Time zone · Americas
CST
Central Standard Time
Central Standard Time (CST) spans a massive North and Central American corridor—from Canada’s Prairies to Nicaragua’s Pacific coast. About half the region observes daylight saving, so one of the trickiest parts of working here is remembering which clocks spring forward and which don’t.
Saturday, May 30, 2026
Current offset
UTC-06:00
Standard · CST
Daylight saving
Not observed
Year-round standard time
IANA zones
13
None observe daylight saving
DST offset
—
No summer variant
About CST
A fixed, year-round offset.
Central Standard Time (CST) spans a massive North and Central American corridor—from Canada’s Prairies to Nicaragua’s Pacific coast. About half the region observes daylight saving, so one of the trickiest parts of working here is remembering which clocks spring forward and which don’t.
IANA zones · the technical identifiers
The 13 zones that resolve to CST.
For software, always store the IANA identifier — never the abbreviation alone. The database keeps these zones distinct because their rules can, and historically did, diverge.
Cities currently on CST
The same hour, city by city.
7 cities · all UTC-06:00
Where CST is used
8 countries.
Same offset · UTC-06:00
Other zones at UTC-06:00 right now.
These named zones share CST's offset today. When daylight saving rules differ, they drift apart for part of the year.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about CST, daylight saving, and how to handle it in software. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].
- Why doesn’t every Central Standard Time zone observe daylight saving?
- +Mexico, Belize, and Central American nations generally keep UTC‑06:00 year‑round, while the U.S. and Canada switch between CST and CDT. That’s why only 12 of the 25 member zones observe DST.
- Is República Dominicana included in Central Standard Time?
- República Dominicana is not a member of the CST region; it follows Atlantic Standard Time (UTC‑04:00) and does not observe daylight saving.
- Which CST member countries don’t observe daylight saving?
- Mexican zones like Bahía Banderas and Chihuahua, plus Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua—none of these places practice DST, keeping their clocks steady all year.
- Which CST member countries do observe daylight saving?
- The United States and Canada are the main DST observers in this region, switching between CST and CDT during the summer months.
- When did the most recent DST transition occur in Bahia Banderas?
- Bahía Banderas discontinued daylight saving on 30 October 2022 at 01:00 CST (UTC‑06:00), aligning with Mexico’s nationwide policy change.
- What’s unique about Nicaragua’s daylight saving history?
- NIC briefly experimented with DST to save energy during the oil crisis, switching to UTC‑05:00 between 1973 and 1975, then again during the 1990s, before abandoning it for good.
- How does CST affect cross-border business in the Midwest–Mexico corridor?
- Because northern Mexican CST zones keep UTC‑06:00 year‑round while cities like Chicago shift between UTC‑06:00 and UTC‑05:00, meeting times can flip hour-by-hour in spring and fall unless teams explicitly confirm time offsets.
- Are there daylight saving quirks within the United States?
- Certain U.S. regions like parts of Indiana didn’t universally adopt DST until the mid-2000s, creating temporary one-hour mismatches with neighboring states for several years.
- What happens along the CST/CDT border in early November?
- Right after the “fall back” transition, Mexico City (UTC‑06:00) briefly shares the same clock time as Chicago (UTC‑06:00) before the U.S. clock shift reduces the gap to zero, creating a short window of perfect alignment.
Free · Developer API
Time, as JSON.
Every IANA time zone with live offsets, DST status, and the countries and cities that use them — clean, dependable JSON. Sign up free and get an API key in seconds.
countries, cities, convert, DST transitions coming next.
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