Short answer: if you are moving to Miami to work remotely for teams in Latin America and Europe, Miami is the only continental US base where a normal 9-to-5 overlaps both continents the same day: 6 to 8 shared working hours with LATAM (Bogotá and Lima sit 0 to 1 hour from Miami; São Paulo and Buenos Aires 1 to 2 hours) and 2 to 3 shared hours with continental Europe (3 to 4 with London). The catch is that the gaps move: the Miami–Europe gap narrows by an hour for 28 days a year, and Santiago de Chile shifts twice in the opposite direction, so the schedule you set in October is not the schedule you will have in March. Working from a Miami base: time-zone math for LATAM and Europe teams is less about one number and more about which window survives every clock change — and it should be decided before the lease, because it shapes your real cost of living in Miami and which of the best neighborhoods in Miami actually fit your working day.
Updated: October 20, 2026.
¿Prefieres leer en español? Lee esta guía en español
Moving to Miami: the time-zone table, by season — not by today’s screenshot
Miami runs on Eastern Time: EST (UTC−5) in winter and EDT (UTC−4) in summer. US daylight saving in 2026 runs from March 8 to November 1 under federal law (15 U.S.C. §260a); Europe and the UK switch later and earlier, from March 29 to October 25, 2026 (EU Directive 2000/84/EC). Most of LATAM never switches at all: Bogotá and Lima stay on UTC−5 all year, Mexico City on UTC−6 (Mexico abolished DST in 2022, except border cities that follow the US calendar), and São Paulo and Buenos Aires on UTC−3 (Brazil abolished DST in 2019). Santiago is the exception — it moves between UTC−4 (April 5 to September 6, 2026) and UTC−3 the rest of the year. Put together, here is the honest table (SETTLE calculations: overlap = shared hours when both cities work 9:00–17:00 local):
| Your team’s city | Gap vs. Miami | Shared 9-to-5 hours | What 9:00 a.m. in Miami is there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bogotá / Lima (UTC−5, fixed) | 0 h in winter, Miami 1 h ahead in summer | 8 h winter / 7 h summer — effectively a full shared day | 9:00 a.m. winter / 8:00 a.m. summer |
| Mexico City (UTC−6, fixed) | Miami 1 h ahead in winter, 2 h in summer | 7 h / 6 h | 8:00 a.m. winter / 7:00 a.m. summer |
| São Paulo / Buenos Aires (UTC−3, fixed) | Miami 2 h behind in winter, 1 h in summer | 6 h / 7 h | 11:00 a.m. winter / 10:00 a.m. summer |
| Santiago (UTC−4 Apr–Sep, UTC−3 rest of year) | Same time as Miami Apr–Sep; Miami 1 h behind Sep–Oct; 2 h behind Nov–Mar | 8 h / 7 h / 6 h by stretch of year | 9:00 a.m. / 10:00 a.m. / 11:00 a.m. |
| London (GMT / BST) | 5 h normally, 4 h during the 28 mismatch days | 3 h normally (9:00–12:00 Miami), 4 h in mismatch weeks | 2:00 p.m. normally / 1:00 p.m. in mismatch weeks |
| Madrid / Paris / Berlin (CET / CEST) | 6 h normally, 5 h during the 28 mismatch days | 2 h normally (9:00–11:00 Miami), 3 h in mismatch weeks | 3:00 p.m. normally / 2:00 p.m. in mismatch weeks |
Read the table the way a manager will: LATAM is a full working relationship from Miami — standups, pairing, end-of-day handoffs all fit inside one shared day. Europe is a morning window, not a shared day. Your European meetings live between 9:00 a.m. and noon Miami time, and anything that needs Madrid or Berlin after their 5:00 p.m. is, in Miami, already past lunchtime. Where you live inside the city should follow that shape: a neighborhood with a serious workspace at home or serious coworking nearby matters more than a beach view when your day starts with Europe. Our priced roundup of the best coworking spaces in Miami for remote workers, with prices is the practical companion to this table.
What most people don’t know
1. The gap you Googled today expires — twice a year with Europe, and in the opposite direction with Chile. Because the US springs forward on March 8, 2026 and Europe waits until March 29, the Miami–London gap drops from 5 hours to 4 for 21 days, and it drops again for 7 days in the fall (October 25 to November 1) when Europe falls back first: 28 days a year in which every recurring Europe meeting effectively moves an hour earlier in Miami. Santiago runs the other way — it falls back on April 5 and springs forward on September 6, in the southern-hemisphere rhythm — so a Miami–Santiago standup set at the same local time in May will be an hour off by November and two hours off in feel by January, even though nobody in either city “changed” anything in between except Chile and the US, in opposite seasons. Fixed-offset LATAM (Bogotá, Lima, Mexico City, São Paulo, Buenos Aires) only moves when Miami itself moves: once in March, once in November. Build your calendar in UTC or in the other city’s time for anything that crosses an ocean; build it in Miami time only for Miami.
2. From the US West Coast, the Europe overlap is zero — that is the whole argument for the East Coast base. In summer, Los Angeles sits 8 hours behind London and 9 behind Madrid: a 9-to-5 in Los Angeles and a 9-to-5 in Madrid share exactly zero hours (SETTLE calculation on the same 9:00–17:00 basis). People working Europe hours from California do it at 1:00–5:00 a.m. local. Miami’s 2-to-3-hour European window looks small until you price the alternative: it is the difference between a normal morning and a permanent night shift. The same logic runs south: from Los Angeles, Bogotá is 3 hours ahead in summer and São Paulo 4, so the LATAM day starts before the California day does. Miami is not “close to everything” — it is the one US base that is never more than 2 hours from any LATAM business capital and never more than 6 from Western Europe.
3. You are paying a time-zone premium in rent — budget it as one. Miami’s median asking rent is US$2,500 for a one-bedroom and US$3,230 for a two-bedroom (Zumper national rent report, September 2026) — the sixth most expensive one-bedroom market in the US. Remote workers pay that premium largely for the overlap in the table above plus the airport and the language. That is a rational trade if your income actually comes from LATAM or Europe teams; it is an expensive one if your team is entirely on US Pacific time, because then you are paying Miami prices to live 3 hours ahead of your own job. Before you sign, fund the move-in properly — first month plus deposit is the real entry ticket — and read our guide to security deposits in Miami: how much landlords can ask and how the money must be held so the calendar decision does not collide with a cash decision in the same week.
4. The survivable schedule puts Europe first, LATAM second, deep work last — and it never flips. The working pattern that survives every clock change in the table is: European meetings in the first block of the Miami morning (their afternoon), LATAM standups and collaboration from late morning through mid-afternoon Miami time (it is still morning-to-afternoon there), and solo deep work at the end of the Miami day, when Europe has logged off and LATAM is winding down. What breaks remote workers in their first Miami season is scheduling a fixed 8:00 a.m. Miami call with Madrid “because it worked in October”: in winter that is 2:00 p.m. Madrid — fine — but the same call drifting across the March mismatch becomes the hour Madrid uses for lunch, and nobody warns you. Put the Europe block at 9:00–11:00 Miami, keep it there all year, and let the overlap breathe between 2 and 4 hours as the seasons move.
5. If part of your year is spent elsewhere, the winter pattern repeats — plan the lease around it. Many Miami-based remote workers split the year with a second base, and the clock math follows them: the same mismatch weeks and the same fixed LATAM offsets govern any winter base in Florida. If your household is weighing a seasonal pattern — part of the year in Miami, part back north or in Canada — our Canadian snowbird guide to a Miami winter prices that split-year life; the time-zone logic in this guide is what makes it workable for people who keep a job across the border while they do it.
How I would set the Miami remote-work calendar
Anchor recurring meetings to the window that never disappears. Europe: 9:00–11:00 a.m. Miami (15:00–17:00 Madrid, 14:00–16:00 London in the normal season) is the only block that exists in every month of the year. LATAM: any time between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Miami works in every season for every capital in the table.
Put two dates in the lease-year calendar: March and late October. Those are the mismatch seasons (in 2026, March 8–28 and October 25–November 1; in 2027, the US moves March 14 and November 7 and Europe March 28 and October 31). A ten-minute “clock check” message to each team in those weeks — confirming every recurring meeting in both local times — prevents the classic lost hour.
Choose the neighborhood for the day you actually live. If your morning is Europe and your afternoon is LATAM, you need a real desk, real upload speed and a door that closes more than you need a tenth-floor view. Price the workspace into the rent comparison — a dedicated coworking desk can cost less than the rent jump to a two-bedroom — and use the full map in the SETTLE guides hub, where the best neighborhoods in Miami are compared for exactly this kind of working move.
FAQ
How many hours does Miami overlap with Bogotá and with Madrid in a normal workday?
On a 9:00–17:00 basis in both cities: Bogotá shares 8 hours with Miami in winter (same clock, both UTC−5) and 7 in summer (Miami on EDT, UTC−4). Madrid shares 2 hours normally (9:00–11:00 a.m. Miami = 15:00–17:00 Madrid) and 3 hours during the 28 annual mismatch days when the gap narrows from 6 hours to 5 (SETTLE calculations from the official offsets and 2026 DST calendars).
Does the Miami–Europe time difference change during the year?
Yes. The US observes daylight saving from March 8 to November 1, 2026, and Europe from March 29 to October 25, 2026. In the 21 days between the two spring changes and the 7 days between the two fall changes, Miami is one hour closer to Europe than usual: 4 hours to London instead of 5, and 5 hours to Madrid instead of 6.
Which LATAM city is hardest to work with from Miami?
Mexico City in summer and Santiago in the northern winter, at the extremes of the table: Mexico City is 2 hours behind Miami from March to November (6 shared 9-to-5 hours), and Santiago is 2 hours ahead of Miami from November to March because Chile is on its summer time (UTC−3) while Miami is on standard time (UTC−5). Even the hardest case keeps 6 shared hours — from Miami there is no LATAM capital outside a normal working overlap.
Is Miami better than Austin or Denver for working with Europe and LATAM?
For Europe, yes, by exactly the US time-zone steps: every US zone west of Eastern removes one hour of European overlap (Central leaves Madrid with 1 normal hour, Mountain effectively none in a strict 9-to-5, Pacific zero). For LATAM the western zones still overlap, but the day shifts later against São Paulo and Buenos Aires. If your teams sit on both continents, Eastern Time is the only US zone with a real overlap on both sides the same day.
Note: this guide is general information for relocation planning. Time-zone rules and DST calendars are set by governments and can change — Mexico (2022) and Brazil (2019) both abolished DST recently — so confirm the offsets for your exact team cities each season before fixing a long-term schedule.
Yara Coker — SETTLE, relocation services in Miami.
Want help with your move to Miami?
Tell me which cities your team works in and the hours you must be live — I will map your real overlap, flag the mismatch weeks in your first year, and shortlist neighborhoods and workspaces that fit that day, with the full cost of living in Miami priced in before you sign anything. More guides like this one live in our Miami relocation guides hub.
Sources
Miami on Eastern Time (EST UTC−5 / EDT UTC−4, zone America/New_York) and the fixed offsets of Bogotá (UTC−5), Lima (UTC−5), Mexico City (UTC−6), São Paulo (UTC−3) and Buenos Aires (UTC−3): timeanddate / IANA time zone database entries consulted October 20, 2026. US daylight saving dates for 2026 (March 8 to November 1) and 2027 (March 14 to November 7): the federal rule in 15 U.S.C. §260a (second Sunday in March to first Sunday in November), as published by NIST and the US Department of Transportation. European summer time dates for 2026 (March 29 to October 25) and 2027 (March 28 to October 31): EU Directive 2000/84/EC (last Sunday in March to last Sunday in October), with London on GMT/BST and Madrid, Paris and Berlin on CET/CEST. Mexico’s abolition of daylight saving in 2022 (with northern border cities still following the US calendar) and Brazil’s abolition in 2019: the same timeanddate/IANA records. Santiago de Chile between CLT (UTC−4) from April 5 to September 6, 2026 and CLST (UTC−3) the rest of the year, with the Magallanes region fixed on UTC−3: timeanddate time-change records for Santiago, 2026. Miami median asking rents of US$2,500 (one-bedroom, sixth most expensive in the US) and US$3,230 (two-bedroom): Zumper National Rent Report, September 2026. All gap and overlap figures (shared 9:00–17:00 hours, the 28 mismatch days in 2026, and the zero-hour Los Angeles–Madrid/London 9-to-5 overlap) are SETTLE calculations from the offsets and calendars above, as labeled in the text.
Versión en español: Vivir en Miami: trabajar con base en Miami — la matemática de husos horarios para equipos de LATAM y Europa
