We prove a necessary and sufficient condition for the exponential stability of time-invariant linear systems on time scales in terms of the eigenvalues of the system matrix. In particular, this unifies the corresponding characterizations for finite-dimensional differential and difference equations. To this end we use a representation formula for the transition matrix of Jordan reducible systems in the regressive case. Also we give conditions under which the obtained characterizations can be exactly calculated and explicitly calculate the region of stability for several examples.