Position and coordinates
Mexico occupies the southern end of North America, entirely in the northern and western hemispheres. Its northernmost point is on the Colorado river near Los Algodones in Baja California, at 32°43′ N; its southernmost is the mouth of the Suchiate river on the Guatemalan border in Chiapas, at 14°32′ N. East to west it runs from Isla Mujeres at about 86°42′ W to Isla Guadalupe in the Pacific at about 118°22′ W. The Tropic of Cancer, 23°26′ N, cuts the country almost in half, crossing Baja California Sur south of La Paz, Sinaloa just north of Mazatlán, and then Durango, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas. Everything south of that line is tropical, which is why the resorts are where they are. The centre of the outline falls in Zacatecas, near 23.6° N, 102.5° W.
Borders, coasts and size
| Boundary | Length (km) | Mexican states |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 3,152 | Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas |
| Guatemala | 956 | Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Quintana Roo |
| Belize | 193 | Quintana Roo |
| Pacific and Gulf of California coast | 7,828 | Eleven states, Baja California to Chiapas |
| Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean coast | 3,294 | Six states, Tamaulipas to Quintana Roo |
| Total coastline | 11,122 | 17 of the 32 states have a coast |
The land area is 1,964,375 km², of which 5,127 km² is islands: the thirteenth largest country in the world and the third largest in Latin America after Brazil and Argentina. Its exclusive economic zone adds roughly 3.2 million km² of sea, more than the land. The population was 126,014,024 at the 2020 census, tenth in the world. The country stretches about 3,200 km from Tijuana in the north-west to the Guatemalan border, and pinches to 215 km across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, where the Gulf and the Pacific nearly meet. The Baja California peninsula runs 1,250 km south from the border, separated from the mainland by the Gulf of California.
The northern border faces four US states — California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas — and the Texas section alone accounts for about 2,000 km of it, all of it the channel of the Río Bravo. West of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez the line is a surveyed straight run across the Sonoran Desert, marked by monuments set in the 1850s. The southern border is shorter and wetter: the Suchiate and the Usumacinta carry much of the Guatemalan line, and the Río Hondo the Belizean one, ending in Chetumal Bay.
Distances from Mexico City
| City | Straight-line km | Typical nonstop flight |
|---|---|---|
| Guatemala City | 1,060 | 2 h |
| Houston | 1,210 | 2 h 20 |
| Miami | 2,060 | 3 h |
| Los Angeles | 2,500 | 4 h |
| Chicago | 2,720 | 4 h 10 |
| Bogotá | 3,160 | 4 h 20 |
| Toronto | 3,250 | 4 h 45 |
| New York | 3,360 | 4 h 45 |
| London | 8,940 | 10 h 30 |
| Madrid | 9,070 | 10 h 30 |
| Tokyo | 11,300 | 13 h |
Which seas Mexico touches
Four bodies of water. The Pacific runs the whole western side. The Gulf of California, also called the Sea of Cortés, lies between the peninsula and the mainland and is up to 3,000 m deep. The Gulf of Mexico takes the eastern coast from Tamaulipas round to the top of the Yucatán Peninsula, and the Caribbean the eastern edge of Quintana Roo, where the Mesoamerican Reef runs offshore from Isla Mujeres south to Honduras. Geologically the country sits where five plates meet: the North American plate carries most of it, the Cocos and Rivera plates dive beneath the south-west and drive the volcanic belt, the Pacific plate carries Baja California away to the north-west along the San Andreas system, and the Caribbean plate meets the others in Chiapas.
Time, distance and getting there
Mexico keeps four time zones — Southeast (UTC−5) in Quintana Roo, Central (UTC−6) for most of the country including Mexico City, Pacific (UTC−7) and Northwest (UTC−8) in Baja California — and abolished daylight saving in October 2022 except in a strip of border municipalities that follow the US clock. Mexico City is on Central time year-round, the same as Chicago in winter and one hour behind it in summer. From the United States most travellers arrive by air into Mexico City, Cancún, Guadalajara or Los Cabos, or drive across one of about 50 crossings on the northern border; the busiest, San Ysidro between San Diego and Tijuana, handles tens of millions of crossings a year. Mexico City's airport sits at 2,230 m, which lengthens takeoff rolls and limits some long-haul payloads.
Questions about where Mexico is
What continent is Mexico in?
North America. The continent's conventional southern limit is the Isthmus of Panama, and Central America begins at Mexico's own southern border, so Mexico is not in Central America. It is also part of Latin America and, with the United States and Canada, of the USMCA trade area.
What countries border Mexico?
Three: the United States along 3,152 km in the north, Guatemala along 956 km in the south, and Belize along 193 km in the south-east. Six Mexican states touch the US border and four touch Guatemala.
What are the coordinates of Mexico?
The country runs from 14°32′ N at the mouth of the Suchiate river in Chiapas to 32°43′ N near Los Algodones in Baja California, and from about 86°42′ W at Isla Mujeres to 118°22′ W at Isla Guadalupe. Mexico City sits at 19.43° N, 99.13° W.
Is New Mexico part of Mexico?
No. New Mexico is a US state, admitted in 1912; it was Mexican territory until 1848. The two are often confused in search results, so there is a separate New Mexico map here.
How far is Mexico from the United States?
There is no distance: they share a 3,152 km land border. Mexico City is about 1,210 km from Houston and 2,500 km from Los Angeles in a straight line; Tijuana and San Diego are one urban area split by a fence.