Texas is Central Time, except for the corner that spent decades fighting to stay on Mountain Time instead — a dispute that ran from the early 1900s all the way to a formal federal law change in 1970.
Where the line falls today
El Paso County and Hudspeth County, in the far western tip of Texas, run on Mountain Time. The rest of the state — Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and everywhere else — runs on Central Time, an hour ahead. The boundary runs along the eastern edge of Hudspeth County, meaning it's possible to drive from El Paso toward the rest of Texas and gain an hour before you've even left the state's western half.
Why El Paso specifically
El Paso's case for Mountain Time was always about who it actually does business with, not where it sits on the map relative to the rest of Texas. The city is far closer, economically and socially, to Las Cruces, New Mexico and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico — both on Mountain Time — than to Dallas or Houston, which are hundreds of miles away on the other side of a very large state.
A dispute that lasted most of the 20th century
El Paso has considered itself Mountain Time since time zones were first standardized in the US, but that wasn't always the law. When federal regulators periodically redrew zone boundaries, El Paso and Hudspeth County simply kept operating on Mountain Time unofficially — in defiance of the official designation — up through the 1960s.
The Uniform Time Act of 1966 forced the issue by requiring every part of the country to actually conform to its assigned zone. El Paso responded by formally petitioning to be placed in Mountain Time rather than be forced onto Central. On April 30, 1967, El Paso was granted Mountain Time on an interim basis — and on April 10, 1970, the Uniform Time Act was amended to make it permanent, formally placing El Paso and Hudspeth County in the Mountain Time Zone for good.
The reasoning submitted at the time still holds up: thousands of El Paso residents worked in one time zone and lived in another under Central Time, trade with neighboring Mountain Time communities would be disrupted, and El Paso's business hours would have effectively run on something closer to Eastern Time for much of the year if forced onto Central Daylight Time.
What this means today
El Paso is consistently one hour behind the rest of Texas, year-round — both zones observe Daylight Saving Time, so the one-hour gap doesn't change with the seasons, only the specific offset from UTC does. A 9am meeting in Dallas is 8am in El Paso. It's a genuine, permanent split rather than a seasonal quirk, and one of the more surprising facts about a state most people assume runs on a single clock.
If you're scheduling between El Paso and anywhere else in Texas, the time zone converter resolves the difference by city, so "Texas time" never gets treated as one uniform zone.
Frequently asked questions
Which parts of Texas are on Mountain Time?
El Paso County and Hudspeth County, in the far western tip of Texas, run on Mountain Time (UTC−7/−6). Everywhere else — Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio — runs on Central Time, an hour ahead. The boundary follows the eastern edge of Hudspeth County.
Why is El Paso on Mountain Time instead of Central?
Because of who El Paso actually does business with. The city is far closer, economically and socially, to Las Cruces, New Mexico and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico — both on Mountain Time — than to Dallas or Houston, which sit hundreds of miles away on the other side of a very large state.
When did El Paso officially get Mountain Time?
On 30 April 1967, El Paso was granted Mountain Time on an interim basis, after the Uniform Time Act of 1966 required every part of the country to conform to its assigned zone. On 10 April 1970 the Act was amended to make it permanent for El Paso and Hudspeth County.
Does the one-hour gap inside Texas change with Daylight Saving Time?
No. Both zones observe Daylight Saving Time, so El Paso stays exactly one hour behind the rest of Texas year-round — only the UTC offset changes with the seasons. A 9am meeting in Dallas is 8am in El Paso, in summer and winter alike.