About MST to CST Time
MST covers Denver, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque and Calgary. CST covers Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Mexico City and Winnipeg.
Working days overlap between 09:00 and 17:00 MST, which is 10:00–18:00 in CST. 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
Central Time (Chicago) is always 1 hour ahead of Mountain Time (Denver).
- Take the MST time you want to convert.
- Add 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: MST is −7 in winter and −6 in summer (UTC), CST is −6 in winter and −5 in summer.
Examples
A working day in MST, seen from CST:
| MST | CST |
|---|---|
| 09:00 MST | 10:00 CST |
| 12:00 MST | 13:00 CST |
| 15:00 MST | 16:00 CST |
| 18:00 MST | 19:00 CST |
| 21:00 MST | 22:00 CST |
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.
MST to CST Time: frequently asked questions
- What is the time difference between MST and CST?
- CST is 1 hour ahead of MST in standard time (MST is UTC−7, CST is UTC−6). 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 MST in CST?
- 9:00 AM MST is 10:00 AM CST (standard time).
- Where is MST used?
- Mountain Standard Time (UTC−7) is used in the US Mountain (Denver, Phoenix).
- Where is CST used?
- Central Standard Time (UTC−6) is used in US Central (Chicago, Dallas).