Time Difference Between Chicago and San Francisco
Chicago is normally 2 hours ahead of San Francisco.
This page shows the live time difference between Chicago, United States and San Francisco, United States. Chicago uses the America/Chicago time zone (UTC-6 standard) and San Francisco uses America/Los_Angeles (UTC-8 standard), so Chicago is normally 2 hours ahead of San Francisco. Both cities observe daylight saving time, so the exact gap can shift by an hour depending on the season. The clocks above update live, so you always see the current difference, which is handy for scheduling calls, meetings and travel between the two cities.
Chicago
- Country
- United States
- Time zone
- America/Chicago
- Standard offset
- UTC-6
- Daylight saving
- Observed
- Current offset
- …
San Francisco
- Country
- United States
- Time zone
- America/Los_Angeles
- Standard offset
- UTC-8
- Daylight saving
- Observed
- Current offset
- …
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Compare any other two places on the time difference hub, or open the interactive world time zone map to pin cities and compare live.
Frequently asked questions
What is the time difference between Chicago and San Francisco?
Chicago is normally 2 hours ahead of San Francisco (Chicago is UTC-6, San Francisco is UTC-8). Daylight saving time can change this by an hour, so the live clocks above always show the current difference.
Is Chicago ahead of or behind San Francisco?
Chicago is ahead of San Francisco by 2 hours under standard time.
Do Chicago and San Francisco use daylight saving time?
Chicago observes daylight saving time; San Francisco observes daylight saving time.