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CST: Central Standard Time (North America)

CST is UTC−6: 6 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time. The central United States and Canada in winter. Mexico City has used UTC−6 all year since Mexico ended daylight saving in 2022, as do Saskatchewan and most of Central America.

Current time at UTC−6
CST8:08 AMThu, Oct 22
UTC2:08 PMThu, Oct 22

Calculated from your device clock. Shown at the fixed CST offset, whether or not a particular place is using it today.

Is CST in use right now?

Chicago switches between CST and CDT during the year.

Next change in Chicago: Sunday, November 1, 2026, to UTC−6 (CST). Based on time zone rules at build time.

Full name
Central Standard Time (North America)
UTC offset
UTC−6ISO 8601: -06:00
Type
Standard (winter) time
Summer counterpart
CDT · UTC−5
Example IANA zone
America/Chicago
Ambiguous?
YesSee the note below
The letters CST mean more than one thing. China Standard Time (UTC+8) and Cuba Standard Time (UTC−5) also use CST. Write the city to remove the 14-hour ambiguity with China.

Where and when CST is used in 2026

Calculated for the cities in our directory from the IANA time zone database. Dates are local; each change happens in the early morning of the date shown.

CityIANA zoneOn CST (UTC−6)
ChicagoAmerica/ChicagoJan 1 – Mar 8 and Nov 1 – Dec 31
Mexico CityAmerica/Mexico_CityAll of 2026

CST conversion table

Every hour of the day in CST, converted at fixed offsets. To convert local time in a specific city, use the city instead: its offset may change with the date.

CST (UTC−6)UTC (UTC+0)EST (UTC−5)PST (UTC−8)GMT (UTC+0)IST (UTC+5:30)JST (UTC+9)
12:00 AM6:00 AM1:00 AM10:00 PMprevious day6:00 AM11:30 AM3:00 PM
1:00 AM7:00 AM2:00 AM11:00 PMprevious day7:00 AM12:30 PM4:00 PM
2:00 AM8:00 AM3:00 AM12:00 AM8:00 AM1:30 PM5:00 PM
3:00 AM9:00 AM4:00 AM1:00 AM9:00 AM2:30 PM6:00 PM
4:00 AM10:00 AM5:00 AM2:00 AM10:00 AM3:30 PM7:00 PM
5:00 AM11:00 AM6:00 AM3:00 AM11:00 AM4:30 PM8:00 PM
6:00 AM12:00 PM7:00 AM4:00 AM12:00 PM5:30 PM9:00 PM
7:00 AM1:00 PM8:00 AM5:00 AM1:00 PM6:30 PM10:00 PM
8:00 AM2:00 PM9:00 AM6:00 AM2:00 PM7:30 PM11:00 PM
9:00 AM3:00 PM10:00 AM7:00 AM3:00 PM8:30 PM12:00 AMnext day
10:00 AM4:00 PM11:00 AM8:00 AM4:00 PM9:30 PM1:00 AMnext day
11:00 AM5:00 PM12:00 PM9:00 AM5:00 PM10:30 PM2:00 AMnext day
12:00 PM6:00 PM1:00 PM10:00 AM6:00 PM11:30 PM3:00 AMnext day
1:00 PM7:00 PM2:00 PM11:00 AM7:00 PM12:30 AMnext day4:00 AMnext day
2:00 PM8:00 PM3:00 PM12:00 PM8:00 PM1:30 AMnext day5:00 AMnext day
3:00 PM9:00 PM4:00 PM1:00 PM9:00 PM2:30 AMnext day6:00 AMnext day
4:00 PM10:00 PM5:00 PM2:00 PM10:00 PM3:30 AMnext day7:00 AMnext day
5:00 PM11:00 PM6:00 PM3:00 PM11:00 PM4:30 AMnext day8:00 AMnext day
6:00 PM12:00 AMnext day7:00 PM4:00 PM12:00 AMnext day5:30 AMnext day9:00 AMnext day
7:00 PM1:00 AMnext day8:00 PM5:00 PM1:00 AMnext day6:30 AMnext day10:00 AMnext day
8:00 PM2:00 AMnext day9:00 PM6:00 PM2:00 AMnext day7:30 AMnext day11:00 AMnext day
9:00 PM3:00 AMnext day10:00 PM7:00 PM3:00 AMnext day8:30 AMnext day12:00 PMnext day
10:00 PM4:00 AMnext day11:00 PM8:00 PM4:00 AMnext day9:30 AMnext day1:00 PMnext day
11:00 PM5:00 AMnext day12:00 AMnext day9:00 PM5:00 AMnext day10:30 AMnext day2:00 PMnext day

Highlighted rows: 9 am – 5 pm in CST.

What to know about CST

Chicago follows US daylight saving and moves to CDT (UTC−5) from March to November. Mexico City does not, so the Chicago–Mexico City difference is one hour for most of the year and zero in winter.

In software, prefer America/Chicago or Asia/Shanghai to the letters CST.

Read more about why abbreviations need context and how daylight saving changes offsets.

Popular conversions

Local time in cities that use CST

Other time zone abbreviations

All time zones →
UTCCoordinated Universal TimeUTC+0GMTGreenwich Mean TimeUTC+0BSTBritish Summer TimeUTC+1CETCentral European TimeUTC+1CESTCentral European Summer TimeUTC+2ESTEastern Standard TimeUTC−5EDTEastern Daylight TimeUTC−4CDTCentral Daylight TimeUTC−5MSTMountain Standard TimeUTC−7PSTPacific Standard TimeUTC−8PDTPacific Daylight TimeUTC−7ISTIndia Standard TimeUTC+5:30JSTJapan Standard TimeUTC+9SGTSingapore TimeUTC+8GSTGulf Standard TimeUTC+4AESTAustralian Eastern Standard TimeUTC+10AEDTAustralian Eastern Daylight TimeUTC+11