Texas Time Zone Map
Central Time; El Paso and Hudspeth counties are Mountain.
Time zones in Texas
| Zone | IANA | Standard | Daylight | Abbr |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Time | America/Chicago | UTC−6 | UTC−5 | CST / CDT |
| Mountain Time | America/Denver | UTC−7 | UTC−6 | MST / MDT |
Texas is on Central Time except its two westernmost counties, El Paso and Hudspeth, which are on Mountain Time. El Paso therefore shares a clock with Las Cruces and Albuquerque in New Mexico rather than with Dallas or Houston. Driving east on I-10, the clock moves forward an hour where Hudspeth County meets Culberson County.
Frequently asked questions
What time zone is Texas in?
Central Time (CST/CDT) for almost the whole state, including Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio. El Paso and Hudspeth counties are on Mountain Time.
Why is El Paso on Mountain Time?
El Paso lies far west, next to New Mexico, and its daily life is tied to Las Cruces and Ciudad Juárez, so it keeps Mountain Time (MST/MDT, UTC−7/−6) — one hour behind the rest of Texas.
Does Texas observe daylight saving time?
Yes. Both the Central and Mountain parts of Texas move forward on the second Sunday of March and back on the first Sunday of November.
Sources: zone boundaries from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s time zone regulations (49 CFR Part 71); offsets and daylight saving rules from the IANA time zone database. See Data Sources for how this site uses them.