EST
Eastern Standard Time
GMT -5
CST
Central Standard Time
GMT -6

Time Difference

Eastern Standard Time is 1 hour ahead of Central Standard Time
12:30 pm12:30 in EST is 11:30 am11:30 in CST

EST to CST call time
Best time for a conference call or a meeting is between 9am-6pm in EST which corresponds to 8am-5pm in CST

12:30 pm12:30 Eastern Standard Time (EST). Offset UTC -5:00 hours
11:30 am11:30 Central Standard Time (CST). Offset UTC -6:00 hours

12:30 pm12:30 EST / 11:30 am11:30 CST

EST CST
12am (midnight) 11pm
1am 12am (midnight)
2am 1am
3am 2am
4am 3am
5am 4am
6am 5am
7am 6am
8am 7am
9am 8am
10am 9am
11am 10am
12pm (noon) 11am
1pm 12pm (noon)
2pm 1pm
3pm 2pm
4pm 3pm
5pm 4pm
6pm 5pm
7pm 6pm
8pm 7pm
9pm 8pm
10pm 9pm
11pm 10pm
0:00 23:00
1:00 0:00
2:00 1:00
3:00 2:00
4:00 3:00
5:00 4:00
6:00 5:00
7:00 6:00
8:00 7:00
9:00 8:00
10:00 9:00
11:00 10:00
12:00 11:00
13:00 12:00
14:00 13:00
15:00 14:00
16:00 15:00
17:00 16:00
18:00 17:00
19:00 18:00
20:00 19:00
21:00 20:00
22:00 21:00
23:00 22:00

Eastern Standard Time

Offset: EST is 5 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and is used in Central America

Countries: It is used in following countries: Bahamas, Canada, Haiti, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Mexico, Panama, Turks & Caicos Is, United States

Principal Cities: The largest city in the EST timezone is New York City from USA with population about 8.175 million people. Other major cities in the area are Toronto, Montreal, Brooklyn, Borough of Queens

Daylight Saving: Eastern Standard Time (EST) is not adjusted for daylight saving therefore EST remains the same through out the year. This means, unlike some time zones where the clock is set forward by one hour every summer and backward by one hour during winter to adjust for daylight saving, Eastern Standard Time remains the same

EST representations, usage and related time zones

W3C/ISO-8601: International standard covering representation and exchange of dates and time-related data
  • -05 - basic short
  • -0500 - basic
  • -05:00 - extended
Email/RFC-2822: Internet Message Format Date Standard, typically used for timestamps in email headers
  • -0500 - sign character (-) followed by a four digit time providing hours (05) and minutes (00) of the offset. Indicates five hour and zero minutes time differences to the west of the zero meridian.
Military/NATO: Used by the U.S. military, Chinese military and others
  • Romeo - Military abbreviation for EST
  • R - short form of 'Romeo'
IANA/Olson: Reflects EST time zone boundaries defined by political bodies, primarily intended for use with computer programs and operating systems
  • America/Atikokan
  • America/Cancun
  • America/Cayman
  • America/Coral_Harbour
  • America/Detroit
  • America/Fort_Wayne
  • America/Grand_Turk
  • America/Indiana/Indianapolis
  • America/Indiana/Marengo
  • America/Indiana/Petersburg
  • America/Indiana/Vevay
  • America/Indiana/Vincennes
  • America/Indiana/Winamac
  • America/Indianapolis
  • America/Iqaluit
  • America/Jamaica
  • America/Kentucky/Louisville
  • America/Kentucky/Monticello
  • America/Louisville
  • America/Montreal
  • America/Nassau
  • America/New_York
  • America/Nipigon
  • America/Panama
  • America/Pangnirtung
  • America/Port-au-Prince
  • America/Thunder_Bay
  • America/Toronto
  • Canada/Eastern
  • EST
  • EST5EDT
  • Jamaica
  • US/East-Indiana
  • US/Eastern
  • US/Michigan
Time zones with the GMT -5 offset:
  • CDT - Central Daylight Time
  • EST - Eastern Standard Time
  • ET - Eastern Time
  • COT - Colombia Time
  • CST - Cuba Standard Time
  • EASST - Easter Island Summer Time
  • ECT - Ecuador Time
  • PET - Peru Time
  • R - Romeo Time Zone

Central Standard Time

Offset: CST is 6 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and is used in North America

Countries: It is used in following countries: Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador, United States

Principal Cities: The largest city in the CST timezone is Mexico City from Mexico with population about 12.294 million people. Other major cities in the area are Chicago, Houston, Iztapalapa, Ecatepec

French: HNC - Heure Normale du Centre

Spanish: CT - Tiempo Central Estándar, CT - Zona Centro

CST Time Zone Geo Map
CST timezone map

Daylight Saving: This is a standard timezone, however during summer some places switch clocks for one hour forward when daylight saving comes into effect and observe Central Daylight Time (CDT).

Daylight saving time clock moves back for one hour from 2am to 1amStart: Central Standard Time (CST) started on Sunday, November 3, 2024 at 2:00 am local time and clocks were set one hour back to Sunday, November 3, 2024, 1:00 am. Standard time starts annually the on first Sunday of November.

Daylight saving time clock moves forward for one hour from 2am to 3amEnd: Central Standard Time (CST) ends on Sunday, March 9, 2025 at 2:00 am local time and clocks are set one hour forward to Sunday, March 9, 2025, 3:00 am local daylight time instead. Standard time starts annually the on second Sunday of March.

CST representations, usage and related time zones

W3C/ISO-8601: International standard covering representation and exchange of dates and time-related data
  • -06 - basic short
  • -0600 - basic
  • -06:00 - extended
Email/RFC-2822: Internet Message Format Date Standard, typically used for timestamps in email headers
  • -0600 - sign character (-) followed by a four digit time providing hours (06) and minutes (00) of the offset. Indicates six hour and zero minutes time differences to the west of the zero meridian.
Military/NATO: Used by the U.S. military, Chinese military and others
  • Sierra - Military abbreviation for CST
  • S - short form of 'Sierra'
IANA/Olson: Reflects CST time zone boundaries defined by political bodies, primarily intended for use with computer programs and operating systems
  • America/Bahia_Banderas
  • America/Belize
  • America/Chicago
  • America/Chihuahua
  • America/Costa_Rica
  • America/El_Salvador
  • America/Guatemala
  • America/Indiana/Knox
  • America/Indiana/Tell_City
  • America/Knox_IN
  • America/Managua
  • America/Matamoros
  • America/Menominee
  • America/Merida
  • America/Mexico_City
  • America/Monterrey
  • America/North_Dakota/Beulah
  • America/North_Dakota/Center
  • America/North_Dakota/New_Salem
  • America/Ojinaga
  • America/Rainy_River
  • America/Rankin_Inlet
  • America/Regina
  • America/Resolute
  • America/Swift_Current
  • America/Tegucigalpa
  • America/Winnipeg
  • CST6CDT
  • Canada/Central
  • Canada/Saskatchewan
  • Mexico/General
  • US/Central
  • US/Indiana-Starke
CST Abbreviation: Several time zones share CST abbreviation and it could refer to these time zones
  • Central Standard Time - UTC -6
  • China Standard Time - UTC +8
  • Cuba Standard Time - UTC -5
  • Colombia Standard Time - UTC -5
Time zones with the GMT -6 offset:
  • CST - Central Standard Time
  • CT - Central Time
  • MDT - Mountain Daylight Time
  • EAST - Easter Island Standard Time
  • GALT - Galapagos Time
  • S - Sierra Time Zone