PST to CST Converter

10:00 AM PST is 12:00 PM CST, and 6:00 PM PST is 8:00 PM CST. Both zones change their clocks on the same days, so the gap never moves.

PST and CST right now

PST to CST time chart

Each hour of the day in Pacific Time and the same moment in Central 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 Central Time stays 2 hours ahead of Pacific 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, PST and CST are standard time. From the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November the clocks show PDT and CDT instead. Most people keep writing PST and CST all year to mean the zone, and this page does the same: times follow the clocks in Los Angeles and Chicago whatever the season.

Working hours that overlap

The two workdays share six hours: 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM Central, which is 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM Pacific. A 9:00 AM call in Chicago or Dallas is 7:00 AM in Los Angeles and Seattle.

Mountain Time in between

Mountain Time sits between the two: Denver is 1 hour ahead of Los Angeles and 1 hour behind Chicago. Two places break the pattern. El Paso, in a Central Time state, is on Mountain Time (see Texas). Arizona stays on MST all year, so in summer it matches Pacific clocks and is 2 hours behind Chicago.

Related conversions

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

Sources

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

Last checked October 21, 2026.