MST to CST Converter
Pick a Mountain Time hour to see the Central Time in Chicago, Dallas or Minneapolis. The converter follows Denver, which switches between MST and MDT with the rest of the US.
CSTCentral Time
––:––
- MST
- Also called Mountain Standard Time · UTC−7
- The winter time of the US Mountain zone. In summer Denver and Salt Lake City move to MDT (UTC−6), but most of Arizona stays on MST all year. On this page MST follows Denver, so the gap to Central Time is always one hour.
Mountain to Central time table
| MST time | CST/CDT time |
|---|---|
| 12:00 AM | 1:00 AM |
| 1:00 AM | 2:00 AM |
| 2:00 AM | 3:00 AM |
| 3:00 AM | 4:00 AM |
| 4:00 AM | 5:00 AM |
| 5:00 AM | 6:00 AM |
| 6:00 AM | 7:00 AM |
| 7:00 AM | 8:00 AM |
| 8:00 AM | 9:00 AM |
| 9:00 AM | 10:00 AM |
| 10:00 AM | 11:00 AM |
| 11:00 AM | 12:00 PM |
| 12:00 PM | 1:00 PM |
| 1:00 PM | 2:00 PM |
| 2:00 PM | 3:00 PM |
| 3:00 PM | 4:00 PM |
| 4:00 PM | 5:00 PM |
| 5:00 PM | 6:00 PM |
| 6:00 PM | 7:00 PM |
| 7:00 PM | 8:00 PM |
| 8:00 PM | 9:00 PM |
| 9:00 PM | 10:00 PM |
| 10:00 PM | 11:00 PM |
| 11:00 PM | 12:00 AM+1 next day |
One hour, except in Arizona
Mountain Time and Central Time both follow the US daylight saving rule, so in Denver and Chicago the difference stays at one hour all year. The only exception is the single hour on each change night between 2:00 AM in Chicago and 2:00 AM in Denver, when one zone has switched and the other has not.
Arizona is different. Apart from the Navajo Nation, the state does not use daylight saving, so from March to November Phoenix shows the same time as Los Angeles and runs 2 hours behind Chicago. The US Department of Transportation keeps the federal rules and the zone boundaries.
Arizona in summer
If your contact is in Phoenix or Tucson between March and November, add 2 hours, not 1, to get Chicago time.
- Phoenix 9:00 AM = Chicago 11:00 AM in summer.
- Phoenix 9:00 AM = Chicago 10:00 AM in winter.
- The Navajo Nation in northeast Arizona does use daylight saving.
Zone lines that split states
The border between Mountain and Central Time runs through the Great Plains, so several states are split. Western Nebraska, western Kansas and the far west of Texas around El Paso use Mountain Time, while the rest of those states use Central. South Dakota and North Dakota are split as well.
When a meeting involves a town near the boundary, confirm the zone rather than the state. The Denver and Houston clocks show the two zones live, and CST to MST runs the sum the other way. For the Pacific side, see MST to PST.
MST to CST questions
How many hours ahead is Central Time of Mountain Time?
Central Time is 1 hour ahead of Mountain Time. 9:00 AM in Denver is 10:00 AM in Chicago, in winter and in summer.
Is Arizona one hour behind Chicago?
Only in winter. Most of Arizona stays on MST all year, so during US daylight saving it is 2 hours behind Chicago.
Where is Mountain Time used?
Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming and Montana use it statewide, and parts of Idaho, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, the Dakotas, Oregon and Nevada do too. Most of Arizona uses MST without daylight saving.
Do Mountain and Central Time change clocks on the same day?
Yes, both switch at 2:00 AM local time on the second Sunday of March and the first Sunday of November, one hour apart in real time.
What is the difference between MST and MDT?
MST is UTC−7, the winter time. MDT is UTC−6, used in summer. Denver uses both; most of Arizona uses only MST.