Los Angeles at 9:00 AM means Chicago at 11:00 AM. That 2-hour spread between Pacific and Central time never budges. Not in January. Not in July. Not on the day clocks spring forward or fall back. The abbreviations shuffle twice a year, but the arithmetic stays put.
The Rule That Never Breaks
Pacific is always 2 hours behind Central. Always.
Noon in San Francisco is 2:00 PM in Dallas. 5:00 PM in Seattle is 7:00 PM in New Orleans. The gap is locked. For anyone scheduling across these two zones, that means one move: add 2 hours going east, subtract 2 hours going west.
A 10:00 AM call in Chicago lands at 8:00 AM in Los Angeles. Early but workable. A 4:00 PM meeting in San Diego means 6:00 PM in Houston, past the typical workday. The friction isn't the math. It's forgetting whose clock you're on.
Winter: PST and CST
From the first Sunday in November to the second Sunday in March, both zones run on standard time.
PST sits at UTC−8. CST sits at UTC−6. The labels match what people expect: Pacific Standard Time, Central Standard Time. The 2-hour difference holds.
Summer: PDT and CDT
From the second Sunday in March through the first Sunday in November, daylight saving time takes over. PST becomes PDT (UTC−7). CST becomes CDT (UTC−5).
The offsets shift, but the relationship does not. PDT is still 2 hours behind CDT. You never need to recalculate the gap. The only thing that changes is the three-letter code on the calendar invite.
Conversion at a Glance
| Pacific Time | Central Time |
|---|---|
| 6:00 AM | 8:00 AM |
| 9:00 AM | 11:00 AM |
| 12:00 PM | 2:00 PM |
| 3:00 PM | 5:00 PM |
| 6:00 PM | 8:00 PM |
| 9:00 PM | 11:00 PM |
The table works in January and July. It works the week after the clocks change. It works every day of the year.
Who Should Rethink Their Scheduling
Remote workers on Pacific time often tie themselves in knots over the 2-hour gap. Stop. A 9:00 AM Pacific start is 11:00 AM Central, a perfectly reasonable slot for both coasts.
The real headache runs the other direction. Central-based workers who blithely book a 7:00 AM Pacific meeting are asking colleagues to log on at 5:00 AM their time. The 2-hour gap is the simplest conversion in the continental United States. The hard part is remembering which side of it you're standing on.