Updating current time…
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).

MDT
Mountain Daylight Time
GMT -6
12am
3am
6am
9am
12pm
3pm
6pm
9pm

Quick answers

Selected conversion

7:00 am07:00 CDT (UTC-5), Oct 5, 2026 = 6:00 am06:00 MDT (UTC-6), Oct 5, 2026

CDT is 1 hour ahead of MDT.

CST and MDT examples

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

CST and MDT have the same local time.

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

How the time difference changes

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

For most of the year, working hours of 9:00 am to 5:00 pm in CDT correspond to 8:00 am to 4:00 pm in MDT. At other times of the year, working hours of 9:00 am to 5:00 pm in CST correspond to 8:00 am to 4:00 pm in MST.For most of the year, working hours of 09:00 to 17:00 in CDT correspond to 08:00 to 16:00 in MDT. At other times of the year, working hours of 09:00 to 17:00 in CST correspond to 08:00 to 16:00 in MST.

Compare CST time with MDT 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 ahead of Mountain Daylight Time.
7:00 am07:00 in CDT is 6:00 am06:00 in MDT

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

7:00 am07:00 Central Daylight Time (CDT). Offset UTC -5:00 hours
6:00 am06:00 Mountain Daylight Time (MDT). Offset UTC -6:00 hours

7:00 am07:00 CDT / 6:00 am06:00 MDT

CDTMDT
12:00am11:00pm
1:00am12:00am
2:00am1:00am
3:00am2:00am
4:00am3:00am
5:00am4:00am
6:00am5:00am
7:00am6:00am
8:00am7:00am
9:00am8:00am
10:00am9:00am
11:00am10:00am
12:00pm11:00am
1:00pm12:00pm
2:00pm1:00pm
3:00pm2:00pm
4:00pm3:00pm
5:00pm4:00pm
6:00pm5:00pm
7:00pm6:00pm
8:00pm7:00pm
9:00pm8:00pm
10:00pm9:00pm
11:00pm10:00pm
00:0023:00
01:0000:00
02:0001:00
03:0002:00
04:0003:00
05:0004:00
06:0005:00
07:0006:00
08:0007:00
09:0008:00
10:0009:00
11:0010:00
12:0011:00
13:0012:00
14:0013:00
15:0014:00
16:0015:00
17:0016:00
18:0017:00
19:0018:00
20:0019:00
21:0020:00
22:0021:00
23:0022:00

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).

Daylight saving time clock moves forward for one hourEnd: 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.

Daylight saving time clock moves back for one hourStart: 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

Mountain Daylight Time

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

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

Principal Cities: The largest city in the MDT time zone is Calgary in Canada, with about 1.307 million people. Other major cities in this time zone include Edmonton, Denver, El Paso, Albuquerque.

French: HAR - Heure Avancée des Rocheuses

Spanish: MT - Zona Pacífico

MDT Time Zone Geo Map
MDT timezone map

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

Daylight saving time clock moves forward for one hourStart: Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) 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.

Daylight saving time clock moves back for one hourEnd: Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) 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 upcoming clock changes worldwide.

MDT 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 MDT
  • S - short form of 'Sierra'
IANA/Olson: Reflects MDT time zone boundaries defined by political bodies, primarily intended for use with computer programs and operating systems
  • America/Boise
  • America/Cambridge_Bay
  • America/Ciudad_Juarez
  • America/Denver
  • America/Edmonton
  • America/Inuvik
  • America/Shiprock
  • America/Yellowknife
  • Canada/Mountain
  • MST7MDT
  • Navajo
  • US/Mountain
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