MST to CST
Central Time is one hour ahead of Mountain Time in Denver and Salt Lake City throughout the year: 10:00 AM in Denver is 11:00 AM in Chicago or Dallas. Phoenix is one hour behind Central Time in winter and two hours behind in summer.
Convert the other way: CST → MST
- Difference right now
- CST 1 hours ahead of MST
- Shared office hours
- 6 PM–1 AM MST
- Daylight saving
- Both zones shift their clocks
MST to CST, hour by hour
Every hour of the day, using today's offsets (daylight saving is applied automatically).
- 12:00 AM1:00 AM
- 1:00 AM2:00 AM
- 2:00 AM3:00 AM
- 3:00 AM4:00 AM
- 4:00 AM5:00 AM
- 5:00 AM6:00 AM
- 6:00 AM7:00 AM
- 7:00 AM8:00 AM
- 8:00 AM9:00 AM
- 9:00 AM10:00 AM
- 10:00 AM11:00 AM
- 11:00 AM12:00 PM
- 12:00 PM1:00 PM
- 1:00 PM2:00 PM
- 2:00 PM3:00 PM
- 3:00 PM4:00 PM
- 4:00 PM5:00 PM
- 5:00 PM6:00 PM
- 6:00 PM7:00 PM
- 7:00 PM8:00 PM
- 8:00 PM9:00 PM
- 9:00 PM10:00 PM
- 10:00 PM11:00 PM
- 11:00 PM12:00 AM+1
Where the Plains switch zones
The Mountain–Central boundary runs north to south through the Great Plains and splits five states. Western North Dakota and South Dakota (including Rapid City), the Nebraska Panhandle around Scottsbluff, four western Kansas counties along the Colorado border, and El Paso in far west Texas use Mountain Time; everything east is Central. Truckers on Interstate 70 lose an hour in western Kansas heading east and gain it back heading west.
Because both zones change clocks on the same US Sundays, the one-hour gap between Denver and Chicago never varies. Arizona breaks that rule: it stays on UTC−7, so from March to November Phoenix is two hours behind Chicago and Dallas.
Energy, agriculture and the Denver–Dallas axis
Denver and Dallas–Houston are linked through the oil, gas and agriculture industries, and many firms keep offices in both. The shared day is 8:00 AM–4:00 PM Mountain, which is 9:00 AM–5:00 PM Central. Commodity futures traded in Chicago follow the Central clock, so Mountain-zone traders set their mornings an hour earlier than their Chicago counterparts.
A flight from Denver to Chicago O'Hare takes about two and a half hours, so a 9:00 AM departure lands around 12:30 PM Central. To compare the Central zone with the West Coast instead, see PST to CST.
Clock changes this year
- Mar 8, 2026MST: clocks go forward, UTC−7 → UTC−6
- Nov 1, 2026MST: clocks go back, UTC−6 → UTC−7
- Mar 8, 2026CST: clocks go forward, UTC−6 → UTC−5
- Nov 1, 2026CST: clocks go back, UTC−5 → UTC−6
Other conversions with these zones
Frequently asked questions
- What time is 10 AM Mountain in Central time?
- 10:00 AM Mountain (Denver) is 11:00 AM Central. From Phoenix in summer, 10:00 AM is noon Central.
- Which part of Texas is on Mountain time?
- El Paso and Hudspeth counties in the far west. Every other Texas county uses Central Time.
- Is Rapid City on Central or Mountain time?
- Rapid City and western South Dakota use Mountain Time; Sioux Falls and the east use Central Time.
- Where does the time change on Interstate 70 in Kansas?
- Near the Colorado border. Four western Kansas counties (Sherman, Wallace, Greeley and Hamilton) use Mountain Time, and the rest of the state uses Central Time.
- Is Denver one hour behind Dallas in summer too?
- Yes. Both move to daylight time on the second Sunday of March, so the gap stays at one hour.