CST
Central Standard Time
UTC−6 — No daylight saving time
Abbreviation
CST
UTC Offset
UTC−6
Full Name
Central Standard Time
DST
No
About CST — Central Standard Time
Central Standard Time (CST) is the time zone at UTC−6, observed in the central United States and much of Central America. During winter months, CST covers Chicago, Houston, Dallas, and Minneapolis. Chicago is home to CME Group—the world's largest futures and derivatives exchange. During daylight saving time (second Sunday in March to first Sunday in November), most CST regions switch to CDT (UTC−5). Mexico City and most of Mexico observe CST in winter and CDT in summer. Some Central American countries (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua) use CST permanently without DST.
Countries Using CST
- United States (central states, winter)
- Canada (Manitoba, Saskatchewan)
- Mexico (most regions)
- Costa Rica
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- El Salvador
- Nicaragua
- Belize
Major Cities in CST
Conversion Examples for CST
| UTC Time | CST (UTC−6) |
|---|---|
| 00:00 UTC | 18:00 CST |
| 06:00 UTC | 00:00 CST |
| 09:00 UTC | 03:00 CST |
| 12:00 UTC | 06:00 CST |
| 15:00 UTC | 09:00 CST |
| 18:00 UTC | 12:00 CST |
| 21:00 UTC | 15:00 CST |
Related Time Zones
Tools
About CST (CST)
CST (UTC−6) is a standard time zone designation used by United States (central states, winter), Canada (Manitoba, Saskatchewan), Mexico (most regions), and 6 other countries. Time zone abbreviations like CST refer to a specific UTC offset rather than a geographic region — multiple time zones around the world may share the same offset while using different local names.
When scheduling internationally, it is more reliable to refer to a city name or IANA time zone identifier (like America/New_York or Asia/Dubai) than to a short abbreviation, since abbreviations are not globally standardised and can be ambiguous — for example, CST refers to both Central Standard Time (UTC−6) in North America and China Standard Time (UTC+8).
Use the conversion table on this page to see what any UTC hour maps to in CST, and use the tools below to convert between CST and any other time zone or city in real time.
UTC Offset vs IANA Time Zone: What's the Difference?
UTC Offset
A UTC offset like UTC+4 or UTC−5 is a simple number expressing how many hours and minutes a location is ahead of or behind Coordinated Universal Time. It is fixed and does not carry any information about DST rules or transitions.
IANA Time Zone
An IANA identifier like Europe/London or Asia/Tokyo is a database entry that includes the full history of UTC offset changes, DST rules, and historical exceptions for that location. IANA identifiers should always be preferred in software and scheduling systems.
Convert CST Time
CST — Frequently Asked Questions
CST is UTC−6, the standard time zone for the central United States, Canada's Manitoba province, and most Central American countries. It switches to CDT (UTC−5) in summer for US and Canadian regions.
CST (UTC−6) is 1 hour behind EST (UTC−5). When it is 12:00 PM EST, it is 11:00 AM CST.
Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Belize all use UTC−6 year-round without observing daylight saving time.