EST to CST
Convert US Eastern Time (EST/EDT) to US Central Time (CST/CDT) and back. Right now Chicago is 1 hour behind New York. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | |
| Chicago | 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 | 04 | 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 | |
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 New York and Chicago really are
Chicago is 1 hour behind New York, 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 New York, which is 9:00 am, 10:00 am, 11:00 am, 12:00 pm, 1:00 pm, 2:00 pm, 3:00 pm in Chicago. Those are the slots to aim for; everything else costs someone their evening.
New York to Chicago, hour by hour
Every hour of New York's day and the matching local time in Chicago, for 22 Oct 2026. Rows where both cities are inside working hours are marked.
| New York (EST) | Chicago (CST) | 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/New_York and America/Chicago — 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 New York, Chicago 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 Chicago when it is 9:00 am in New York?
9:00 am EST is 8:00 am in Chicago. The full hour-by-hour table on this page covers every other hour of the day.
How many hours ahead is CST of EST?
Chicago is 1 hour behind New York, 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 CST to EST the same conversion in reverse?
Yes — subtract instead of add. If Chicago is 1 hour behind New York, then New York is the same interval behind Chicago. The grid on this page reads in both directions, which is why /cst-to-est leads here rather than to a separate page.
When can New York and Chicago meet during working hours?
There are 7 hours when both cities are inside 09:00–17:00: 10:00 am EST, 11:00 am EST, 12:00 pm EST, 1:00 pm EST, 2:00 pm EST, 3:00 pm EST, 4:00 pm EST. The green cells in the grid above show the same thing visually.
Does New York or Chicago observe daylight saving time?
New York does: in 2026 it moves to -04:00 and back to -05:00. Chicago does: in 2026 it moves to -05:00 and back to -06:00.