Convert PST to CST
To convert PST to CST: 11:00 AM PST is 1:00 PM CST. PST is UTC-08:00 and CST is UTC-06:00, so CST is 2 hours ahead of PST, all year.
In Central Standard Time
- On a 24-hour clock
- 11:00 PST is 13:00 CST
- The offsets
- PST is UTC-08:00, CST is UTC-06:00
- Difference
- CST is 2 hours ahead of PST
- Date
- Same calendar day.
- This gap holds all year
- Both zones switch on the same dates, so they move together.
- PST is only in force part of the year United States: daylight time starts the second Sunday in March, at 02:00 local time and ends the first Sunday in November, at 02:00 local time (Energy Policy Act of 2005, in force since 2007). In 2026 that is 2026-03-08 to 2026-11-01. Los Angeles is on PDT between those dates.
- otherwise PDT, UTC-07:00
- Military time zone letters Z (Zulu) is UTC. A to M run east of Greenwich an hour apart, N to Y west, and J is left out. A letter names an offset, so a zone that switches to daylight time changes letter: EST is R, EDT is Q.
- PST is U (Uniform), CST is S (Sierra)
- In every zone
- HST 09:00 AKST 10:00 PST 11:00 AKDT 11:00 MST 12:00 PDT 12:00 CST 13:00 MDT 13:00 EST 14:00 CDT 14:00 EDT 15:00 UTC 19:00 GMT 19:00 BST 20:00 CET 20:00 CEST 21:00 EET 21:00 EEST 22:00 MSK 22:00 IST 00:30 SGT 03:00 HKT 03:00 JST 04:00 AEST 05:00 AEDT 06:00 NZST 07:00 NZDT 08:00
How the Time Zone Converter works
Pacific Standard Time (PST) is UTC-08:00 and Central Standard Time (CST) is UTC-06:00, so converting PST to CST means adding 2 hours to the PST time. CST is 2 hours ahead of PST.
Worked through: 11:00 AM PST is 1:00 PM CST.
The gap between these two does not change during the year. Both switch to daylight saving on the same dates under the United States rule (the second Sunday in March, at 02:00 local time, ending the first Sunday in November, at 02:00 local time), so they move together and the difference between them never does. The daylight-time pairing is the same 2 hours.
Two hours forward, and the overlap that makes it the workhorse of US remote scheduling: 09:00 Pacific is 11:00 Central, so a late-morning Chicago meeting is an early-morning but civilized California one. Both zones switch on the same dates, so this is another constant gap. That is the general rule within the continental US, and the exception once a conversion leaves it.
One thing worth stating plainly, because it is the most common mistake in this whole subject: an abbreviation is not a place. PST is Pacific Standard Time, which Los Angeles uses only part of the year; the rest of the time it is on PDT at UTC-07:00. CST is likewise only in force for part of the year in Chicago; otherwise it is CDT at UTC-05:00. If what you have is a city and a date rather than a pair of abbreviations, that is a different question and needs the tz database, not arithmetic. This is also why the shifting designations exist: PT means Pacific time whichever of the two is in force, and CT means Central time whichever of the two is in force. Searching for PT to CT and searching for PST to CST are the same question in two vocabularies, which is why this converter answers both.
Common times for this pair:
- 9:00 AM PST is 11:00 AM CST - 11:00 AM PST is 1:00 PM CST - 1:00 PM PST is 3:00 PM CST - 4:00 PM PST is 6:00 PM CST
Time Zone Converter FAQ
What is the time difference between PST and CST?
CST is 2 hours ahead of PST. PST is UTC-08:00 and CST is UTC-06:00, and both offsets are definitions rather than measurements, so the subtraction is exact.
What time is 11:00 AM PST in CST?
11:00 AM PST is 1:00 PM CST. Add 2 hours and carry the date if it crosses midnight.
Does the difference between PST and CST change with daylight saving?
No. Both switch on the same dates, so they move together and the gap between them stays at 2 hours.
Is there anything specific to this pair worth knowing?
Two hours forward, and the overlap that makes it the workhorse of US remote scheduling: 09:00 Pacific is 11:00 Central, so a late-morning Chicago meeting is an early-morning but civilized California one. Both zones switch on the same dates, so this is another constant gap. That is the general rule within the continental US, and the exception once a conversion leaves it.
Someone wrote PST but it is summer. What do they mean?
Almost certainly the zone rather than the abbreviation: Los Angeles time, which in summer is PDT at UTC-07:00 rather than PST at UTC-08:00. People type the standard-time abbreviation all year round. If an invitation is an hour out from what you calculated, this is why.