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US East + Central + West Meeting Time

Find the best meeting time for teams across Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. See work hour overlap and ranked time slots.

The CST-EST-PST combination is the US domestic time zone triangle, spanning a 3-hour maximum difference between the East and West coasts with Central in between. This is the easiest three-way scheduling problem in common use — all three zones share the same DST schedule, so relative offsets never change throughout the year.

Time Zone Overview

Central Time (CT)

CDT UTC-5

Chicago, Dallas, Houston

Eastern Time (ET)

EDT UTC-4

New York, Miami, Atlanta

Pacific Time (PT)

PDT UTC-7

Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle

Work Hours Overlap

Visual timeline showing 9 AM -- 6 PM work hours for each time zone, with overlap highlighted.

12a
3a
6a
9a
12p
3p
6p
9p
CT CDT
ET EDT
PT PDT
Overlap
Everyone available
Most available
Some overlap
Outside work hours

Best Meeting Times

Top ranked time slots for a 1-hour meeting with 9 AM -- 6 PM work hours in each zone.

1 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM CT
CT: 2:00 PM ET: 3:00 PM PT: 12:00 PM

All members within working hours. Everyone in mid-day range.

9.2 / 10
2 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM CT
CT: 1:00 PM ET: 2:00 PM PT: 11:00 AM

All members within working hours. Everyone in mid-day range.

9.1 / 10
3 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM CT
CT: 3:00 PM ET: 4:00 PM PT: 1:00 PM

All members within working hours. Everyone in mid-day range.

8.9 / 10
4 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM CT
CT: 12:00 PM ET: 1:00 PM PT: 10:00 AM

All members within working hours. Everyone in mid-day range.

8.6 / 10
5 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM CT
CT: 4:00 PM ET: 5:00 PM PT: 2:00 PM

All members within working hours. 2 in mid-day range (9 AM–5 PM).

8.4 / 10

Scheduling Tips

  • Default to 11:00 AM EST / 10:00 AM CST / 8:00 AM PST for team-wide standups — this gives the West Coast time to settle in while the East Coast is still in their productive morning block.
  • For end-of-day syncs, use 4:00 PM EST / 3:00 PM CST / 1:00 PM PST — everyone is still in the work day and the West Coast has the full afternoon for follow-up work.
  • Since DST never shifts relative offsets between these three zones, you can set recurring meetings once and forget about seasonal adjustments entirely.

DST Impact

Upcoming DST transitions that may affect your meeting time:

CT Clocks fall back on November 2, 2026. This may shift the meeting time by 1 hour for teams in Central Time (CT).
ET Clocks fall back on November 2, 2026. This may shift the meeting time by 1 hour for teams in Eastern Time (ET).
PT Clocks fall back on November 2, 2026. This may shift the meeting time by 1 hour for teams in Pacific Time (PT).

Use the interactive Meeting Planner for live, date-specific meeting scheduling.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best meeting time across US East, Central, and West time zones?
The overlap window is very wide. Any time from 10:00 AM EST / 9:00 AM CST / 7:00 AM PST through 6:00 PM EST / 5:00 PM CST / 3:00 PM PST works. For best attendance, aim for late morning Eastern: 11:00 AM EST / 10:00 AM CST / 8:00 AM PST.
Does daylight saving time affect meetings between US time zones?
No. EST, CST, and PST all observe US daylight saving time on the exact same dates (second Sunday of March, first Sunday of November). The offsets between them are always 1 hour (EST→CST) and 3 hours (EST→PST), year-round. This is one of the few multi-zone corridors where DST is a complete non-issue. The World Clock shows current times across all US zones in real time.
How many overlapping work hours exist for EST, CST, and PST?
Assuming a standard 9 AM–6 PM work day in each zone, you get roughly 6 hours of three-way overlap (9 AM PST / 12 PM EST through 3 PM PST / 6 PM EST). That's more than enough for multiple daily syncs without anyone working outside business hours.

Timezone Pair Converters

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