What time zone is the Midwest?
There's no official "Midwest time zone", but most of the Midwest uses Central Time: CST (UTC−6) in winter and CDT (UTC−5) in summer, the time in Chicago, Minneapolis and St. Louis. Ohio and most of Michigan and Indiana use Eastern Time, and the western edges of the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas use Mountain Time.
Time zones of the 12 Midwest states
| State | Time zone | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Illinois | Central | All of the state |
| Indiana | Eastern (mostly) | Six northwest counties near Chicago (Jasper, Lake, LaPorte, Newton, Porter, Starke) and six southwest counties around Evansville (Gibson, Perry, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh, Warrick) use Central Time |
| Iowa | Central | All of the state |
| Kansas | Central (mostly) | Four western counties (Greeley, Hamilton, Sherman, Wallace) use Mountain Time |
| Michigan | Eastern (mostly) | Four Upper Peninsula counties bordering Wisconsin (Dickinson, Gogebic, Iron, Menominee) use Central Time |
| Minnesota | Central | All of the state |
| Missouri | Central | All of the state |
| Nebraska | Central (mostly) | The western part, including the Panhandle (Scottsbluff, North Platte area west), uses Mountain Time |
| North Dakota | Central (mostly) | The southwestern corner (Dickinson, Bowman) uses Mountain Time |
| Ohio | Eastern | All of the state |
| South Dakota | Central and Mountain | The eastern half (Sioux Falls, Pierre) is Central; the western half (Rapid City, the Black Hills) is Mountain |
| Wisconsin | Central | All of the state |
The Midwest here is the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwest region. Time zone boundaries follow federal rules set by the Department of Transportation.
Why the Midwest is split
Time zones follow economic ties as much as longitude. Northwest Indiana runs on Chicago's Central Time because so many people commute into the city, while the rest of the state chose Eastern Time. Michigan's western Upper Peninsula counties look to Wisconsin, and the ranching counties on the western plains of Nebraska, Kansas and the Dakotas line up with Denver on Mountain Time.
Questions people ask
What time zone is the Midwest in?
Mostly Central Time. There is no official "Midwest time zone": eight of the twelve Midwest states are mainly on Central Time, Ohio is on Eastern Time, Michigan and Indiana are mostly Eastern, and the western edges of the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas use Mountain Time.
Is Chicago in the Midwest time zone?
Chicago is on Central Time (CST in winter, CDT in summer), which is what most people mean by Midwest time.
Which Midwest states have two time zones?
Six: Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. In most of them only a few counties are on the other zone; South Dakota is split roughly in half.
Is Ohio Eastern or Central time?
Eastern Time, all of it, even though Ohio is in the Midwest.
Does the Midwest use daylight saving time?
Yes, all twelve Midwest states change their clocks on the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November.
Related: Central time zone · Eastern time zone · Mountain time zone · US time zones map · CST vs EST
Last updated October 23, 2026.