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ET/EDT
12am
3am
6am
9am
12pm
3pm
6pm
9pm
CDT/CST
UTC−5
1h behind
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).

Quick answers

Selected conversion

8:00 am08:00 EDT (UTC-4), Oct 18, 2026 = 7:00 am07:00 CDT (UTC-5), Oct 18, 2026

EDT is 1 hour ahead of CDT.

How the time difference changes

For most of the year, ET is 1 hour ahead of CDT. From Nov 1, 2026 to Mar 14, 2027, ET is 1 hour ahead of CST. Briefly around clock changes, ET is 2 hours ahead of CST or ET and CDT have the same time.

For most of the year, working hours of 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in ET correspond to 8:00 am to 5:00 pm in CDT. At other times of the year, working hours of 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in ET correspond to 8:00 am to 5:00 pm in CST.For most of the year, working hours of 09:00 to 18:00 in ET correspond to 08:00 to 17:00 in CDT. At other times of the year, working hours of 09:00 to 18:00 in ET correspond to 08:00 to 17:00 in CST.

Compare ET 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 1 hour ahead of Central Daylight Time.
8:00 am08:00 in EDT is 7:00 am07:00 in CDT

EDT to CDT call time
Best time for a conference call or a meeting is between 10am-6pm10:00-18:00 in EDT which corresponds to 9am-5pm09:00-17:00 in CDT

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

8:00 am08:00 EDT / 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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Eastern Time

Eastern Time (ET) is a general term used to describe the areas that observe either the Eastern Standard Time (EST) or Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) in the United States and Canada. ET is not static but switches between EDT and EST.

ET is also used somewhat as a de facto official time for all of the United States because it encompasses 17 U.S. states in the eastern part of the contiguous United States including the capital city Washington D.C., the most populous city New York and half of the country’s population.

In the United States nationally televised programs, evening newscasts, talent and awards shows, and any other nationally televised event that airs live on American television during prime time and on the weekends are broadcast live in the Eastern Time Zone. Major professional sports leagues MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL also provide their game times in Eastern Time, even if teams are from outside of Eastern Time.

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 ET 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

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

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

ET 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 ET
  • R - short form of 'Romeo'
ET Abbreviation: Several time zones share ET abbreviation and it could refer to these time zones
  • Eastern Time - UTC -5
  • Tiempo del Este - UTC -5
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

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