Current Time in Chicago

About time in Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the Central Time Zone, sitting at UTC-6 in winter and shifting to UTC-5 for Central Daylight Time in the warmer half of the year. It runs one hour behind New York and two hours ahead of Los Angeles, making it a natural midpoint for coordinating calls across the country. The city's CME Group and Chicago Board of Trade keep commodity and futures markets humming on Central hours. For much of the Midwest, Chicago's clock is the reference everyone sets their day by.

Chicago changes its clocks for daylight saving time, so its exact UTC offset depends on the season (UTC-6 (UTC-5 in summer)). The live clock above reads Chicago's local time directly from the IANA time zone database in your browser, using the rules installed on your device. Keep your browser updated when regional rules change. To plan a call or convert a specific moment, use the timezone converter or meeting planner linked below.

Daylight in Chicago through 2026

Chicago sits at about 41.9°N, 87.6°W. The longest day of 2026 is June 19, with 15h 14m between sunrise and sunset. The shortest is December 17, with 9h 08m, a difference of 6 h 6 min. At this mid-latitude, winter evenings are dark early and summer evenings stay light well after a normal working day.

The earliest sunrise of the year comes around June 12 (05:14) and the latest sunset around June 21 (20:29). These are not exactly on the solstice because the sun’s position runs slightly ahead of or behind clock time during the year.

Solar noon, when the sun is highest, falls at about 12:57 local time in late March, 12:52 in late June and 11:48 in late December. In standard time the sun is highest at about 11:51 on average, close to 12:00, so the clock and the sun are well aligned in Chicago. During daylight saving time everything moves an hour later on the clock.

Local clock times, including daylight saving where it applies. Calculated with the standard sunrise equation for the city centre; terrain and tall buildings can delay the visible sunrise.

Clock changes in Chicago (2026–2027)

Chicago changes its clocks twice in 2026. On a change night, the local time skips or repeats a block of time, and the gap to other cities shifts unless they change on the same date.

• Sunday, March 8, 2026: at 02:00 clocks go forward one hour to 03:00 (UTC−6 → UTC−5).
• Sunday, November 1, 2026: at 02:00 clocks go back one hour to 01:00 (UTC−5 → UTC−6).
• Sunday, March 14, 2027: at 02:00 clocks go forward one hour to 03:00 (UTC−6 → UTC−5).
• Sunday, November 7, 2027: at 02:00 clocks go back one hour to 01:00 (UTC−5 → UTC−6).

Recurring meetings set in Chicago time stay at the same local hour; participants elsewhere see the meeting move by an hour for the weeks when only one side has changed.

Dates come from the IANA time zone database as bundled with this site’s build. Governments occasionally change rules at short notice; see our methodology.