On Sunday, November 1, at 2 a.m., the clocks will roll back to 1 a.m. Houston and the rest of Texas will continue to observe time changes despite a state law aiming to establish permanent time.
Updated October 13, 2026.
The time change in Houston will take place on Sunday, November 1, 2026. At 2:00 a.m., the clocks will fall back one hour and read 1:00 a.m., ending daylight saving time in Texas.
Houston will switch from Central Daylight Time (CDT) to Central Standard Time (CST). The adjustment will also take place in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and other Texas cities, where the seasonal time change will continue to apply.
The modification means one extra hour during the early hours of Sunday and evenings that will darken earlier. Although Texas approved a law to adopt daylight saving time year-round, that measure cannot yet be enacted without federal authorization.
The time change in Houston will be on Sunday, November 1 at 2 a.m.
On Sunday early morning, when the clock reaches 2:00 a.m., it will roll back to 1:00 a.m. Daylight saving time will end and standard time will begin, continuing through the following months.
- Date: Sunday, November 1, 2026.
- Change time: 2:00 a.m., Houston local time.
- Adjustment: set the clock back one hour, from 2:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m.
- New time: Central Standard Time (CST), equivalent to UTC−6.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) states in its 2026 daylight saving calendar that the adjustment ends on the first Sunday in November. The same rule applies in Houston.
Texas will change the time even though it approved a law to keep a permanent schedule
Texas passed in 2025 House Bill 1393, which seeks to establish daylight saving time permanently in the state under the name Texas Time.
However, Texas legislation conditions its implementation on Congress authorizing states to keep daylight saving time year-round.
That federal authorization has not taken effect. Therefore, the change on November 1, 2026 remains scheduled and Houston residents will have to set their clocks back.
The federal rule allows states to stop observing daylight saving time, but not to unilaterally adopt permanent daylight time. Hawaii and most of Arizona do not observe the seasonal change. Puerto Rico and several U.S. territories also do not.
In Houston, twilight will fall around 5:34 p.m. after the change
The adjustment will cause sunrises and sunsets to occur about an hour earlier according to the clock. In Houston, on Sunday, November 1, the sun will rise around 6:35 a.m. and set around 5:34 p.m., according to Time and Date’s astronomical calculations for November 2026.
The change does not add or remove an hour of daylight. What changes is the relationship between official time and the moments of sunrise and sunset.
For those who work, study, or return home in the late afternoon, this will mean less natural light after usual activities. During the early morning hours, however, there will be more daylight than before the adjustment.
Phones usually change the time automatically
Smartphones, computers, and other internet-connected devices generally update the time without user intervention, as long as automatic date and time zone settings are enabled.
Wall clocks, traditional alarm clocks, and some appliances require manual adjustment. The night of Saturday, October 31 will be the easiest time to set them back one hour.
It is also advisable to check the local time shown on alarms, calendars, work shifts, and travel reservations, especially when activities are scheduled during the early hours of Sunday.
The time change will modify the difference between Houston and cities in Latin America
The November 1 adjustment will also change the time difference between Houston and several Latin American and Caribbean cities. This affects the coordination of calls, flights, meetings, and activities among people living in different countries.
Houston will shift from UTC−5 to UTC−6. Since many Latin American cities keep their time year-round, the difference with Houston will change even if their clocks remain unchanged.
For example, when it is 12:00 p.m. in Houston on Sunday, November 1, after the time change, the corresponding times will be:
- 12:00 p.m.: Mexico City, Guatemala City, San Salvador, Tegucigalpa, Managua, and San José, Costa Rica.
- 1:00 p.m.: Bogota, Lima, Quito, and Panama City.
- 2:00 p.m.: Caracas, Santo Domingo, San Juan (Puerto Rico), and La Paz.
- 3:00 p.m.: Buenos Aires, Santiago, Montevideo, and São Paulo.
Before the adjustment, Houston shared the same time as Bogota, Lima, Quito, and Panama City. From November 1 onward, those cities will be one hour ahead of Houston.
By contrast, Houston will again share time with Guatemala City, San Salvador, Tegucigalpa, Managua, San Jose, Costa Rica, and Mexico City.
The differences correspond to the cities named and the time rules in effect for November 1, 2026. They do not necessarily reflect an entire country: Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador and other territories use more than one time zone. Chile, for its part, maintains seasonal changes that can alter its difference with Houston at other times of the year.
The Time and Date international time zone converter allows comparing cities and specific dates, especially when scheduling flights, calls, or meetings across different countries.
The next time change in Houston is scheduled for March 2027
Under current federal rules, Houston will again change the time on Sunday, March 14, 2027, when daylight saving time will resume.
That day, at 2:00 a.m., the clocks will move forward one hour to 3:00 a.m. Until then, Houston will remain on Central Standard Time, unless an applicable legal modification is enacted.
