PST to CST
Central Time is two hours ahead of Pacific Time all year: 10:00 AM in Los Angeles or Seattle is 12:00 PM in Chicago, Dallas or Austin. Choose a time and date below to see the Central equivalent.
Convert the other way: CST → PST
- Difference right now
- CST 2 hours ahead of PST
- Shared office hours
- 6 PM–12 AM PST
- Daylight saving
- Both zones shift their clocks
PST to CST, hour by hour
Every hour of the day, using today's offsets (daylight saving is applied automatically).
- 12:00 AM2:00 AM
- 1:00 AM3:00 AM
- 2:00 AM4:00 AM
- 3:00 AM5:00 AM
- 4:00 AM6:00 AM
- 5:00 AM7:00 AM
- 6:00 AM8:00 AM
- 7:00 AM9:00 AM
- 8:00 AM10:00 AM
- 9:00 AM11:00 AM
- 10:00 AM12:00 PM
- 11:00 AM1:00 PM
- 12:00 PM2:00 PM
- 1:00 PM3:00 PM
- 2:00 PM4:00 PM
- 3:00 PM5:00 PM
- 4:00 PM6:00 PM
- 5:00 PM7:00 PM
- 6:00 PM8:00 PM
- 7:00 PM9:00 PM
- 8:00 PM10:00 PM
- 9:00 PM11:00 PM
- 10:00 PM12:00 AM+1
- 11:00 PM1:00 AM+1
California to Texas and the Midwest
The Pacific–Central link has grown as companies spread out from California. Tesla moved its headquarters to Austin in 2021, and many tech firms run large offices in Austin and Dallas while keeping engineering in the Bay Area. For a team split this way, the shared day is 9:00 AM–3:00 PM Pacific, or 11:00 AM–5:00 PM Central. A noon Central lunch-hour meeting lands at 10:00 AM in California, which tends to work for both sides.
Flights make the two-hour gap concrete: Los Angeles to Dallas–Fort Worth is about three hours, so a 9:00 AM departure arrives around 2:00 PM local time. Los Angeles to Chicago O'Hare is close to four hours, landing around 3:00 PM if you leave at 9:00 AM.
The Arizona and Mountain wrinkle
Between the two zones lies Mountain Time, and Arizona complicates it. Most of Arizona stays on MST (UTC−7) all year, so in winter Phoenix is one hour ahead of Los Angeles and one hour behind Chicago, but in summer Phoenix matches Los Angeles and sits two hours behind Chicago. If your Central-time meeting includes someone in Phoenix, check the date before you send the invite.
California and Texas both switch to daylight time on the second Sunday of March and back on the first Sunday of November, so the Pacific–Central gap itself never changes. For the Mountain zone in between, see PST to MST.
Clock changes this year
- Mar 8, 2026PST: clocks go forward, UTC−8 → UTC−7
- Nov 1, 2026PST: clocks go back, UTC−7 → UTC−8
- Mar 8, 2026CST: clocks go forward, UTC−6 → UTC−5
- Nov 1, 2026CST: clocks go back, UTC−5 → UTC−6
Cities on these zones
Pacific Time PST
Other conversions with these zones
Frequently asked questions
- What time is 10 AM Pacific in Chicago?
- It is 12:00 PM (noon) in Chicago. Add two hours to any Pacific time to get Central time.
- Is Austin, Texas on Central time?
- Yes. Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio all use Central Time; only El Paso and Hudspeth County in far west Texas use Mountain Time.
- How far is Phoenix from Chicago in time?
- One hour behind Chicago in winter and two hours behind in summer, because most of Arizona does not observe daylight saving while Illinois does.
- If a webinar is at noon Central, when should I join from Seattle?
- Join at 10:00 AM Pacific. Seattle and the rest of Washington are on Pacific Time.
- What is the latest Pacific time that still reaches a Central office before 5 PM?
- 3:00 PM Pacific, which is 5:00 PM Central. After that, Central colleagues are usually off for the day.