EST to CST Central America Converter
Start by searching for a time zone, city, or town.
Add one or more places to compare local times, adjust the date, and share the result.
Quick answers
Selected conversion
8:00 am08:00 EDT (UTC-4), Oct 27, 2026 = 6:00 am06:00 CST (UTC-6), Oct 27, 2026
EDT is 2 hours ahead of CST.
EST (US winter time, UTC-5) and CST examples
These examples always use EST (UTC-5) and CST (UTC-6). They stay the same when you change the date or time above. The selected conversion may differ when daylight saving time applies.
EST is 1 hour ahead of CST.
EST is US Eastern winter time (early November to mid-March). The rest of the year New York uses EDT (UTC-4), one hour later. For Eastern Time that follows daylight saving time, use ET to CST-CENTRAL-AMERICA. For daylight-time examples, use EDT to CST-CENTRAL-AMERICA.
How the time difference changes
For most of the year, EDT is 2 hours ahead of CST Central America. From Nov 1, 2026 to Mar 14, 2027, EST is 1 hour ahead of CST Central America.
For most of the year, working hours of 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in EDT correspond to 7:00 am to 4:00 pm in CST Central America. At other times of the year, working hours of 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in EST correspond to 8:00 am to 5:00 pm in CST Central America.For most of the year, working hours of 09:00 to 18:00 in EDT correspond to 07:00 to 16:00 in CST Central America. At other times of the year, working hours of 09:00 to 18:00 in EST correspond to 08:00 to 17:00 in CST Central America.
Compare EST time with CST time, including current local time, UTC offsets, time difference, daylight saving changes, working hours, and shareable meeting times.
Time Difference
Eastern Daylight Time is 2 hours ahead of Central Standard Time.
8:00 am08:00 in EDT is 6:00 am06:00 in CST
EDT to CST call time
Best time for a conference call or a meeting is between 11am-6pm11:00-18:00 in EDT which corresponds to 9am-4pm09:00-16:00 in CST
8:00 am08:00 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). Offset UTC -4:00 hours
6:00 am06:00 Central Standard Time (CST). Offset UTC -6:00 hours
8:00 am08:00 EDT / 6:00 am06:00 CST
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.
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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.
French: HNE - Heure Normale de l'Est
Spanish: ET - Tiempo del Este, ET - Zona Sureste
Today the lighter areas are on UTC−4 (EDT).
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.
See USA daylight saving time and upcoming clock changes worldwide.
EST representations, usage and related time zones
- -05 - basic short
- -0500 - basic
- -05:00 - extended
- -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.
- Romeo - Military abbreviation for EST
- R - short form of 'Romeo'
- 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
- 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
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.
Daylight Saving: Some places on Central Standard Time (CST) keep the same time all year, while others use CST for only part of the year and change their clocks for daylight saving time; see upcoming clock changes worldwide.
Today the lighter areas are on UTC−5 (Central Daylight Time).
CST representations, usage and related time zones
- -06 - basic short
- -0600 - basic
- -06:00 - extended
- -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.
- Sierra - Military abbreviation for CST
- S - short form of 'Sierra'
- 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
- Central Standard Time - UTC -6
- China Standard Time - UTC +8
- Cuba Standard Time - UTC -5
- CST - Central Standard Time
- CT - Central Time
- MDT - Mountain Daylight Time
- EAST - Easter Island Standard Time
- GALT - Galapagos Time
- S - Sierra Time Zone