Updating current time…
CDT/CST
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Central Time is on daylight saving time: CDT (UTC−5) until Sun, Nov 1.

Mexico City and Saskatchewan stay on CST (UTC−6).

CDT
UTC−5
same time
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Quick answers

Selected conversion

7:00 am07:00 CDT (UTC-5), Oct 16, 2026 = 7:00 am07:00 CDT (UTC-5), Oct 16, 2026

CDT and CDT have the same local time.

CST (US winter time, UTC-6) and CDT examples

These examples always use CST (UTC-6) and CDT (UTC-5). They stay the same when you change the date or time above. The selected conversion may differ when daylight saving time applies.

CST is 1 hour behind CDT.

How the time difference changes

The CST and CDT converter rows show the same time year-round.

Working hours of 9:00 am to 6:00 pm on the CST converter row correspond to 9:00 am to 6:00 pm on the CDT converter row.Working hours of 09:00 to 18:00 on the CST converter row correspond to 09:00 to 18:00 on the CDT converter row.

Compare CST time with CDT time, including current local time, UTC offsets, time difference, daylight saving changes, working hours, and shareable meeting times.

Time Difference

Central Daylight Time and Central Daylight Time have the same local time.
7:00 am07:00 in CDT is 7:00 am07:00 in CDT

CDT to CDT call time
Best time for a conference call or a meeting is between 9am-6pm09:00-18:00 in CDT which corresponds to 9am-6pm09:00-18:00 in CDT

7:00 am07:00 Central Daylight Time (CDT). Offset UTC -5:00 hours
7:00 am07:00 Central Daylight Time (CDT). Offset UTC -5:00 hours

7:00 am07:00 CDT / 7:00 am07:00 CDT

Choose an hour to update the converter. Day labels such as “next day” or “+1” are relative to the selected date in the first column. Use Up and Down arrow keys, Home or End to move between hours, then Enter or Space to select.

Hourly time comparison
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Central Standard Time

Offset: CST is 6 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Countries using this time zone: Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, United States

Principal Cities: The largest city in the CST time zone is Mexico City in Mexico, with about 12.294 million people. Other major cities in this time zone include Chicago, Houston, Puebla, Santiago de Querétaro.

French: HNC - Heure Normale du Centre

Spanish: CT - Tiempo Central Estándar, CT - Zona Centro

Map of the areas on Central Standard Time (CST)
CST all year CST part of the year

Today the lighter areas are on UTC−5 (Central Daylight Time).

Daylight Saving: This is a standard time zone. During summer, some places set clocks forward one hour for daylight saving time and observe Central Daylight Time (CDT).

123456789101112End: Central Standard Time (CST) ended on Sunday, March 8, 2026 at 2:00 am02:00 local time and clocks were set one hour forward to Sunday, March 8, 2026, 3:00 am03:00 local daylight time instead. Standard time ends annually on the second Sunday of March.

123456789101112Start: Central Standard Time (CST) starts on Sunday, November 1, 2026 at 2:00 am02:00 local time and clocks are set one hour back to Sunday, November 1, 2026, 1:00 am01:00. Standard time starts annually on the first Sunday of November.

See USA daylight saving time and upcoming clock changes worldwide.

CST representations, usage and related time zones

W3C/ISO-8601: International standard covering representation and exchange of dates and time-related data
  • -06 - basic short
  • -0600 - basic
  • -06:00 - extended
Email/RFC-2822: Internet Message Format Date Standard, typically used for timestamps in email headers
  • -0600 - sign character (-) followed by a four digit time providing hours (06) and minutes (00) of the offset. Indicates an offset of six hours to the west of the zero meridian.
Military/NATO: Used by the U.S. military, Chinese military and others
  • Sierra - Military abbreviation for CST
  • S - short form of 'Sierra'
IANA/Olson: Reflects CST time zone boundaries defined by political bodies, primarily intended for use with computer programs and operating systems
  • America/Bahia_Banderas
  • America/Belize
  • America/Chicago
  • America/Chihuahua
  • America/Costa_Rica
  • America/El_Salvador
  • America/Guatemala
  • America/Indiana/Knox
  • America/Indiana/Tell_City
  • America/Knox_IN
  • America/Managua
  • America/Matamoros
  • America/Menominee
  • America/Merida
  • America/Mexico_City
  • America/Monterrey
  • America/North_Dakota/Beulah
  • America/North_Dakota/Center
  • America/North_Dakota/New_Salem
  • America/Ojinaga
  • America/Rainy_River
  • America/Rankin_Inlet
  • America/Regina
  • America/Resolute
  • America/Swift_Current
  • America/Tegucigalpa
  • America/Winnipeg
  • CST6CDT
  • Canada/Central
  • Canada/Saskatchewan
  • Mexico/General
  • US/Central
  • US/Indiana-Starke
CST Abbreviation: Several time zones share CST abbreviation and it could refer to these time zones
  • Central Standard Time - UTC -6
  • China Standard Time - UTC +8
  • Cuba Standard Time - UTC -5
Time zones with the GMT -6 offset:
  • CST - Central Standard Time
  • CT - Central Time
  • MDT - Mountain Daylight Time
  • EAST - Easter Island Standard Time
  • GALT - Galapagos Time
  • S - Sierra Time Zone

Central Daylight Time

Offset: CDT is 5 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Countries using this time zone: Canada, Mexico, United States

Principal Cities: The largest city in the CDT time zone is Chicago in the United States, with about 2.664 million people. Other major cities in this time zone include Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth.

French: HAC - Heure Avancée du Centre

Spanish: CT - Zona Centro

Map of the areas on Central Daylight Time (CDT)
CDT part of the year

Today all shaded areas are on CDT.

Daylight Saving: Central Daylight Time (CDT) is a daylight saving/summer time zone. During winter, some places set clocks back one hour and observe Central Standard Time (CST).

123456789101112Start: Central Daylight Time (CDT) started on Sunday, March 8, 2026 at 2:00 am02:00 local time and clocks were set one hour forward to Sunday, March 8, 2026, 3:00 am03:00. Daylight saving starts annually on the second Sunday of March.

123456789101112End: Central Daylight Time (CDT) ends on Sunday, November 1, 2026 at 2:00 am02:00 local time and clocks are set one hour back to Sunday, November 1, 2026, 1:00 am01:00 local standard time instead. Daylight saving ends annually on the first Sunday of November.

See USA daylight saving time and upcoming clock changes worldwide.

CDT representations, usage and related time zones

W3C/ISO-8601: International standard covering representation and exchange of dates and time-related data
  • -05 - basic short
  • -0500 - basic
  • -05:00 - extended
Email/RFC-2822: Internet Message Format Date Standard, typically used for timestamps in email headers
  • -0500 - sign character (-) followed by a four digit time providing hours (05) and minutes (00) of the offset. Indicates an offset of five hours to the west of the zero meridian.
Military/NATO: Used by the U.S. military, Chinese military and others
  • Romeo - Military abbreviation for CDT
  • R - short form of 'Romeo'
IANA/Olson: Reflects CDT time zone boundaries defined by political bodies, primarily intended for use with computer programs and operating systems
  • America/Chicago
  • America/Indiana/Knox
  • America/Indiana/Tell_City
  • America/Knox_IN
  • America/Matamoros
  • America/Menominee
  • America/North_Dakota/Beulah
  • America/North_Dakota/Center
  • America/North_Dakota/New_Salem
  • America/Ojinaga
  • America/Rainy_River
  • America/Rankin_Inlet
  • America/Resolute
  • America/Winnipeg
  • CST6CDT
  • Canada/Central
  • US/Central
  • US/Indiana-Starke
CDT Abbreviation: Several time zones share CDT abbreviation and it could refer to these time zones
  • Central Daylight Time - UTC -5
  • Cuba Daylight Time - UTC -4
Time zones with the GMT -5 offset:
  • CDT - Central Daylight Time
  • EST - Eastern Standard Time
  • ET - Eastern Time
  • COT - Colombia Time
  • CST - Cuba Standard Time
  • EASST - Easter Island Summer Time
  • ECT - Ecuador Time
  • PET - Peru Time
  • R - Romeo Time Zone