Wednesday, September 9, 2026
Central Standard Time (CDT)
UTC Offset
UTC-05:00
Standard: UTC-06:00
Daylight Saving Time
DST Active
CST / CDT
Next Clock Change
Nov 1, 2026
Clocks back
Region
America
5 major cities
Major Cities Using CDT
About Central Standard Time
Central Standard Time (CDT) is a time zone that is behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) by 05:00 hours. During standard time, the offset changes to UTC-06:00.
Major cities using this timezone include Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Minneapolis, New Orleans. These cities follow Central Time for their local time, making it easy to coordinate meetings and communications across the region.
Central Standard Time observes Daylight Saving Time (DST). The next clock change will occur on Sunday, November 1, 2026, when clocks will fall back (move behind) by one hour.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Time Tools
About Central Standard Time (CST)
Central Standard Time (CST) is a time zone with a UTC offset of -05:00. The IANA identifier is America/Chicago. Live time displayed here updates every second and accounts for any active Daylight Saving Time.
Use the converter above to translate CST times into your local clock, or jump to one of the popular pair conversions below to see CST relative to other major timezones.
Right now America/Chicago is UTC-05:00 (daylight saving active). Standard-time offset: UTC-06:00.
Next DST change: Sunday, November 1, 2026 — clocks fall back from -05:00 to -06:00. Currently on daylight saving time (UTC-05:00).
Major Cities Using CST
These cities observe Central Standard Time either year-round or as their standard non-DST baseline.
Popular CST Time Conversions
Frequently searched conversions involving CST. Each link opens the live converter pre-filled.