Current time in El Paso, TX
Mountain Time UTC−7 · IANA zone America/Denver
Time zone details
| Time zone | Mountain Time (MT) |
|---|---|
| Standard time | MST, UTC−7 (early Nov – mid Mar) |
| Daylight time | MDT, UTC−6 (mid Mar – early Nov) |
| DST clock change | Forward 1 h, 2nd Sunday of March · Back 1 h, 1st Sunday of November |
| Sunrise today | — |
| Sunset today | — |
| Day length | — |
| Coordinates | 31.76° N, 106.49° W |
Time difference from El Paso
| City | Local time now |
|---|---|
| New York | +2 h |
| Chicago | +1 h |
| Phoenix | 0 / −1 h |
| Los Angeles | −1 h |
| Anchorage | −2 h |
| Honolulu | −3 / −4 h |
El Paso runs on Mountain Time with Denver and Albuquerque — but an hour behind Dallas, Houston, and the rest of Texas.
About time in El Paso
El Paso, seat of El Paso County at the far western tip of Texas, keeps a different clock from nearly all of its own state: El Paso and neighboring Hudspeth are the only Texas counties officially in the Mountain Time Zone, leaving the city an hour behind Austin, Dallas, and Houston.
Across the Rio Grande, Ciudad Juárez keeps its clocks locked to El Paso's. Mexico's northern border municipalities adopted US daylight saving dates in 2010 and retained the seasonal change even after Mexico abolished DST nationwide in 2022, so the two halves of this binational metro never drift apart.
That shared reading matters daily — bridge crossings, maquiladora shifts, and UTEP schedules all quote a single Mountain Time. At 31.8° N, daylight runs from about 14 hours in late June to about 10 hours in late December.
Frequently asked questions
What time zone is El Paso in?
El Paso is in the Mountain Time Zone (MT) — MST (UTC−7) in winter, MDT (UTC−6) in summer — unlike almost all of Texas, which uses Central Time. Only El Paso and Hudspeth counties are officially on MT.
Why is El Paso an hour behind Dallas and Houston?
Because El Paso sits in the Mountain Time Zone while the rest of Texas is on Central Time. Noon in Dallas or Houston is 11:00 AM in El Paso, in winter and summer alike.
Does El Paso observe daylight saving time?
Yes. El Paso springs forward at 2:00 AM on the second Sunday of March and falls back at 2:00 AM on the first Sunday of November — March 8 and November 1 in 2026. Ciudad Juárez changes on the same dates.