Time in Chicago
The current offset in Chicago is UTC-5 (CDT), on the America/Chicago zone. Its clocks change 2 times in 2026.
Chicago, United States
Zone facts
- IANA zone
- America/Chicago
- Abbreviation
- CDT
- Standard offset
- UTC-6
- Daylight offset
- UTC-5
- Country
- United States (US)
- Coordinates
- 41.88, -87.63
Daylight saving time
Clocks in Chicago change 2 times in 2026. The next changes:
- 2026-11-01 at 01:59Clocks go back 60 minutes (UTC-5 → UTC-6)
- 2027-03-14 at 01:59Clocks go forward 60 minutes (UTC-6 → UTC-5)
Sunrise and sunset
Computed from the city’s latitude and longitude with the NOAA solar position algorithm — no API, no network call.
- Sunrise
- 06:05
- Sunset
- 19:43
- Daylight
- 13 hours 39 minutes
Against the major hubs
Common questions
- What time zone is Chicago in?
- Chicago uses the America/Chicago time zone, currently UTC-5 (CDT). Use the IANA identifier rather than the abbreviation in code — abbreviations are ambiguous, and this one may mean something else somewhere else.
- Does Chicago observe daylight saving time?
- Yes. Chicago moves between UTC-6 in winter and UTC-5 in summer, changing 2 times in 2026.
- What is the difference between Chicago and UTC?
- UTC-5 as of the last rebuild. It swings between UTC-6 and UTC-5 across the year.
- When does the sun rise and set in Chicago?
- On the day of the last rebuild, sunrise was 06:05 and sunset 19:43 local time, giving 13 hours 39 minutes of daylight. These are computed from the city’s latitude and longitude, not fetched from anywhere.