Tennessee Time Zone Map
Tennessee is split between Eastern Time and Central Time. See the map, live clocks, major cities, boundary notes, and daylight saving rules.
Simplified visual guide. The legal Eastern/Central boundary is defined in 49 CFR § 71.5 and follows county lines through eastern Tennessee.
The Boundary Follows County Lines
In Tennessee the clock changes on an ordinary highway. East Tennessee is on Eastern Time and the rest of the state is on Central Time, and the dividing line is written into federal regulation as a run of county lines: the line leaves Kentucky and follows the edges of Scott, Morgan, Roane, Rhea and Hamilton counties down to the Georgia border. The text is in 49 CFR § 71.5.
Hamilton County, which holds Chattanooga, is on the Eastern side. Cumberland County, with Crossville, is on the Central side, which puts the change on the Cumberland Plateau, along Interstate 40 between Nashville and Knoxville. A driver gains an hour there heading east and loses it heading west.
Which Cities Are on Which Clock
Knoxville, Chattanooga, Johnson City, Kingsport, Bristol, Cleveland, Oak Ridge and Maryville
Nashville, Memphis, Clarksville, Murfreesboro, Franklin, Jackson, Cookeville and Crossville
Middle and West Tennessee are Central, so Nashville and Memphis always agree with each other.
One Hour Between Nashville and Knoxville
Both Tennessee zones change on the same dates, so Knoxville is one hour ahead of Nashville in every season. The table shows the offsets in mid-January and mid-July and what 9:00 AM in Nashville reads in each place, including three of Tennessee's neighbors.
| Place | Mid-January | Mid-July | When it is 9:00 AM in Nashville |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nashville, Memphis (Central) | UTC-6 | UTC-5 | 9:00 AM |
| Knoxville, Chattanooga, Johnson City (Eastern) | UTC-5 | UTC-4 | 10:00 AM |
| Louisville, Kentucky | UTC-5 | UTC-4 | 10:00 AM |
| Birmingham, Alabama | UTC-6 | UTC-5 | 9:00 AM |
| Atlanta, Georgia | UTC-5 | UTC-4 | 10:00 AM |
Writing a Tennessee Time in an Invite
“Tennessee time” is not enough for a statewide call. A 9:00 AM start in Nashville is 10:00 AM in Knoxville, and a 4:00 PM deadline in Memphis is 5:00 PM in Chattanooga. Put the city or the zone next to the time, and when a meeting has people in both halves of the state, pick an hour that still falls inside the workday for both.
Neither half skips the clock change. Eastern Tennessee moves between UTC-5 and UTC-4 and Central Tennessee between UTC-6 and UTC-5, on the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November. The 2027 daylight saving page lists those dates, and the CST to EST converter does the hour for any time.
Two Hours a Year When the Gap Is Not One Hour
Eastern Tennessee changes its clocks an hour before Central Tennessee does, because both go at 2:00 AM local time. For one hour on each change day the usual one-hour gap is wrong, and the table shows the dates:
| Date | Eastern (Knoxville) | Central (Nashville) |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday, March 8, 2026 | 2:00 AM to 3:00 AMUTC-5 to UTC-4 | 2:00 AM to 3:00 AMUTC-6 to UTC-5 |
| Sunday, November 1, 2026 | 2:00 AM to 1:00 AMUTC-4 to UTC-5 | 2:00 AM to 1:00 AMUTC-5 to UTC-6 |
| Sunday, March 14, 2027 | 2:00 AM to 3:00 AMUTC-5 to UTC-4 | 2:00 AM to 3:00 AMUTC-6 to UTC-5 |
| Sunday, November 7, 2027 | 2:00 AM to 1:00 AMUTC-4 to UTC-5 | 2:00 AM to 1:00 AMUTC-5 to UTC-6 |
| Sunday, March 12, 2028 | 2:00 AM to 3:00 AMUTC-5 to UTC-4 | 2:00 AM to 3:00 AMUTC-6 to UTC-5 |
| Sunday, November 5, 2028 | 2:00 AM to 1:00 AMUTC-4 to UTC-5 | 2:00 AM to 1:00 AMUTC-5 to UTC-6 |
In March, between 3:00 and 4:00 AM in Knoxville, Nashville still reads 1:00 to 2:00 AM, a two-hour gap. In November, between 1:00 and 2:00 AM Eastern Standard Time, the two cities show exactly the same clock. Nobody schedules meetings then, but overnight jobs, alarms and broadcasts do run in those hours.
Tennessee's Eight Neighbors
Tennessee borders eight states, and they sit on both sides of the line. Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia are on Eastern Time, like East Tennessee. Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri are on Central Time, like Nashville and Memphis. Kentucky is split between the two, with Louisville and Lexington on Eastern Time and Bowling Green and Paducah on Central.
A road trip from Memphis to Asheville therefore gains one hour once, on the way across the line, and a trip from Nashville to Birmingham gains none.