UTC−6 time now

About UTC−6

UTC−6 is 6 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time: when it is noon UTC, it is 6:00 AM at UTC−6.

16 zones keep UTC−6 all year, covering 9 countries or territories: Mexico, Canada, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Belize and Ecuador.

12 zones use it only in winter and move to UTC−5 in summer, for example Chicago, Reynosa and Ojinaga.

4 zones reach it only in summer, from standard time UTC−7, for example Ciudad Juárez, Denver and Boise. So the set of places on UTC−6 changes twice a year.

For a fixed offset in software, tzdata provides Etc/GMT+6; note the inverted sign of these POSIX-style names.

Abbreviations for UTC−6: CST (Central Standard Time), MDT (Mountain Daylight Time).

UTC−6 and the sun

Across the large cities that keep UTC−6 all year, the clock runs 24 minutes behind mean solar time in San José (-84.1°) and 96 minutes ahead of it in Calgary (-114.1°). The offset’s own meridian is 90° west: the further a city lies from it, the further its clocks drift from the sun.

Neighbouring offsets: UTC−7 (Phoenix and Hermosillo) and UTC−5 (Lima and Bogotá).

Zones that moved to or from UTC−6 since 1970

Changes of the winter (standard) offset recorded in tzdata; ordinary seasonal daylight saving changes are not counted:

• Sunday, March 8, 2026: Calgary (America/Edmonton) moved from UTC−7 to UTC−6
• Sunday, March 8, 2026: Inuvik (America/Inuvik) moved from UTC−7 to UTC−6
• Sunday, March 8, 2026: Winnipeg (America/Winnipeg) moved from UTC−6 to UTC−5
• Sunday, April 3, 2022: Chihuahua (America/Chihuahua) moved from UTC−7 to UTC−6
• Sunday, March 13, 2022: Ojinaga (America/Ojinaga) moved from UTC−7 to UTC−6
• Sunday, February 1, 2015: Cancún (America/Cancun) moved from UTC−6 to UTC−5
• Sunday, April 4, 2010: Bahia Banderas (America/Bahia_Banderas) moved from UTC−7 to UTC−6
• Sunday, March 14, 2010: Beulah (America/North_Dakota/Beulah) moved from UTC−7 to UTC−6
• Sunday, October 29, 2006: Knox (America/Indiana/Knox) moved from UTC−5 to UTC−6
• Sunday, October 29, 2006: Tell City (America/Indiana/Tell_City) moved from UTC−5 to UTC−6
• Sunday, April 6, 2003: New Salem (America/North_Dakota/New_Salem) moved from UTC−7 to UTC−6
• Sunday, October 28, 2001: Cambridge Bay (America/Cambridge_Bay) moved from UTC−6 to UTC−7
• Sunday, April 2, 2000: Monticello (America/Kentucky/Monticello) moved from UTC−6 to UTC−5
• Sunday, April 4, 1999: Cambridge Bay (America/Cambridge_Bay) moved from UTC−7 to UTC−6

Since when UTC−6 has been used

The tzdata record of each zone that keeps UTC−6 as its standard time, with the date it moved to UTC−6 and the time it kept before. The earliest is Belize City, on UTC−6 since Sunday, March 31, 1912; the most recent is Inuvik, since Sunday, November 1, 2026.

And 14 more zones.

UTC−6 converted to other offsets

Fixed offsets only, so the table holds on any date; a city that observes daylight saving time is an hour later than its standard column in summer.

On UTC−6 all year

On UTC−6 in winter only

On UTC−6 in summer only

Neighbouring offsets and related pages

• UTC−7 time
• UTC−5 time
• UTC time
• CST time
• MDT time
• Time zones of the world
• Daylight saving time