Central Time Zone (North America)

The Central Time Zone is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, some Caribbean Islands, and part of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Time in the zone is six hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (Greenwich Mean Time - GMT). During daylight saving time (DST), time in the zone is five hours behind GMT.

It is not to be confused with the Central Time Zone in Australia, which covers South Australia and the Northern Territory.

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:
 * Nunavut (territory): western areas (most of Kivalliq Region and part of Qikiqtaaluk Region)
 * Ontario (province): a portion of the northwest bordering northeastern Manitoba

Also, most of the province of Saskatchewan is on Central Standard Time year round. Because Saskatchewan is wholly within the Mountain Time Zone, it is effectively on DST year round. Major exceptions include Lloydminster, a town situated on the boundary between Alberta and Saskatchewan where the town charter stipulates that it shall observe Mountain Time and DST, putting the town on the same time as all of Alberta, including the major cities of Calgary and Edmonton.

United States
The Central Time Zone is the second most populous after the Eastern Time Zone. Many states straddle time zone boundaries.


 * Alabama: Although all of Alabama is legally on Central Time, Phenix City and a number of surrounding communities unofficially observe Eastern Time, as Phenix City is part of the media market and metropolitan area of the considerably larger city of Columbus, Georgia in the Eastern Time Zone.
 * Arkansas
 * Florida: The Florida Panhandle west of the Apalachicola River, bordering on Alabama; the remainder of Florida is in the Eastern Time Zone
 * Illinois
 * Indiana: Southwestern and northwestern corners, bordering on Illinois (see Time in Indiana)
 * Iowa
 * Kansas: All except the westernmost counties; Sherman, Wallace, Greeley and Hamilton
 * Kentucky: Western half, generally everything west of Louisville
 * Louisiana
 * Michigan: The far western part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, bordering on Wisconsin
 * Minnesota
 * Mississippi
 * Missouri
 * Nebraska: Eastern two-thirds
 * North Dakota: Entire state except southwestern quadrant (bordering Montana and South Dakota)
 * Oklahoma
 * South Dakota: Eastern half
 * Tennessee: Western two-thirds; all of Middle Tennessee and West Tennessee plus Bledsoe, Cumberland, and Marion counties in East Tennessee
 * Texas: All of Texas is in the Central Time Zone, except for Hudspeth County and El Paso County in the very far western part.
 * Wisconsin

Mexico
Most of Mexico—roughly the eastern three-fourths—lies in the Central Time Zone, with six of the northwestern states being exceptions: Baja California Norte, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Nayarit, Sinaloa, and Sonora.

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


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


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


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

Mexico City, which is coterminous with the Federal District (Distrito Federal), also uses Central Time.

In Nayarit, however, only the municipality of Bahia de Banderas uses Central Time.

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−5. In Canada, Saskatchewan does not observe a time change. One reason that Saskatchewan does not take part in a time change is that, geographically, the entire province is closer to the Mountain Time Zone's meridian. The province elected to move 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 those areas of the Canadian and American time zones that observe DST, beginning in 2007, the local time changes at 02:00 local standard time to 03:00 local daylight time on the second Sunday in March and returns at 02:00 local daylight time to 01:00 local standard time on the first Sunday in November. Mexico decided not to go along with this change and observes 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 U.S. daylight time schedule effective in 2010.

Alphabetical list of major Central Time Zone metropolitan areas

 * Acapulco, Guerrero
 * Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes
 * Amarillo, Texas
 * Antigua, Guatemala
 * Austin, Texas
 * Baton Rouge, Louisiana
 * Birmingham, Alabama
 * Bismarck, North Dakota
 * Bowling Green, Kentucky
 * Cedar Rapids, Iowa
 * Chicago, Illinois
 * Comarca Lagunera (Torreón, Gómez Palacio, Lerdo)
 * Cuernavaca, Morelos
 * Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
 * Davenport, Iowa
 * Des Moines, Iowa
 * Destin, Florida
 * Evansville, Indiana
 * Fargo-Moorhead, North Dakota/Minnesota
 * Fort Walton Beach, Florida
 * Gary, Indiana/Northwest Indiana
 * Green Bay, Wisconsin
 * Guadalajara, Jalisco


 * Guatemala City, Guatemala
 * Houston, Texas
 * Huntsville, Alabama
 * Jackson, Mississippi
 * Kansas City, Missouri-Kansas
 * Lafayette, Louisiana
 * León, Guanajuato
 * Lincoln, Nebraska
 * Little Rock, Arkansas
 * Lubbock, Texas
 * Madison, Wisconsin
 * Memphis, Tennessee
 * Mérida, Yucatán
 * Mexico City
 * Midland/Odessa, Texas
 * Milwaukee, Wisconsin
 * Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota
 * Mobile, Alabama
 * Monterrey, Nuevo León
 * Montgomery, Alabama
 * Nashville, Tennessee
 * New Orleans, Louisiana
 * Oklahoma City, Oklahoma


 * Omaha, Nebraska
 * Panama City, Florida
 * Pensacola, Florida
 * Peoria, Illinois
 * Puebla, Puebla
 * Quad Cities, Iowa/Illinois
 * Regina, Saskatchewan
 * Reynosa, Tamaulipas
 * St. Louis, Missouri
 * San Antonio, Texas
 * San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí
 * San Salvador, El Salvador
 * Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro
 * Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
 * Shreveport–Bossier City, Louisiana
 * Sioux Falls, South Dakota
 * Springfield, Missouri
 * Tampico, Tamaulipas
 * Toluca, Estado de México
 * Tulsa, Oklahoma
 * Wichita, Kansas
 * Wichita Falls, Texas
 * Winnipeg, Manitoba