The DST abolition was not controversial. Surveys showed most Mexicans disliked the biannual clock change, and the energy savings arguments that originally motivated DST adoption in 1996 had been questioned by subsequent studies. The fixed UTC-6 simplifies scheduling across the country.
At 19 degrees north latitude, Mexico City’s day length shifts modestly: about 11 hours in December, 13 hours in June. The altitude (2,240 meters) makes the climate more temperate than the latitude suggests. The city runs on a schedule that includes extended lunch breaks and late dinners, though more moderate than Spain’s solar-displaced schedule.
ancient calendars beneath a modern capital
The Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, which preceded Mexico City, had its own sophisticated timekeeping system. The Aztec calendar combined a 365-day solar year with a 260-day ritual calendar cycle that meshed in 52-year periods. The Spanish conquest imposed European time on a city that already had elaborate temporal infrastructure.
9am in Mexico City is 3pm in London during European winter.
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Questions about time in Mexico City
- What timezone is Mexico City in?
- Mexico City uses the IANA timezone
America/Mexico_City. The UTC offset is always UTC-6 — this timezone does not observe daylight saving time. - Does Mexico City observe daylight saving time?
- No. Mexico City does not observe daylight saving time. The UTC offset remains UTC-6 all year round.
- What is the current UTC offset for Mexico City?
- Mexico City is currently at UTC-6.
- What is the time difference between Mexico City and New York?
- Mexico City is currently 2 hours behind New York.
- What is the time difference between Mexico City and London?
- Mexico City is currently 7 hours behind London.
- What is the time difference between Mexico City and Los Angeles?
- Mexico City is currently 1 hour ahead of Los Angeles.
- What is the time difference between Mexico City and Tokyo?
- Mexico City is currently 15 hours behind Tokyo.
- What is the IANA timezone name for Mexico City?
- The IANA timezone database identifier for Mexico City is
America/Mexico_City. Use this string in programming languages and APIs: JavaScript (`new Intl.DateTimeFormat('en-US', { timeZone: 'America/Mexico_City' })`), Python (`pytz.timezone('America/Mexico_City')`), or any IANA-compatible library.