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CDT/CST

Central Daylight Time

GMT -5

12am

3am

6am

9am

12pm

3pm

6pm

9pm

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

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

Chicago · CDT (UTC−5)Mexico City, Saskatchewan · CST all year (UTC−6)

EDT/EST

Eastern Daylight Time

GMT -4

12am

3am

6am

9am

12pm

3pm

6pm

9pm

Eastern Time is on daylight saving time: EDT (UTC−4) until Sun, Nov 1.

Use EST all year (UTC−5)

Quick answers

Selected conversion

7:00 am07:00 CDT (UTC-5), Oct 7, 2026 = 8:00 am08:00 EDT (UTC-4), Oct 7, 2026

CDT is 1 hour behind EDT.

CST and EST examples

These examples always use CST (UTC-6) and EST (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 EST.

CST uses UTC-6 during standard time. For Central Time that follows daylight saving time, use CT to EST. For daylight-time examples, use CDT to EST.

How the time difference changes

For most of the year, CDT is 1 hour behind EDT. At other times of the year, CST is 1 hour behind EST. Briefly around clock changes, CDT and EST have the same time or CST is 2 hours behind EDT.

For most of the year, working hours of 9:00 am to 5:00 pm in CDT correspond to 10:00 am to 6:00 pm in EDT. At other times of the year, working hours of 9:00 am to 5:00 pm in CST correspond to 10:00 am to 6:00 pm in EST.For most of the year, working hours of 09:00 to 17:00 in CDT correspond to 10:00 to 18:00 in EDT. At other times of the year, working hours of 09:00 to 17:00 in CST correspond to 10:00 to 18:00 in EST.

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

Time Difference

Central Daylight Time is 1 hour behind Eastern Daylight Time.
7:00 am07:00 in CDT is 8:00 am08:00 in EDT

CDT to EDT call time
Best time for a conference call or a meeting is between 9am-4pm09:00-16:00 in CDT which corresponds to 10am-5pm10:00-17:00 in EDT

7:00 am07:00 Central Daylight Time (CDT). Offset UTC -5:00 hours
8:00 am08:00 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). Offset UTC -4:00 hours

7:00 am07:00 CDT / 8:00 am08:00 EDT

CDT	EDT
12:00am	1:00am
1:00am	2:00am
2:00am	3:00am
3:00am	4:00am
4:00am	5:00am
5:00am	6:00am
6:00am	7:00am
7:00am	8:00am
8:00am	9:00am
9:00am	10:00am
10:00am	11:00am
11:00am	12:00pm
12:00pm	1:00pm
1:00pm	2:00pm
2:00pm	3:00pm
3:00pm	4:00pm
4:00pm	5:00pm
5:00pm	6:00pm
6:00pm	7:00pm
7:00pm	8:00pm
8:00pm	9:00pm
9:00pm	10:00pm
10:00pm	11:00pm
11:00pm	12:00am
00:00	01:00
01:00	02:00
02:00	03:00
03:00	04:00
04:00	05:00
05:00	06:00
06:00	07:00
07:00	08:00
08:00	09:00
09:00	10:00
10:00	11:00
11:00	12:00
12:00	13:00
13:00	14:00
14:00	15:00
15:00	16:00
16:00	17:00
17:00	18:00
18:00	19:00
19:00	20:00
20:00	21:00
21:00	22:00
22:00	23:00
23:00	00:00

Central Standard Time

Offset: CST is 6 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and is used in North America

Countries using this time zone: Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador, 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, Iztapalapa, Ecatepec.

French: HNC - Heure Normale du Centre

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

CST Time Zone Geo Map — CST timezone map

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).

End: 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.

Start: 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 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

Eastern Standard Time

Offset: EST is 5 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and is used in North America

Countries using this time zone: Bahamas, Canada, Haiti, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Mexico, Panama, Turks & Caicos Is, United States

Principal Cities: The largest city in the EST time zone is New York City in the United States, with about 8.804 million people. Other major cities in this time zone include Toronto, Brooklyn, Borough of Queens, Montreal.

French: HNE - Heure Normale de l'Est

Spanish: ET - Tiempo del Este, ET - Zona Sureste

EST Time Zone Geo Map — EST timezone map

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

End: Eastern Standard Time (EST) 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.

Start: Eastern Standard Time (EST) 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.