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. PST is standard time only. From the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November the Pacific zone is on PDT (UTC-7). Most people write PST year-round.
CST is ahead of PST by 2 hours today
On 19 August 2026, Central Standard Time (US) is on CDT at UTC-05:00 and Pacific Standard Time is on PDT at UTC-07:00. The gap between them is 2 hours, with PST behind. So 9:00 am in CST is 7:00 am in PST, and 5:00 pm in CST is 3:00 pm in PST. Going the other way, see PST 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. Pacific Standard Time is currently observing daylight saving and changes next on 1 November 2026.
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 are 6 overlapping hours in a normal day. In CST that window runs from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, which is 9:00 am to 3:00 pm in PST. 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.
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 2-hour gap above.