CST(Central Standard Time)
Central Standard Time (CST) is the standard time of the North American interior, six hours behind UTC.
- UTC offset
- UTC−06:00
- Abbreviation
- CST
- Full name
- Central Standard Time
- Military letter
- Sierra (S)
- Regions
- Central United States, Central Canada, Mexico, Central America
- IANA zones
- America/Chicago, America/Winnipeg, America/Mexico_City, America/Guatemala
- Converter model
- Fixed offset.
What CST means
This is the most common meaning of CST in North America: the standard time of the central United States, central Canada, most of Mexico and much of Central America.
- CST is the busiest of the ambiguous abbreviations: it is also used for China and for Cuba, with completely different offsets.
- Spell out the meaning, or use an IANA identifier, whenever CST appears in a schedule shared across continents.
Cities on this offset
These cities keep UTC−06:00 as their standard offset:
- Chicago
- Dallas
- Houston
- Mexico City
- Winnipeg
- Guatemala City
Other meanings of CST
CST is used for more than one time zone. This page describes Central Standard Time; the other meanings have their own pages and their own offsets:
- CST — Cuba Standard Time (UTC−05:00)
- CST — China Standard Time (UTC+08:00)
History
Central time is one of the original zones created for North American railway timetables in 1883, built around the meridian 90° west.