CST to MST
Convert US Central Time (CST/CDT) to US Mountain Time (MST/MDT) and back. Right now Denver is 1 hour behind Chicago. Daylight saving is applied for the date being converted, not for today.
| Zone | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | Copy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | |
| Denver | 23 -1d | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | |
| UTC | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 00 +1d | 01 +1d | 02 +1d | 03 +1d | 04 +1d | |
09–17 working hours 07–09 shoulder 23–06 night Hover an hour to convert it · click to pin it, then copy any row
How far apart Chicago and Denver really are
Denver is 1 hour behind Chicago, and that holds for every day of the year. Both zones observe daylight saving, but they shift together, so their relative distance never changes.
Working-hours overlap
Treating 09:00–17:00 as the working day in both places, there are 7 hours of overlap: 10:00 am, 11:00 am, 12:00 pm, 1:00 pm, 2:00 pm, 3:00 pm, 4:00 pm in Chicago, which is 9:00 am, 10:00 am, 11:00 am, 12:00 pm, 1:00 pm, 2:00 pm, 3:00 pm in Denver. Those are the slots to aim for; everything else costs someone their evening.
Chicago to Denver, hour by hour
Every hour of Chicago's day and the matching local time in Denver, for 22 Oct 2026. Rows where both cities are inside working hours are marked.
| Chicago (CST) | Denver (MST) | Both working? |
|---|---|---|
| 12:00 am | 11:00 pm previous day | — |
| 1:00 am | 12:00 am | — |
| 2:00 am | 1:00 am | — |
| 3:00 am | 2:00 am | — |
| 4:00 am | 3:00 am | — |
| 5:00 am | 4:00 am | — |
| 6:00 am | 5:00 am | — |
| 7:00 am | 6:00 am | — |
| 8:00 am | 7:00 am | — |
| 9:00 am | 8:00 am | — |
| 10:00 am | 9:00 am | Yes |
| 11:00 am | 10:00 am | Yes |
| 12:00 pm | 11:00 am | Yes |
| 1:00 pm | 12:00 pm | Yes |
| 2:00 pm | 1:00 pm | Yes |
| 3:00 pm | 2:00 pm | Yes |
| 4:00 pm | 3:00 pm | Yes |
| 5:00 pm | 4:00 pm | — |
| 6:00 pm | 5:00 pm | — |
| 7:00 pm | 6:00 pm | — |
| 8:00 pm | 7:00 pm | — |
| 9:00 pm | 8:00 pm | — |
| 10:00 pm | 9:00 pm | — |
| 11:00 pm | 10:00 pm | — |
Why you should store the zone, not the offset
Even though this pair happens to keep a constant gap today, that is a property of current legislation rather than a guarantee. Store America/Chicago and America/Denver — the IANA
identifiers — alongside any time a user entered locally. The identifier
carries the zone's entire history of rule changes, so a date from 1995
converts with the rules that were in force in 1995.
Internally, keep the instant as a Unix timestamp. The epoch value is identical in Chicago, Denver and everywhere else; the zone is applied only at the edges, when a human needs to read it. The current Unix timestamp is at the top of this page, and the zones versus offsets guide explains why the distinction bites.
Related conversions
Frequently asked questions
What time is it in Denver when it is 9:00 am in Chicago?
9:00 am CST is 8:00 am in Denver. The full hour-by-hour table on this page covers every other hour of the day.
How many hours ahead is MST of CST?
Denver is 1 hour behind Chicago, and that gap holds all year — neither zone shifts relative to the other, so a single number is safe to remember for this pair.
Is MST to CST the same conversion in reverse?
Yes — subtract instead of add. If Denver is 1 hour behind Chicago, then Chicago is the same interval behind Denver. The grid on this page reads in both directions, which is why /mst-to-cst leads here rather than to a separate page.
When can Chicago and Denver meet during working hours?
There are 7 hours when both cities are inside 09:00–17:00: 10:00 am CST, 11:00 am CST, 12:00 pm CST, 1:00 pm CST, 2:00 pm CST, 3:00 pm CST, 4:00 pm CST. The green cells in the grid above show the same thing visually.
Does Chicago or Denver observe daylight saving time?
Chicago does: in 2026 it moves to -05:00 and back to -06:00. Denver does: in 2026 it moves to -06:00 and back to -07:00.