timeinusa.net

MST to CST — Mountain to Central Time

Central Time is 1 hour ahead of Mountain Time, all year long.

The conversion rule

Add 1 hour to Mountain Time to get Central Time. 12:00 PM MST is 1:00 PM CST. The two zones share DST dates, keeping the single hour fixed.

9:00 AM–4:00 PM MT / 10:00 AM–5:00 PM CT — seven hours of mutual office time between Denver and Chicago or Dallas each working day.

Exception: Arizona holds MST through the summer, so Phoenix falls 2 hours behind Chicago whenever daylight saving is in effect.

MST to CST conversion chart

Mountain (MST/MDT)Central (CST/CDT)
12:00 AM (midnight)1:00 AM
1:00 AM2:00 AM
2:00 AM3:00 AM
3:00 AM4:00 AM
4:00 AM5:00 AM
5:00 AM6:00 AM
6:00 AM7:00 AM
7:00 AM8:00 AM
8:00 AM9:00 AM
9:00 AM10:00 AM
10:00 AM11:00 AM
11:00 AM12:00 PM (noon)
12:00 PM (noon)1:00 PM
1:00 PM2:00 PM
2:00 PM3:00 PM
3:00 PM4:00 PM
4:00 PM5:00 PM
5:00 PM6:00 PM
6:00 PM7:00 PM
7:00 PM8:00 PM
8:00 PM9:00 PM
9:00 PM10:00 PM
10:00 PM11:00 PM
11:00 PM12:00 AM (midnight, next day)

Reverse direction: CST to MST (subtract 1 hour). Related: MST to EST, MST to PST, MST to AKST.

Frequently asked questions

Is Mountain Time always 1 hour behind Central?

For the DST-observing Mountain zone (Denver, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque), yes. Arizona is different: because Phoenix never adopts MDT, it falls 2 hours behind Chicago each summer.

What is 11:00 AM MST in CST?

12:00 PM CST — late Mountain morning is the Central lunch hour.

When is 5:00 PM CST in Denver?

4:00 PM MST, with one working hour left in the Mountain zone.