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).

EST
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 EST (UTC-5), Oct 16, 2026

CDT and EST have the same local time.

CST (US winter time, UTC-6) 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 is US Central winter time (early November to mid-March). The rest of the year Chicago uses CDT (UTC-5), one hour later. For Central Time that follows daylight saving time, use CT to EST-CARIBBEAN. For daylight-time examples, use CDT to EST-CARIBBEAN.

How the time difference changes

For most of the year, CDT and EST Caribbean have the same time. From Nov 1, 2026 to Mar 14, 2027, CST is 1 hour behind EST Caribbean.

For most of the year, working hours of 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in CDT correspond to 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in EST Caribbean. At other times of the year, working hours of 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in CST correspond to 10:00 am to 7:00 pm in EST Caribbean.For most of the year, working hours of 09:00 to 18:00 in CDT correspond to 09:00 to 18:00 in EST Caribbean. At other times of the year, working hours of 09:00 to 18:00 in CST correspond to 10:00 to 19:00 in EST Caribbean.

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 and Eastern Standard Time have the same local time.
7:00 am07:00 in CDT is 7:00 am07:00 in EST

CDT to EST 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 EST

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

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

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

Eastern Standard Time

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

Countries using this time zone: Bahamas, Canada, Cayman Islands, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Turks and Caicos Islands, 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, Montréal, Philadelphia, Port-au-Prince.

Daylight Saving: Some places on Eastern Standard Time (EST) keep the same time all year, while others use EST for only part of the year and change their clocks for daylight saving time; see upcoming clock changes worldwide.

Map of the areas on Eastern Standard Time (EST)
EST all year EST part of the year

Today the lighter areas are on UTC−4 (EDT).

EST 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 EST
  • R - short form of 'Romeo'
IANA/Olson: Reflects EST time zone boundaries defined by political bodies, primarily intended for use with computer programs and operating systems
  • America/Atikokan
  • America/Cancun
  • America/Cayman
  • America/Coral_Harbour
  • America/Detroit
  • America/Fort_Wayne
  • America/Grand_Turk
  • America/Indiana/Indianapolis
  • America/Indiana/Marengo
  • America/Indiana/Petersburg
  • America/Indiana/Vevay
  • America/Indiana/Vincennes
  • America/Indiana/Winamac
  • America/Indianapolis
  • America/Iqaluit
  • America/Jamaica
  • America/Kentucky/Louisville
  • America/Kentucky/Monticello
  • America/Louisville
  • America/Montreal
  • America/Nassau
  • America/New_York
  • America/Nipigon
  • America/Panama
  • America/Pangnirtung
  • America/Port-au-Prince
  • America/Thunder_Bay
  • America/Toronto
  • Canada/Eastern
  • EST
  • EST5EDT
  • Jamaica
  • US/East-Indiana
  • US/Eastern
  • US/Michigan
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