View source for Central Time Zone

{{short description|Time zone in North America}}
{{pp-move}}
{{Infobox time zone
|title = Central Time Zone
|image = timezoneswest.PNG
|caption = {{legend|#e16341|Central Time Zone}}
|offset = −06:00
|dst offset = −05:00
|initials= CST
|dst initials= CDT
|dst use  = some
}}The North American '''Central Time Zone''' ('''CT''')<ref>{{Cite web |title=Central Time – CT Time Zone |url=https://www.timeanddate.com/time/zones/ct#:~:text=The%20term%20Central%20Time%20(CT,switches%20between%20CST%20and%20CDT. |access-date=2023-11-22 |website=www.timeanddate.com |language=en}}</ref> is a [[Time zone|time zone]] in parts of {{wipe|Canada}}, the {{wipe|United States}}, Mexico, Central America, some Caribbean islands, and part of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. 

Central Time Zone is affected by two time designations yearly: '''Central Standard Time (CST)''' is observed from the first Sunday in November to the second Sunday in March. It is [[UTC−06:00|six hours]] behind [[Physics:Coordinated Universal Time|Coordinated Universal Time]] (UTC) and designated internationally as UTC-6.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bts.gov/explore-topics-and-geography/geography/geospatial-portal/history-time-zones-and-daylight-saving |title=History of Time Zones and Daylight Saving Time (DST) |publisher=United States Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics |date=17 January 2023 |access-date=28 December 2023}}</ref> From the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November most of this zone (20 states in the US and three provinces or territories in Canada) observes daylight saving time (DST), creating the designation of '''Central Daylight Time (CDT)''' which is [[UTC−05:00|five hours]] behind UTC and known as UTC-5 internationally.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Central Time (CST/CDT) {{!}} GMT|url=https://greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/usa/central-time/|website=greenwichmeantime.com|language=en|access-date=May 22, 2020}}</ref>

==Regions using Central Time==

===Canada===
{{main|Time in Canada}}
The province of Manitoba is the only province or territory in Canada that observes Central Time in all areas.

The following Canadian provinces and territories observe Central Time in the areas noted, while their other areas observe [[Eastern Time Zone|Eastern Time]]:
* [[Earth:Nunavut|Nunavut]] (territory): western areas (most of Kivalliq Region and part of Qikiqtaaluk Region)
* Ontario (province): a portion of the northwest bordering southeastern Manitoba, in and around Kenora.

Also, most of the province of Saskatchewan is on Central Standard Time year-round, never adjusting for Daylight Saving Time. One major exception includes Lloydminster, a city whose borders overlap both Alberta and Saskatchewan. The city charter<ref>[https://www.lloydminster.ca/en/your-city-hall/resources/The-Lloydminster-Charter.pdf]</ref> stipulates that it shall observe [[Mountain Time Zone|Mountain Time]] and DST, putting the community on the same time as all of Alberta (UTC-7) in the winter,  and in time with Saskatchewan (UTC-6) during the summer.

===United States===

Ten states are contained entirely in the Central Time Zone:
* Alabama
* Arkansas
* Illinois
* Iowa
* Louisiana
* Minnesota
* Mississippi
* Missouri
* Oklahoma
* Wisconsin

Five states are split between the Central Time Zone and the [[Mountain Time Zone]]:
* {{wipe|Kansas}}: all except for Sherman, Wallace, Greeley, and Hamilton counties
* Nebraska: eastern two thirds including the eastern one third of Cherry County
* North Dakota: all except for southwest regions, south part of McKenzie County, and the majority of Dunn County and far western Sioux County
* South Dakota: eastern half including part of Stanley County
* {{wipe|Texas}}: all except for El Paso, Hudspeth, and northwestern Culberson counties 

Five states are split between the Central Time Zone and the [[Eastern Time Zone]]:
* Florida: most of Florida Panhandle west of the Apalachicola River; Franklin County west of the Apalachicola River and parts of Gulf County are in the Central Time Zone
* {{wipe|Indiana}}: northwest (Gary) and southwest (Evansville) regions 
* Kentucky: the western portion of the state, including its three major towns: Bowling Green, Owensboro and Paducah
* Michigan: Gogebic, Iron, Dickinson, and Menominee counties
* {{wipe|Tennessee}}: West Tennessee and Middle Tennessee, including the major cities of Nashville and Memphis
Additionally, Phenix City, Alabama, and several nearby communities in Russell County, Alabama, unofficially observe Eastern Time. This is due to their close proximity to Columbus, Georgia, which is on Eastern Time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://legacy.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/060813/zones.shtml|title=Parts of Eastern Alabama split between 2 time zones|access-date=March 22, 2009|archive-date=March 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310233009/http://legacy.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/060813/zones.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Although legally located within the Central Time Zone, Kenton, Oklahoma—located to the adjacent east of the defined border of the Central and Mountain time zones (at the Oklahoma−New Mexico state line)—unofficially observes Mountain Time.<ref name="EOHC-Cimmaron">Young, Norma Gene. [http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=CI003 "Cimarron County"], ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'', Oklahoma Historical Society, Accessed June 30, 2015.</ref> This is reportedly because most people who interact with the town reside in either New Mexico or Colorado.<ref name="Last">{{cite web |author=Bright |first=Sheilah |date=September 19, 2012 |title=The Last of Kenton |url=https://thislandpress.com/2012/09/19/the-last-of-kenton/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927075550/https://thislandpress.com/2012/09/19/the-last-of-kenton/ |archive-date=September 27, 2020 |accessdate=September 9, 2020 |publisher=This Land Press}}</ref><ref name="EOHC-Cimmaron"/>

===Mexico===
Most of Mexico—roughly the eastern three-fourths—lies in the Central Time Zone, except for five northwestern states (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, [[Place:Sonora|Sonora]], and most of Nayarit) and one southeastern state (Quintana Roo).

The federal entities of Mexico that observe Central Time:
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* Aguascalientes
* Campeche
* Chihuahua<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/LHHEUM.pdf |title=Leyes Bibliography |access-date=November 8, 2022 |archive-date=November 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221102121539/https://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/LHHEUM.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* Coahuila
* [[Place:Colima|Colima]] – except for the Revillagigedo Islands, in which the inner islands use Mountain Time and the outer island uses Pacific Time
* Chiapas
* Durango
* Guanajuato
* Guerrero
* Hidalgo
* [[Place:Jalisco|Jalisco]]
* [[Place:Mexico City|Mexico City]]
* Michoacán
* Morelos
* Nayarit – *only the municipality of Bahía de Banderas, rest of the state uses Mountain Time
* Nuevo León
* Oaxaca
* Puebla
* Querétaro
* San Luis Potosí
* State of Mexico
* Tabasco
* Tamaulipas
* Tlaxcala
* Veracruz
* Yucatán
* [[Place:Zacatecas|Zacatecas]]
{{div col end}}

=== Central America ===
Out of the Seven countries comprising Central America, all but 1 use Central Standard Time year-round:

Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Panama being the exception which recognizes Eastern Standard Time (UTC-5)<ref>{{Citation |title=Panama |date=2023-11-14 |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/panama/ |work=The World Factbook |access-date=2023-11-22 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |language=en}}</ref> year round.

.

=== Eastern Pacific and South America Coastline ===

The [[Earth:Galápagos Islands|Galápagos Islands]] in Ecuador uses Central Standard Time all year-round; the remainder of Ecuador uses Eastern Standard Time.<ref>{{Citation |title=Ecuador |date=2023-11-15 |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/ecuador/ |work=The World Factbook |access-date=2023-11-23 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |language=en}}</ref> Both Easter Island and Salas y Gómez Island in Chile use times that are the same as CST and DST, but they are called by other names. During the Southern Hemisphere winter (1st Sunday in April to 1st Sunday in September) the Islands use Easter Island Standard Time (UTC-6) and Easter Island Summer Time (UTC-5) during the Southern Hemisphere summer (1st Sunday in September to 1st Sunday in April);<ref>{{Cite web |title=Timezones and time changes in Chile |url=https://www.worlddata.info/america/chile/timezones.php |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=Worlddata.info |language=en}}</ref> the remainder of Chile uses [[Atlantic Time Zone]] which has both standard (UTC--4 and daylight times UTC-3).

==Central Daylight Time==
Daylight saving time (DST) is in effect in much of the Central time zone between mid-March and early November. The modified time is called "Central Daylight Time" (CDT) and is [[UTC−05:00|00]].

In the United States, all time zones that observe DST were effectively changed by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Beginning in 2007, DST would now begin at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday in March instead of the first Sunday in April, moving the time from 2 to 3 a.m. Additionally, DST would end at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in November instead of the last Sunday in October, moving the time from 2 to 1 a.m.

At the time, Mexico decided not to go along with this change and observed their ''horario de verano'' from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. In December 2009, the Mexican Congress allowed ten border cities, eight of which are in states that observe Central Time, to adopt the US daylight time schedule effective in 2010. However, in October 2022, CDT was used in Mexico for the last time after DST was abolished. The US is also seeing traction in the same direction with the Sunshine Protection Act that proposes legislation that would permanently end daylight saving time.<ref>[https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/623 S.623 - Sunshine Protection Act of 2021] US Congress</ref>

==Alphabetical list of major Central Time Zone metropolitan areas==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
*Acapulco, Guerrero
*Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes
*Amarillo, Texas
*Antigua Guatemala
*{{wipe|Austin, Texas}}, {{wipe|Texas}}
*Baton Rouge, Louisiana
*Beaumont/Port Arthur, Texas
*Belize City, Belize
*Belmopan, Belize
*Birmingham, Alabama
*Bismarck, North Dakota
*Bloomington, Illinois
*Bowling Green, Kentucky
*Brandon, Manitoba
*Cancún, Quintana Roo
*Cedar Rapids, Iowa
*Champaign, Illinois
*{{wipe|Chicago}}, Illinois
*Clarksville, Tennessee
*Comarca Lagunera <small>(Torreón, Gómez Palacio, Lerdo)</small>
*Columbia, Missouri
*Cuernavaca, Morelos
*Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas
*Des Moines, Iowa
*Enid, Oklahoma
*Evansville, Indiana
*Fargo, North Dakota
*Fort Smith, Arkansas
*Fort Walton Beach, Florida
*Grand Forks, North Dakota
*Grand Rapids, Manitoba
*Green Bay, Wisconsin
*Guadalajara, [[Place:Jalisco|Jalisco]]
*[[Place:Guatemala City|Guatemala City]], Guatemala
*Houston, {{wipe|Texas}}
*Huntsville, Alabama
*Iowa City, Iowa
*Jackson, Mississippi
*Jackson, Tennessee
*Janesville, Wisconsin
*Jonesboro, Arkansas 
*Joplin, Missouri
*Kansas City, Missouri/{{wipe|Kansas}}
*Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood, Texas
*Lafayette, Louisiana
*Lawrence, Kansas
*León, Guanajuato
*Lincoln, Nebraska
*Little Rock, Arkansas
*Lubbock, Texas
*Madison, Wisconsin
*[[Place:Managua|Managua]], Nicaragua
*Memphis, Tennessee
*Mérida, Yucatán
*[[Place:Mexico City|Mexico City]]
*Midland/Odessa, Texas
*Milwaukee, Wisconsin
*Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Minnesota
*Mobile, Alabama
*Monroe, Louisiana
*Monterrey, Nuevo León
*Montgomery, Alabama
*Morelia, Michoacán
*Nashville, Tennessee
*New Orleans, Louisiana
*Normal, Illinois
*Northwest Arkansas
*Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
*Omaha, Nebraska
*Owensboro, Kentucky
*Paducah, Kentucky
*Panama City, Florida
*Pensacola, Florida
*Peoria, Illinois
*Puebla, Puebla
*Quad Cities, Iowa/Illinois
*Racine, Wisconsin
*Red Lake, Ontario
*Regina, Saskatchewan
*Rockford, Illinois
*Rochester, Minnesota
*Sioux City, Iowa
*Sioux Falls, South Dakota
*St. Louis, Missouri
*San Antonio, {{wipe|Texas}}
*[[Place:San José, Costa Rica|San José, Costa Rica]]
*San Luis Potosí City
*San Pedro Sula, Honduras
*[[Place:San Salvador|San Salvador]], El Salvador
*Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro
*Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
*Shreveport–Bossier City, Louisiana
*Springfield, Illinois
*Springfield, Missouri
*Tampico, Tamaulipas
*[[Place:Tegucigalpa|Tegucigalpa]], Honduras
*Thompson, Manitoba
*Toluca, Estado de México
*Topeka, Kansas
*Tuscaloosa, Alabama
*Tulsa, Oklahoma
*Wichita, Kansas
*Wichita Falls, Texas
*Winnipeg, Manitoba
*Zacatecas, Zacatecas
{{div col end}}

==See also==
*Effects of time zones on North American broadcasting

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/us_tzones.php Hismaime zones C conversion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110808232828/http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/us_tzones.php |date=August 8, 2011 }}
* [http://time5.nrc.ca/webclock_e.shtml Official times across Canada]


[[Category:Time zones]]

{{Sourceattribution|Central Time Zone}}