What Time Zone Is Texas In?

Most of Texas is on Central Time. El Paso and Hudspeth counties, at the far western tip of the state, are on Mountain Time, one hour behind. All of Texas uses daylight saving time.

• Central Time
  10:39 AM
  CDT · UTC−05:00
  Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin
• Mountain Time
  9:39 AM
  MDT · UTC−06:00
  El Paso, Hudspeth County

Where the Central–Mountain line is

The line follows county borders. El Paso County and Hudspeth County, which sit along the Rio Grande next to New Mexico and Mexico, keep Mountain Time. Everything east of them is officially Central Time, including Big Bend National Park and the Permian Basin cities of Midland and Odessa.

There is one local exception. The northwest corner of Culberson County, around Guadalupe Mountains National Park, keeps Mountain Time in practice. The National Park Service puts it this way: the park "is in Mountain Time – barely," and the boundary is a few miles south of it.

Why your phone may show the wrong time near El Paso or the Guadalupes

Phones usually set their clocks from the cell network. According to the park service, most cell towers near Guadalupe Mountains are just south and east of the park, in the Central zone. Phones and smartwatches in the park therefore often show Central Time, flip between the two, or disagree with each other within the same group. Go by the park's posted Mountain Time for ranger programs and closing hours.

On I-10 the line is at the Culberson–Hudspeth county line, between Van Horn and Sierra Blanca. Westbound drivers set their clocks back an hour there.

Time zone of major Texas cities

Daylight saving time in Texas

Texas follows the federal schedule everywhere, El Paso included. Central Time is CST (UTC−6) in winter and CDT (UTC−5) in summer. Mountain Time is MST (UTC−7) and MDT (UTC−6). The next changes are:

• Sunday, November 1, 2026, 2:00 AM: clocks go back 1 hour.
• Sunday, March 14, 2027, 2:00 AM: clocks go forward 1 hour.

Each part of the state changes at its own 2:00 a.m., so El Paso changes one hour after Houston.

Texas compared with other zones

• Houston is 1 hour behind New York.
• Houston is 2 hours ahead of Los Angeles.
• El Paso is 1 hour ahead of Phoenix right now. Arizona does not change its clocks, so the two match in winter and differ by an hour in summer.

When the Panhandle was on Mountain Time

Texas has not always split where it does now. From 1919 to 1921 the Panhandle and South Plains were placed in the Mountain zone, with the line pushed east to roughly the 100th meridian. Local business groups objected, and the region was moved back to Central Time in 1921. Since then only the far western counties have kept Mountain Time.

Other state guides

Arizona · California · Florida · Michigan · Tennessee · All 50 states

Not sure which zone your device is on? Check your own time zone.

Sources

• National Park Service — What time is it? (Guadalupe Mountains National Park)
• Wikipedia — Time in Texas
• 49 CFR Part 71 — Standard time zone boundaries
• 15 U.S.C. § 260a — Advancement of time (daylight saving period)

Last checked October 21, 2026.