Central Time Zone (North America)

The Central Time Zone is in North America and observes standard time by subtracting six hours from UTC during standard time (UTC−06) and five hours during daylight saving time (UTC−05). The clock time in this zone, composed almost totally of a strip of territory in North America, is based on the mean solar time of the 90th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory.

In the United States and Canada, this time zone is generically called Central Time (CT), while in Mexico is called Tiempo del Centro. Specifically, it is Central Standard Time (CST) when observing standard time (winter), and Central Daylight Time (CDT) when observing daylight saving (summer). In Mexico, daylight saving time is known as Horario de Verano ("Summer Time"), no matter what time zone.

The zone is two hours ahead of the Pacific Time Zone, one hour ahead of the Mountain Time Zone, and one hour behind the Eastern Time Zone.

Canada
The Canadian province that observes Central Time in its entirety:
 * Manitoba

The Canadian provinces and territories that observe Central Time in part with another time zone (other time zone):
 * Nunavut (Eastern) most of Kivalliq Region and part of Qikiqtaaluk Region
 * Ontario (Eastern) northwestern part
 * Saskatchewan (Mountain) nearly all Central

United States
The states of the United States that observe Central Time in their entirety:


 * Alabama
 * Although the entire state of Alabama is legally on Central Time, Phenix City and its surrounding area unofficially observe Eastern Time, as Phenix City is part of the media market and metropolitan area of the considerably larger city of Columbus, Georgia.
 * Arkansas
 * Illinois
 * Iowa
 * Louisiana
 * Minnesota
 * Mississippi
 * Missouri
 * Oklahoma
 * Although the entire state of Oklahoma is legally on Central Time, the unincorporated community of Kenton, at the extreme western end of the Panhandle, unofficially observes Mountain Time.
 * Wisconsin

The states of the United States that observe Central Time only in part with another time zone:

Part in Mountain Time Part in Eastern Time
 * Kansas: Entire state except for Sherman, Wallace, Greeley and Hamilton, all of which border Colorado
 * Nebraska: Eastern two-thirds
 * North Dakota: Entire state except for southwestern quadrant
 * South Dakota: Eastern half
 * Texas: Entire state except for Hudspeth and El Paso counties and a portion of Culberson County
 * Florida: Panhandle west of Apalachicola River
 * Indiana: Southwestern and northwestern corners (see Time in Indiana)
 * Kentucky: Western half
 * Michigan: Far western Upper Peninsula
 * Tennessee: Western two-thirds

The exact specification for the location of time zones and the dividing line between zones is set forth in the Code of Federal Regulations at 49 CFR 71.

Mexico
Most of Mexico belongs to the Central Time Zone, with the six northwestern-most states being the exception: Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Nayarit, Sinaloa, and Sonora follow UTC−7, while Baja California follows UTC−8.

The states of Mexico that observe Central Time in their entirety:


 * Aguascalientes
 * Campeche
 * Coahuila
 * Colima
 * Chiapas
 * Distrito Federal
 * Durango
 * Guanajuato
 * Guerrero


 * Hidalgo
 * Jalisco
 * Mexico
 * Michoacán
 * Morelos
 * Nuevo León
 * Oaxaca
 * Puebla
 * Querétaro


 * Quintana Roo
 * San Luis Potosí
 * Tabasco
 * Tamaulipas
 * Tlaxcala
 * Veracruz
 * Yucatán
 * Zacatecas

The states of the Mexico that observe Central Time only in part with another time zone (other time zone).
 * Nayarit just the Bahia de Banderas municipality uses the Central time zone.

Central Daylight Time
Daylight saving time is in effect in much of the time zone between mid-March and early November. The modified time is called Central Daylight Time (CDT) and is UTC−5. Saskatchewan, Sonora and Galápagos do not observe the change, remaining on Standard Time year round. One reason that Saskatchewan does not take part in the time change is that geographically, most of the province should be placed in the Mountain Time Zone. To avoid this, they have moved onto "permanent" daylight saving by being part of the Central Time Zone. The only exception is the region immediately surrounding the Saskatchewan side of the biprovincial city of Lloydminster, which has chosen to use Mountain Time with DST, synchronizing its clocks with those of Alberta.

In some areas, starting in 2007, the local time changes from CST to CDT at 02:00 LST to 03:00 LDT on the second Sunday in March and returns at 02:00 LDT to 01:00 LST on the first Sunday in November. Mexico decided not to go along with this change and observes DST from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October.

Alphabetical list of cities and metropolitan areas

 * Acapulco, Guerrero
 * Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes
 * Austin, Texas
 * Baton Rouge, Louisiana
 * Birmingham, Alabama
 * Bismarck, North Dakota
 * Chicago, Illinois
 * Cuernavaca, Morelos
 * Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas
 * Des Moines, Iowa
 * Fargo-Moorhead, North Dakota/Minnesota
 * Green Bay, Wisconsin
 * Guadalajara, Jalisco
 * Houma-Bayou-Cane-Thibodaux, Louisiana
 * Houston, Texas
 * Huntsville, Alabama
 * Jackson, Mississippi
 * Kansas City, Missouri-Kansas
 * Lafayette, Louisiana
 * León, Guanajuato
 * Lincoln, Nebraska
 * Little Rock, Arkansas
 * Madison, Wisconsin
 * Memphis, Tennessee
 * Mérida, Yucatán
 * Mexico City
 * Midland/Odessa, Texas
 * Milwaukee, Wisconsin
 * Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota
 * Mobile, Alabama
 * Monterrey, Nuevo León
 * Montgomery, Alabama
 * Murfreesboro, Tennessee
 * Nashville, Tennessee
 * New Orleans, Louisiana
 * Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
 * Omaha, Nebraska
 * Pensacola, Florida
 * Puebla, Puebla
 * Quad Cities, Iowa/Illinois
 * Regina, Saskatchewan
 * Reynosa, Tamaulipas
 * St. Louis, Missouri
 * San Antonio, Texas
 * San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí
 * Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro
 * Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
 * Sioux Falls, South Dakota
 * Springfield, Missouri
 * Tampico, Tamaulipas
 * Toluca, México
 * Torreón, Coahuila
 * Tulsa, Oklahoma
 * Wichita, Kansas
 * Winnipeg, Manitoba