Tucson, United States · UTC-7
Convert time from Tucson
Tucson is in the America/Phoenix timezone (MST/UTC-7), with no daylight saving time observed. Tucson is a desert city in southern Arizona at about 800 meters elevation, ringed by five mountain ranges. It has held the same time since Arizona made a definitive decision in 1968 to opt out of daylight saving time, citing the desert heat: why would you want an extra hour of afternoon sun in a place where summer temperatures exceed 40°C?
The practical result is that Tucson runs on Mountain Standard Time, UTC-7, year-round. In the summer months, when most of the United States shifts to daylight saving, Tucson is on the same clock as California (Pacific Daylight Time). In winter, it’s on Mountain time. The city does not move its clocks; the relative position of its neighbors does.
Within Arizona, the Navajo Nation is an exception. The Navajo reservation, which extends into Utah and New Mexico, does observe DST, meaning parts of the state within the Navajo lands switch while the rest of Arizona does not.
desert astronomy and the Navajo exception
Tucson’s saguaro cactus forests and the University of Arizona’s astronomy facilities give it a particular interest in solar cycles. The saguaro blooms between late April and June, timed to desert heat rather than civil dates. The observatories at Kitt Peak, southwest of the city, operate on precise astronomical time.
9am in Tucson is 4pm in London. Phoenix shares the permanent UTC-7 clock.
Sources
Read more about time in United States →Same time as Tucson
Compare Tucson with
Questions about time in Tucson
- What timezone is Tucson in?
- Tucson uses the IANA timezone
America/Phoenix. The UTC offset is always UTC-7 — this timezone does not observe daylight saving time. - Does Tucson observe daylight saving time?
- No. Tucson does not observe daylight saving time. The UTC offset remains UTC-7 all year round.
- What is the current UTC offset for Tucson?
- Tucson is currently at UTC-7.
- What is the time difference between Tucson and New York?
- Tucson is currently 3 hours behind New York.
- What is the time difference between Tucson and London?
- Tucson is currently 8 hours behind London.
- What is the time difference between Tucson and Tokyo?
- Tucson is currently 16 hours behind Tokyo.
- What is the IANA timezone name for Tucson?
- The IANA timezone database identifier for Tucson is
America/Phoenix. Use this string in programming languages and APIs: JavaScript (`new Intl.DateTimeFormat('en-US', { timeZone: 'America/Phoenix' })`), Python (`pytz.timezone('America/Phoenix')`), or any IANA-compatible library.