About CST to MST Time
CST covers Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Mexico City and Winnipeg. MST covers Denver, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque and Calgary.
Working days overlap between 10:00 and 18:00 CST, which is 09:00–17:00 in MST. That window is where calls land without anyone working late.
Both regions use daylight saving, so the gap holds for most of the year — except for the week or two each spring and autumn when they switch on different dates.
How it works
Mountain Time (Denver) is always 1 hour behind of Central Time (Chicago).
- Take the CST time you want to convert.
- Subtract 1 hour.
- Roll the date forward or back if the result crosses midnight.
Neither side changes its clocks relative to the other, so this gap holds all year.
Zone details: CST is −6 in winter and −5 in summer (UTC), MST is −7 in winter and −6 in summer.
Examples
A working day in CST, seen from MST:
| CST | MST |
|---|---|
| 09:00 CST | 08:00 MST |
| 12:00 CST | 11:00 MST |
| 15:00 CST | 14:00 MST |
| 18:00 CST | 17:00 MST |
| 21:00 CST | 20:00 MST |
Meetings usually work best where the two working days overlap. Drag the timeline above to see the overlap for any hour, or use the full time zone converter for any other pair of cities.
CST to MST Time: frequently asked questions
- What is the time difference between CST and MST?
- MST is 1 hour behind CST in standard time (CST is UTC−6, MST is UTC−7). Both zones change clocks on the same US dates, so the 1 hour difference stays the same all year — except in Arizona, which stays on MST year-round.
- What is 9 AM CST in MST?
- 9:00 AM CST is 8:00 AM MST (standard time).
- Where is CST used?
- Central Standard Time (UTC−6) is used in the US Central (Chicago, Dallas).
- Where is MST used?
- Mountain Standard Time (UTC−7) is used in US Mountain (Denver, Phoenix).