Time in Chicago
The current local time and date in Chicago, its time zone, and a converter to your own time.
Detecting your time zone to suggest the best hour to call…
Chicago is the flagship city of US Central Time, the zone's biggest metro and the reference most people mean by "Central" (CST/CDT).
Chicago uses UTC-6 in winter (standard time) and shifts to UTC-5 in summer when daylight saving time is active.
Compare to your time zone
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Compare Chicago with another city
Chicago & London · Chicago & New York · Chicago & Tokyo · Chicago & Los Angeles · Chicago & Dubai · All world clocks →
See also: Population of United States
Other cities in the Central Time zone
Time in Houston · Time in Texas · Time in Illinois · Time in Missouri · Time in Tennessee
Popular time comparisons
London → New York · London → Tokyo · New York → Tokyo · London → Sydney
FAQ
What time is it in Chicago right now?
The live clock at the top of this page shows the current local time in Chicago, refreshed every second. Chicago is on UTC-6 in winter and UTC-5 in summer, and the clock is calculated directly from that official time zone so it always accounts for daylight saving time automatically.
What time zone is Chicago in?
Chicago uses UTC-6 in winter (standard time) and shifts to UTC-5 in summer when daylight saving time is active. The "compare to your time zone" section above converts any Chicago time into your own local time instantly.
Does Chicago observe daylight saving time?
Yes. Chicago moves its clocks forward by one hour in summer (to UTC-5) and back in winter (to UTC-6). This page recomputes the offset live, so the clock and conversions above are always correct for the current date without you needing to remember the switch dates.
How do I convert Chicago time to my time zone?
The converter above detects your device's time zone and shows, hour by hour, what a given Chicago time is where you are. For planning a call across several cities at once, open the World Clock meeting planner, which lays out a colour-coded 24-hour grid.
What is the dialing code for Chicago?
To call Chicago from abroad, dial the country code +1 before the local number. The card at the top of this page shows it alongside the live local time so you can check it is a reasonable hour before you call.
What are the best hours to call Chicago?
The "best time to call" line above detects your own time zone and shows the window when normal waking hours (roughly 8am–9pm) overlap in both places, so neither side is woken up. It updates live, so it already accounts for daylight saving on both ends.
Golden hour in Chicago
How long is golden hour in Chicago? See the data →
Learn how time zones work
UTC & GMT explained · Daylight saving explained · How to convert a time between two cities