Time zone overlap calculator
A Brazilian engineer working ordinary local hours — 9 AM to 6 PM, UTC−3 — shares 7–8 hours a day with a 9-to-5 team on U.S. Eastern time, 6–7 with Central, 5–6 with Mountain and 4–5 with Pacific. An engineer in India on ordinary local hours shares zero with any of them. Brazil does not observe daylight saving, so only the U.S. side moves.
9 AM – 6 PM in Brazil. Nobody changes anything.
10 AM – 7 PM in Brazil
Brazil is 1–2 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern time.
The second number is not free. Getting a Pacific-time team to six or seven hours means the engineer finishes at 8 PM their time, every day. We agree that explicitly with the person and it does not change your price — but it is a real thing to ask of someone, and a vendor who quotes you the shifted number without saying so is selling you a working condition they have not negotiated.
Every U.S. zone, calculated
| Your time zone | Brazil is ahead | Ordinary hours | If they shift |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Eastern | 1–2 h | 7–8 hours | 8 hours (10 AM – 7 PM BRT) |
| U.S. Central | 2–3 h | 6–7 hours | 8 hours (11 AM – 8 PM BRT) |
| U.S. Mountain | 3–4 h | 5–6 hours | 7–8 hours (11 AM – 8 PM BRT) |
| U.S. Pacific | 4–5 h | 4–5 hours | 6–7 hours (11 AM – 8 PM BRT) |
Brazil versus every other option
Hours of daily overlap with a 9-to-5 U.S. workday, with everyone on ordinary local working hours (9 AM to 6 PM). Zero means the overlap only exists if someone works nights.
| Your zone | Brazil | Mexico | Argentina | Poland | India | Philippines | Vietnam |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Eastern | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| U.S. Central | 6 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| U.S. Mountain | 5 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| U.S. Pacific | 4 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Calculated by intersecting both workdays in UTC, using U.S. standard time so every cell is a single comparable number — which is why Brazil shows 7 here and 7–8 in the table above, where the range covers daylight saving. Argentina shares Brazil's offset, so its column is identical, and Mexico ties with Brazil on Eastern. We left both in rather than hiding the ties: a comparison table that never lets anyone else draw is not a comparison table.
Frequently asked questions
How many hours do Brazilian developers overlap with U.S. teams?
Seven to eight hours with Eastern time, six to seven with Central, five to six with Mountain and four to five with Pacific — all on ordinary Brazilian working hours, with nobody shifting their day.
Does Brazil observe daylight saving time?
No. Brazil abolished it in 2019 and stays on UTC−3 all year, so the gap with the U.S. changes only when the U.S. changes its clocks, in March and November.
Why does India show zero overlap?
Because the calculation uses ordinary working hours on both sides. India is UTC+5:30; a 9-to-6 local day there ends before a 9-to-5 U.S. Eastern day begins. Any overlap has to come out of somebody’s evening or night, which is why offshore delivery in that region is built on night shifts.
The full time zone guide, with scheduling rules that hold up →