Which zone this page means. CST means US Central Standard Time (UTC-6) and also China Standard Time (UTC+8) — fourteen hours apart. This page means the US zone. For the Chinese zone see China Standard Time. CET is winter time; CEST (UTC+2) applies from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October. Europe changes on different dates from the United States, so the gap to US zones shifts for a few weeks each spring and autumn.
CST is behind CET by 7 hours today
On 28 August 2026, Central Standard Time (US) is on CDT at UTC-05:00 and Central European Time is on CEST at UTC+02:00. The gap between them is 7 hours, with CET ahead. So 9:00 am in CST is 4:00 pm in CET, and 5:00 pm in CST is 12:00 am in CET. Going the other way, see CET to CST.
The gap is not constant, and that is the part that catches people out
Central Standard Time (US) is currently observing daylight saving and changes next on 1 November 2026, when clocks go back an hour. Central European Time is currently observing daylight saving and changes next on 25 October 2026. Because the two zones change on different dates — US rules for CST and EU rules for CET — there are a few weeks each year when the usual gap between them is an hour out. That window is the single most common source of a missed call between these two zones, and it is why a page that quotes only the nominal offset is wrong for part of the year.
When you can actually both be at work
Taking a working day as 9:00 am to 5:00 pm local at each end, there is 1 overlapping hour in a normal day. In CST that window runs from 9:00 am to 10:00 am, which is 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm in CET. Anything outside it needs one side to start early or finish late.
Zone rules are set by legislation and change, sometimes at short notice. This page is built against tzdata 2026a, last reviewed 2026-08-18. Quarterly. Zone rules change by legislation, sometimes at short notice. Version and review date are shown on every zone page. The converter above reads your browser's own copy of the zone database, so if a rule has changed since this page was built the live answer follows the new rule — and so does everything above, which is worked out from the same database when you open the page.
Every convention used above — whether the start date counts, how month ends are clamped, which holidays close an office — is written out on the methodology page, including the daylight-saving rules behind the 7-hour gap above.