ClockOrbit

Time zone comparison

CST vs EDT time zone comparison

Central Standard Time (CST, UTC-06:00) vs Eastern Daylight Time (EDT, UTC-05:00). Right now CST is 1h behind EDT. CST is used in Chicago, Dallas and Houston while EDT covers New York, New York City and Washington DC. Use the 24-hour grid below to find a meeting slot both sides will tolerate.

Live clocks

 

Right now in CST

--:--:--
UTC

 

Right now in EDT

--:--:--
UTC

Heads up: EDT is only observed in summer.

Best meeting windows today

Hours where both sides sit inside 9-to-5 business hours.

24-hour comparison

Each row is one hour. Green rows are when both sides are inside 9 AM to 5 PM.

Convert exact time →
24-hour wall-clock comparison between Central Standard Time and Eastern Daylight Time, with business-hour overlap highlighted.
HourCST (Central Standard Time)EDT (Eastern Daylight Time)Overlap
12 AM00:00Mon01:00MonNo overlap
1 AM01:00Mon02:00MonNo overlap
2 AM02:00Mon03:00MonNo overlap
3 AM03:00Mon04:00MonNo overlap
4 AM04:00Mon05:00MonNo overlap
5 AM05:00Mon06:00MonNo overlap
6 AM06:00Mon07:00MonNo overlap
7 AM07:00Mon08:00MonNo overlap
8 AM08:00Mon09:00MonEDT only
9 AM09:00Mon10:00MonBusiness overlap
10 AM10:00Mon11:00MonBusiness overlap
11 AM11:00Mon12:00MonBusiness overlap
12 PM12:00Mon13:00MonBusiness overlap
1 PM13:00Mon14:00MonBusiness overlap
2 PM14:00Mon15:00MonBusiness overlap
3 PM15:00Mon16:00MonBusiness overlap
4 PM16:00Mon17:00MonCST only
5 PM17:00Mon18:00MonNo overlap
6 PM18:00Mon19:00MonNo overlap
7 PM19:00Mon20:00MonNo overlap
8 PM20:00Mon21:00MonNo overlap
9 PM21:00Mon22:00MonNo overlap
10 PM22:00Mon23:00MonNo overlap
11 PM23:00Mon00:00TueNo overlap

How CST and EDT compare

Central Standard Time (CST) sits at UTC-06:00 today, while Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) is at UTC-05:00. The current gap is 1 hour, with CST behind EDT. In practical terms, if your morning starts at 9 AM in Chicago, your counterpart in New York is seeing 10:00 on their own watch at that exact moment.

CST is the working clock for Chicago, Dallas and Houston. CST also refers to China Standard Time (Asia/Shanghai) and Cuba Standard Time. North American intent dominates search volume. EDT covers New York, New York City and Washington DC. EDT is the summer version of EST. Same IANA zone, automatic switch on the second Sunday of March and first Sunday of November. If your team is split between these two regions, the table above is the quickest way to spot the daily overlap window without doing the offset arithmetic in your head.

Daylight saving matters here. Central Standard Time shifts forward an hour on the second Sunday of March (US) or the last Sunday of March (Europe) and back on the first Sunday of November or last Sunday of October. Eastern Daylight Time also shifts seasonally, so the gap between the two zones can move by an hour twice a year. The IANA tzdata baked into this page handles every transition automatically, so the table reflects the correct wall-clock times for today's date. For dates further out, use the converter linked above and pick the target date explicitly.

Common scheduling traps are easy to avoid here. Pick a wall-clock time on one side, read the matching wall-clock on the other from the table, and write both into the calendar invite, never just the difference. If the meeting falls in the week of a DST changeover and one of these zones shifts, the absolute clock will drift by an hour from what the recipient expects. The table is computed for today's date, so for a future meeting open the converter linked above and pick the exact date.

One last note for asynchronous teams: business-hour overlap is the wrong metric for handoff workflows. If you operate on a follow-the-sun model, you actually want zero overlap, with one team logging off as the other starts. CST and EDT differ by 1 hours, which is too small for a clean handoff. Pair this with a third zone for genuine 24-hour coverage.

Frequently asked questions

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