What is the time zone of Texas?
The state of Texas is divided into two time zones. It is almost fully located in the Central Time zone and observing daylight savings so there are two different clocks depending on the time of year. This includes large cities of Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Austin.
- Central Standard Time (CST): – 6:00 UTC/GMT (behind)
- Central Daylight Time (CDT): – 5:00 UTC/GMT (behind)
Only two counties in the western part of Texas are in the Mountain Time zone and also observing daylight savings so there are two different clocks depending on the time of year. El Paso is the largest city in this area.
- Mountain Standard Time (MST): – 7:00 UTC/GMT (behind)
- Mountain Daylight Time (MDT): – 6:00 UTC/GMT (behind)
| Central Time |
| Mountain Time |
The vast majority of the neighbouring states are in the same zone (Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico and Nebraska). But you will be entering the Central Time zone when you cross the northern and southern border with Kansas or the border with Oklahoma.
Zone boundary
The Texas boundary line between the two time zones run along the western border of the Culberson county. Only the counties of Hudspeth and El Paso are observing Mountain time.
The official border is defined in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) §71.7. (e):
Daylight savings time (DST)
Texas is using daylight savings as also documented in the Uniform Time Act of 1966. During daylight savings the time changes from Standard time to Daylight time, so CST becomes CDT and MST becomes MDT depending on the location.
It starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. In March the clock is moved forward from 02.00 am to 03.00 am (so you will lose an hour of sleep during the night). While in November it’s reversed as the clock is moved backward from 03.00 am to 02.00 am and you will gain an extra hour of sleep. One way of remembering the movement sequence is that clocks “spring forward and fall back”.
The total period of daylight savings lasts for 34 weeks which is about 65% of the year.
Texas time news, bills and legislation
There is a continuous debate about which time should be applied. Several bills have been introduced to legalize daylight saving time as the year-round clock, whereas others try to align the time with bordering counties or states. The table below gives an overview of the latest bills in the state of Texas.
| Date | Bill | Status/Action | Title/summary |
| 29 Sep 2021 | HB123 | Filed | Relating to observing standard time year-round or observing daylight saving time year-round based on the results of a statewide referendum. |
| 29 Sep 2021 | HJR17 | Filed | Proposing a constitutional amendment relating to observing standard time year-round or observing daylight saving time year-round based on the results of a statewide referendum. |
| 6 Aug 2021 | HJR3 | Filed | Proposing a constitutional amendment requiring this state to observe daylight saving time year-round. |
| 7 Jul 2021 | HB73 | Filed | Relating to daylight saving time. |
| 26 Mar 2021 | SJR68 | To Senate State Affairs Committee | Proposing a constitutional amendment exempting this state from daylight saving time. |
| 11 Mar 2021 | HJR94 | To Senate State Affairs Committee | Proposing a constitutional amendment requiring this state to observe daylight saving time year-round. |
| 11 Mar 2021 | HJR78 | To Senate State Affairs Committee | Proposing a constitutional amendment authorizing a statewide referendum allowing voters to indicate a preference for observing standard time year-round or observing daylight saving time year-round. |
| 11 Mar 2021 | HB1896 | To Senate State Affairs Committee | Relating to daylight saving time. |
| 9 Mar 2021 | SB471 | To Senate State Affairs Committee | Relating to authorizing a statewide referendum allowing voters to indicate a preference for observing standard time year-round or observing daylight saving time year-round. |
| 9 Mar 2021 | SJR30 | To Senate State Affairs Committee | Proposing a constitutional amendment authorizing a statewide referendum allowing voters to indicate a preference for observing standard time year-round or observing daylight saving time year-round. |
| 5 Mar 2021 | HB1405 | To House State Affairs Committee | Relating to authorizing a statewide referendum allowing voters to indicate a preference for observing standard time year-round or observing daylight saving time year-round. |
| 3 Mar 2021 | SJR13 | To Senate State Affairs Committee | Proposing a constitutional amendment abolishing daylight saving time in Texas. |
Other US states
You can check out information and maps of other US states by clicking on the below links.
| Alaskan Time | Pacific Time | Mountain Time | Central Time | Eastern Time |
| Alaska (AK) * | California (CA) | Arizona (AZ) | Alabama (AL) | Connecticut (CT) |
| Idaho (ID) * | Colorado (CO) | Arkansas (AR) | Delaware (DE) | |
| Hawaiian Time | Nevada (NV) | Idaho (ID) * | Florida (FL) * | Florida (FL) * |
| Hawaii (HI) | Oregon (OR) * | Kansas (KS) * | Illinois (IL) | Georgia (GA) |
| Alaska (AK) * | Washington (WA) | Montana (MT) | Indiana (IN) * | Indiana (IN) * |
| Nebraska (NE) * | Iowa (IA) | Kentucky (KY) * | ||
| New Mexico (NM) | Kansas (KS) * | Maine (ME) | ||
| North Dakota (ND) * | Kentucky (KY) * | Maryland (MD) | ||
| Oregon (OR) * | Louisiana (LA) | Massachusetts (MA) | ||
| South Dakota (SD) * | Michigan (MI) * | Michigan (MI) * | ||
| Texas (TX) * | Minnesota (MN) | New Hampshire (NH) | ||
| Utah (UT) | Mississippi (MS) | New Jersey (NJ) | ||
| Wyoming (WY) | Missouri (MO) | New York (NY) | ||
| Nebraska (NE) * | North Carolina (NC) | |||
| North Dakota (ND) * | Ohio (OH) | |||
| Oklahoma (OK) | Pennsylvania (PA) | |||
| South Dakota (SD) * | Rhode Island (RI) | |||
| Tennessee (TN) * | South Carolina (SC) | |||
| Texas (TX) * | Tennessee (TN) * | |||
| Wisconsin (WI) | Vermont (VT) | |||
| Virginia (VA) | ||||
| West Virginia (WV) | ||||
| * = multiple time zones |
