About PST to CST Time
PST covers Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Las Vegas and Vancouver. CST covers Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Mexico City and Winnipeg.
Working days overlap between 09:00 and 16:00 PST, which is 11:00–18:00 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 2 hours ahead of Pacific Time (Los Angeles).
- Take the PST time you want to convert.
- Add 2 hours.
- 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: PST is −8 in winter and −7 in summer (UTC), CST is −6 in winter and −5 in summer.
Examples
A working day in PST, seen from CST:
| PST | CST |
|---|---|
| 09:00 PST | 11:00 CST |
| 12:00 PST | 14:00 CST |
| 15:00 PST | 17:00 CST |
| 18:00 PST | 20:00 CST |
| 21:00 PST | 23:00 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.
PST to CST Time: frequently asked questions
- What is the time difference between PST and CST?
- CST is 2 hours ahead of PST in standard time (PST is UTC−8, CST is UTC−6). Both zones change clocks on the same US dates, so the 2 hours difference stays the same all year.
- What is 9 AM PST in CST?
- 9:00 AM PST is 11:00 AM CST (standard time).
- Where is PST used?
- Pacific Standard Time (UTC−8) is used in the US West Coast (Los Angeles, Seattle).
- Where is CST used?
- Central Standard Time (UTC−6) is used in US Central (Chicago, Dallas).