CST to EST Converter

Here CST means Central Time, CST (UTC−6) in its winter and CDT (UTC−5) in its summer, as kept in Chicago; EST means Eastern Time, EST (UTC−5) in its winter and EDT (UTC−4) in its summer, as kept in New York. So EST is always 1 h ahead of CST. Two 9-to-5 working days overlap by 7 h all year.

Central and Eastern Time sit next to each other, and many Americans cross between them daily: Chicago to New York, Nashville to Atlanta, or across a state line in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee or Florida, all of which are split between the two zones. Live TV schedules often print both, as “8/7c”, meaning 8:00 pm Eastern and 7:00 pm Central.

Eastern is always one hour later than Central, because both zones go onto daylight time on the same Sunday and come off it on the same Sunday. The only wrinkle is the change night: New York moves at 2:00 am Eastern, an hour before Chicago moves at 2:00 am Central. In March, for that one hour, the two are two hours apart; in November, for one hour, they show the same time. The tables on this page ignore that hour, since nobody schedules a meeting in it. For travel, remember that a flight from Chicago to New York gains an hour on arrival, and the trip back gives it back.

Rule of thumb: Add one hour to Central time to get Eastern time: 3:00 pm in Chicago is 4:00 pm in New York.