All counties and cities of the state have the same time zone, there are no exceptions. Illinois is observing daylight savings so there are two different clocks depending on the time of the year. Time zone and DST transitions in Chicago, United States Chicago time zone Central Time: - CST - Central Standard Time - CDT - Central Daylight Time when daylight saving time is being observed (from early March to early November) Exact time now, time zone, time difference, sunrise/sunset time and key facts for Chicago, Illinois, United States. Live local time in Chicago. Explore America/Chicago time zone information, UTC offset, DST, and related time tools. Historic, present and future dates for daylight saving time and clock changes. Time changes between years 2025 and 2029 in USA – Illinois – Chicago are shown here. Current local time in the America/Chicago time zone: live clock, UTC offset (UTC-5), daylight saving status, and a representative city. Compare with other world time zones. What Time Zone is Chicago, Illinois? Chicago, Illinois is in the Central Time Zone (CT). During Standard Time, Chicago observes Central Standard Time (CST), which is six hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC-6). Current local time in USA – Illinois – Chicago. Get Chicago's weather and area codes, time zone and DST. Explore Chicago's sunrise and sunset, moonrise and moonset. Exact time in Chicago time zone now. Official Chicago timezone and time change dates for year 2026. Chicago is in the Central Standard Time (CT). What is the difference between CST and CDT? These are the two seasonal versions of Central Standard Time: CST (UTC-6), which stands for Central Standard Time, is used in winter. CDT (UTC-5), which stands for Central Daylight Time, is used in summer. What is an IANA time zone identifier?.