PST to CST Converter | Los Angeles to Chicago Time

Los Angeles (PST)

Chicago (CST)

Convert Pacific Standard Time to Central Standard Time. PST is 2 hours behind CST. Use our free converter to compare times, schedule meetings, and coordinate across timezones.

Timezone Converter & Meeting Options Generator

Why this conversion matters

Pacific to Central is the standard US West Coast to Midwest business pattern — 2 hours apart year-round, both transitioning together to daylight time in March and back in November. A 9 AM PST meeting is 11 AM CST: comfortable for both. The wide working-hours overlap (effectively 9 AM-3 PM PST = 11 AM-5 PM CST) makes this one of the easiest US cross-zone schedules. Because both zones share the same DST schedule, the 2-hour offset never changes — useful for recurring meeting templates that don't need timezone-aware logic on the calendar side.

Working-hours overlap right now

Current offsets: Los Angeles is UTC-07:00, Chicago is UTC-05:00. The shared 9 AM-5 PM working window is 9:00 AM-3:00 PM in Los Angeles (11:00 AM-5:00 PM in Chicago).

Time in Los Angeles	Equivalent time in Chicago
9:00 AM	11:00 AM
12:00 PM	2:00 PM
3:00 PM	5:00 PM
6:00 PM	8:00 PM

Upcoming daylight saving transitions

Recurring meetings need to account for DST shifts. Here's the next scheduled change for each side:

Los Angeles: clock changes on Sunday, November 1, 2026 — offset moves from UTC-07:00 to UTC-08:00.
Chicago: clock changes on Sunday, November 1, 2026 — offset moves from UTC-05:00 to UTC-06:00.

Frequently asked questions

What is the current time difference between Los Angeles and Chicago?

Chicago is 2 hours ahead of Los Angeles. Los Angeles currently runs UTC-07:00 and Chicago runs UTC-05:00.

When is the best time to schedule a meeting between Los Angeles and Chicago?

The working-hours overlap (9 AM-5 PM on both sides) is 9:00 AM-3:00 PM in Los Angeles (11:00 AM-5:00 PM in Chicago). Anywhere in that window works comfortably for both teams.

Does Los Angeles or Chicago observe daylight saving time?

Los Angeles observes daylight saving time, so its offset shifts twice a year. Chicago observes daylight saving time, so its offset shifts twice a year.

When does the next DST transition affect the PST to CST offset?

The next transition is in Los Angeles on November 1, 2026, when the clock moves back by 1 hour. That shifts the PST to CST offset by the same amount until the next transition.

How do I convert PST to CST without doing the math manually?

Use the converter above — it reads the current IANA timezone database, so it stays correct across DST transitions automatically. Enter the source time in Los Angeles and it shows the matching time in Chicago live, including any active DST offset on either side.