Current time in São Paulo

Brasília time, the clock most of Brazil follows

São Paulo uses the official time of Brasília (BRT), three hours behind UTC all year. It is the reference time for the large majority of Brazilians: banking hours, the B3 stock exchange in São Paulo, national elections and television schedules are all stated in it. Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Salvador and Porto Alegre share the same clock, as does Buenos Aires across the border.

No summer time since 2019

Brazil applied summer time in its southern and central states almost every year from 1985. The last period ended in February 2019, and a decree abolished the practice two months later, after studies showed that peak electricity demand had moved from the evening to mid-afternoon, when air conditioning runs hardest. The government has reviewed the question several times since, most recently in 2026, and has kept standard time each time.

Distances that change with the northern seasons

With São Paulo fixed, the gap to other cities now depends only on their clocks. New York is two hours behind in the northern winter and one hour behind in summer. Lisbon and London are three hours ahead in winter and four in summer. Inside Brazil there are four zones: Fernando de Noronha is one hour ahead of São Paulo, Manaus one hour behind and the state of Acre two hours behind.

São Paulo: time zone at a glance

Time zone

America/Sao_Paulo

UTC offset

UTC−3, all year

Clock changes

None scheduled

Dates reflect the rules in force when this page was last updated. Governments can change them at short notice.

Plan a meeting in São Paulo

Use the actual meeting date. Seasonal clock changes can alter the time difference.

How accurate is this clock?

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