CST to EST Converter

2:00 PM CST is 3:00 PM EST, and 8:00 AM CST is 9:00 AM EST. Both zones change their clocks on the same days, so the gap never moves.

CST and EST right now

CST to EST time chart

Each hour of the day in Central Time and the same moment in Eastern Time. The gap is the same all year.

Working hours, 9 AM–5 PMNight, 10 PM–7 AM

Daylight saving time

Both zones change their clocks on the same nights, so Eastern Time stays 1 hour ahead of Central Time all year. Each zone changes at 2:00 a.m. its own time, so for a few hours on those nights the gap is off by one hour. The next changes:

• Sunday, November 1, 2026, 2:00 AM: clocks go back 1 hour.
• Sunday, March 14, 2027, 2:00 AM: clocks go forward 1 hour.

Standard or daylight time?

Strictly, CST and EST are standard time. From the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November the clocks show CDT and EDT instead. Most people keep writing CST and EST all year to mean the zone, and this page does the same: times follow the clocks in Chicago and New York whatever the season.

Where Central meets Eastern

Five states are split between the two zones, so a short drive can move your clock an hour:

• Tennessee: Nashville and Memphis are Central, Knoxville and Chattanooga Eastern.
• Kentucky: Louisville and Lexington are Eastern, Bowling Green and Paducah Central.
• Indiana: Eastern, except 12 counties near Chicago and Evansville, which are Central.
• Florida: Eastern, except most of the Panhandle west of the Apalachicola River.
• Michigan: Eastern, except four Upper Peninsula counties on the Wisconsin border.

When someone near the line gives a time, ask which side they mean, or give the city with it.

Related conversions

• EST to CST
• PST to CST
• PST to EST
• MST to EST
• Florida time zone
• All conversions
• Time difference calculator

Sources

• Wikipedia — Central Time Zone
• Wikipedia — Eastern Time Zone
• Wikipedia — Time in Indiana
• Wikipedia — Time in Kentucky
• 15 U.S.C. § 260a — Advancement of time (daylight saving period)
• IANA Time Zone Database

Last checked October 21, 2026.