San JoséCosta Rica
Current time in San José, Costa Rica
Thursday, 24 September 2026
Central Standard TimeUTC-06:00
⛶ Full-screen clockSan José time at a glance
- Country
- Costa Rica
- Location
- Capital city of Costa Rica
- Time zone
America/Costa_Rica- UTC offset now
UTC-06:00- Current zone label
- GMT-6
- Next clock change
- No upcoming change available
San José time guide
Does San José change its clocks?
UTC-06:00.- Year-round offset
- Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00
- Time-zone identifier
- America/Costa_Rica
- San José and London
- 6 hours behind GMT; 7 hours behind BST
- San José and New York
- 1 hour behind EST; 2 hours behind EDT
District, canton and province
San José names several different boundaries
Costa Rica’s INEC publishes estimates at district level within San José canton, while San José province is much larger. The capital’s population can therefore vary sharply depending on whether a district, canton, urban area or province is meant.
Time-zone identity for San José
- IANA zone
America/Costa_Rica- UTC offset now
- UTC-06:00
- Current zone label
- GMT-6
- Clock-change status
- No UTC offset change was found in the next 370 days.
San José is currently 6 hours behind UTC. The named zone, rather than the offset alone, should be used for future dates.
Clock changes in San José
370-day checked horizon
No UTC offset change was found through Wednesday, 29 September 2027 in runtime time-zone data 2026b.
Time-zone history
UTC offset changes for San José
A bounded record of offset transitions calculated for America/Costa_Rica, covering 2021 through 2031. Events are offset changes; their legal or daylight-saving cause is not inferred.
Previous 5 years
No UTC offset transition was found in the previous 5 years.
Next 5 years
No UTC offset transition was found in the next 5 years.
Dates are calculated from IANA time-zone rules. The calculation checks for offset changes throughout the displayed period and resolves each change to the nearest second.
Capital city context
About San José, capital of Costa Rica
San José is the capital of Costa Rica. This page combines its live local clock with location, time-zone, weather, Sun and Moon information.
- Capital status
- Capital of Costa Rica
- Administrative area
- Costa Rica
- Population
- 335,007
- Coordinates
- 9.9339° N, 84.0849° W. The elevation is 1,133 metres.
Nearby city clocks
Cities near San José
Nearby cities are ordered by approximate straight-line distance from San José. Times are calculated for the same instant shown above.
- Calle BlancosSan José, Costa Rica2.3 km northeast
America/Costa_RicaSame local time - ColimaSan José, Costa Rica2.4 km north
America/Costa_RicaSame local time - San JuanSan José, Costa Rica3.2 km north
America/Costa_RicaSame local time - GuadalupeSan José, Costa Rica3.5 km northeast
America/Costa_RicaSame local time - San PedroSan José, Costa Rica3.8 km east
America/Costa_RicaSame local time - San FelipeSan José, Costa Rica4 km southwest
America/Costa_RicaSame local time
Sources for San José time and city facts
Time-zone calculations use runtime tzdb 2026b. Weather and astronomy sources include their own retrieval times where available.
View 4 sources
- GeoNames cities15000GeoNames · 2026-07-15_01-57-51-849 · CC BY 4.0 · AccessedCity and country names, administrative area, coordinates and population.
- IANA Time Zone DatabaseInternet Assigned Numbers Authority · 2026b · Public domain · AccessedTime-zone names, UTC offsets and clock changes.
- Unicode Common Locale Data RepositoryUnicode Consortium · 48.0 · Unicode License v3 · AccessedEnglish display names for countries, currencies and languages.
- 2022 population estimates by districtNational Institute of Statistics and Census of Costa Rica · Published 2022 · AccessedOfficial district estimates illustrating the nested geography of San José.