Satellite View of San Jose
San Jose sits at 9.9281, -84.0907. Drag to pan, click then scroll to zoom, and switch between satellite, terrain and street layers.
North America · America/Costa_Rica
Current Time in Costa Rica
Live local time in San Jose, with today's date, the UTC offset, the difference from your own clock, and current weather conditions.
San Jose, Costa Rica
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San Jose
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Live data
San Jose Right Now
Weather, sky, sea and location for San Jose, all updating live.
Weather in San Jose
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Sun and Daylight
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Moon Phase
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Calculated from the mean synodic month, so times are accurate to within a few hours rather than to the minute.
Air Quality
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Four-Day Forecast
Tides Near San Jose
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Reference
Costa Rica at a Glance
| Country | Costa Rica |
| Capital | San Jose |
| Region | North America |
| IANA time zone | America/Costa_Rica |
| Current UTC offset | — |
| Time zones in country | 1 |
| Daylight saving | Not observed |
| Population | about 5 million |
| Currency | Colon (CRC) |
| Calling code | +506 |
| Capital coordinates | 9.9281, -84.0907 |
| Day of year | — |
| ISO week number | — |
| Season in San Jose | — |
| Daylight today | — |
| Sun altitude now | — |
| Moon phase | — |
| Hemisphere | Northern |
| Coastline | Has a coastline |
Working with Costa Rica
Time Differences and Business Hours
How San Jose lines up against the cities people most often need to coordinate with.
| City | Local time | Date | Difference |
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Differences are measured against San Jose. For a specific date, use the converter; to find a meeting slot, use the meeting planner.
Understanding the offset
How Costa Rica Time Works
The Zone, Not the Offset
San Jose sits in America/Costa_Rica. That name matters more than the number: an offset like the one shown above is only true today, whereas the zone name carries every rule about when the country changes its clocks. Software that stores offsets instead of zone names breaks at the next changeover.
A Steady Offset
Costa Rica keeps the same offset all year. That sounds simpler, and it is, but it means the gap to any country that does change clocks shifts by an hour twice a year without anything changing on this end.
One Zone Nationwide
The whole of Costa Rica runs on America/Costa_Rica, so there is no internal difference to worry about. Whatever the clock says in San Jose is what it says nationwide.
Writing Times Clearly
When you send a time to someone in Costa Rica, write the zone with it, or better, send a calendar invitation that converts automatically for each recipient. "14:00 UTC" cannot be misread; "2pm" in a message reaching three countries reliably produces at least one person joining an hour out.
Answers
Costa Rica Time Questions
What time is it in Costa Rica right now?
The clock at the top of this page shows the current local time in San Jose, Costa Rica, updating every second. It is calculated from the America/Costa_Rica time zone using your browser's copy of the IANA time zone database, so daylight saving rules are applied automatically and correctly.
What time zone does Costa Rica use?
San Jose uses the America/Costa_Rica zone. The current UTC offset is shown in the panel above and updates itself if the country changes its clocks. The whole country uses this single time zone.
Does Costa Rica observe daylight saving time?
No. Costa Rica stays on the same offset all year, so the gap between San Jose and any country that does change clocks will differ by an hour for part of the year. That is the most common cause of a recurring meeting drifting.
How do I convert Costa Rica time to my own?
The comparison line above already shows the difference between San Jose and your own device clock. For a specific date and time rather than right now, use the time zone converter, which handles daylight saving for the date you enter rather than for today.
Where does the weather on this page come from?
Open-Meteo, a free weather service. The request goes directly from your browser to their API, so nothing about your visit passes through our server. It reports current conditions and a short forecast for San Jose.
How accurate is the clock?
It reads your own device clock and re-expresses that instant in the America/Costa_Rica zone, so it is exactly as accurate as your device. Almost every phone and computer syncs to a network time server automatically, which puts you within a fraction of a second.