CST to EST Converter
Eastern Time is 1 hour ahead of Central Time all year: CST to EST in winter, CDT to EDT in summer. 9:00 AM Central is 10:00 AM Eastern, and 1:00 PM Central is 2:00 PM.
The Central Times People Look Up
Add one hour to any Central time. The ones that come up most, in both seasons:
| Central time | Eastern time |
|---|---|
| 8:00 AM | 9:00 AM |
| 10:00 AM | 11:00 AM |
| 12:00 PM | 1:00 PM |
| 1:00 PM | 2:00 PM |
| 2:00 PM | 3:00 PM |
| 3:00 PM | 4:00 PM |
| 5:00 PM | 6:00 PM |
| 10:00 PM | 11:00 PM |
The answer is the same on CST to EST in January and on CDT to EDT in July. After 11:00 PM Central the Eastern time is on the next date, so a late-night deadline needs the date in both zones.
Central Time in Eastern Time, Every Hour
Full 24-hour reference table. Use the live clocks above for the exact current offset.
| 🇺🇸 CST/CDT | 🇺🇸 CST/CDT → EST/EDTWinter UTC-6 to UTC-5, summer UTC-5 to UTC-4 (always +1 hour) |
|---|---|
| 00:00 | 1:00 AM |
| 01:00 | 2:00 AM |
| 02:00 | 3:00 AM |
| 03:00 | 4:00 AM |
| 04:00 | 5:00 AM |
| 05:00 | 6:00 AM |
| 06:00 | 7:00 AM |
| 07:00 | 8:00 AM |
| 08:00 | 9:00 AM |
| 09:00 | 10:00 AM |
| 10:00 | 11:00 AM |
| 11:00 | 12:00 PM |
| 12:00 | 1:00 PM |
| 13:00 | 2:00 PM |
| 14:00 | 3:00 PM |
| 15:00 | 4:00 PM |
| 16:00 | 5:00 PM |
| 17:00 | 6:00 PM |
| 18:00 | 7:00 PM |
| 19:00 | 8:00 PM |
| 20:00 | 9:00 PM |
| 21:00 | 10:00 PM |
| 22:00 | 11:00 PM |
| 23:00 | 12:00 AMnext day |
* "next day" = converted time falls on the following calendar day.
States Where Both Zones Meet
Several states are split by the Central and Eastern boundary, so the right zone depends on the city:
- Tennessee: Nashville and Memphis are on Central Time, Knoxville and Chattanooga on Eastern.
- Kentucky: Louisville and Lexington are on Eastern Time, Bowling Green and Paducah on Central.
- Indiana: most of the state, including Indianapolis, is on Eastern Time; Gary and Evansville are on Central.
- Florida: most of the state is Eastern, but the western panhandle, including Pensacola, is on Central Time.
- Michigan: the four Upper Peninsula counties that border Wisconsin are on Central Time, the rest of the state on Eastern.
A 9:00 AM meeting in Nashville is 10:00 AM in Knoxville, without leaving the state.
Nearly the Whole Workday Is Shared
With one hour between them, a 9-to-5 day in Chicago is 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM in New York. The shared hours are Central 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, which is 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern: seven hours. New York is at lunch while Chicago is still in the morning, and Chicago's last hour is after New York has gone home.
| Central Standard Time | Eastern Standard Time |
|---|---|
| 9:00 AM–4:00 PM | 10:00 AM–5:00 PM |
| CST/CDT → EST/EDT: Both inside 9 AM–5 PM Central 9 to 4 is Eastern 10 to 5, inside both workdays in every season. | |
"Inside 9 AM–5 PM" is a planning assumption for a standard office day on each side, not a claim about any company's hours.
Where the Gap Is Not One Hour
Central Time itself changes on the same dates as Eastern Time, so Chicago and New York stay one hour apart in every season. Places that do not follow the rule are the exception. Saskatchewan stays on UTC-6 all year, so Regina is one hour behind Chicago in summer and two hours behind New York. Mexico City has not changed its clocks since 2022 and behaves the same way.
Manitoba has decided to keep its summer time from November 1, 2026, which puts Winnipeg on UTC-5 all year. From then on Winnipeg shows the same time as New York in winter and is one hour behind it in summer. Alberta and British Columbia made similar decisions for the Mountain and Pacific zones, so "Central minus one hour" is a good rule for the US cities and a bad one for Canadian provinces.
The letters can mislead too. CST also names China Standard Time (UTC+8) and Cuba Standard Time (UTC-5), and an invite that only says "CST" from outside the US may mean one of them.
A Deadline That Crosses Midnight
Central and Eastern Time are one hour apart, so mistakes are rarely about the hour itself. They happen at the edge of the day. If a form closes at 11:30 PM Central on a Friday, it closes at 12:30 AM the next day Eastern, which is already Saturday. Anyone in Eastern Time who waits for "Friday night" has missed it.
Take a normal working call. A 9:00 AM Central start is 10:00 AM Eastern, and a 4:00 PM Central finish is 5:00 PM Eastern. Going the other way, Eastern 9:00 AM is 8:00 AM Central.
When you write an invite, name the zone next to the time ("9:00 AM CT / 10:00 AM ET") rather than leaving one side to work it out. The New York Stock Exchange opens at 9:30 AM Eastern, which is 8:30 AM in Chicago, and closes at 4:00 PM Eastern, which is 3:00 PM.