Hong Kong is 13 hours ahead of Chicago for most of the year: when it is 9:00 am in Chicago it is 10:00 pm in Hong Kong. In offset terms Chicago is on UTC-06:00 and Hong Kong is on UTC+08:00 in January, and UTC-05:00 and UTC+08:00 in July. The converter above works from your browser’s own time zone data, so the figure it shows is the one in force today rather than the one that was in force when this page was written.
The difference is not constant, because only one of the two cities observes daylight saving. In 2026, Chicago changes on 8 March and 1 November and Hong Kong does not change at all. That leaves 3 distinct periods in the year, and the table below gives the exact dates. It is the short windows that catch people out: a recurring call booked in one city’s clock silently moves in the other’s.
There is no overlap in office hours at all. Chicago works 08:00 to 17:00 and Hong Kong works 09:00 to 18:00, and with 13 hours between them one city has closed before the other opens. Anything live has to be early for one side or late for the other; 17:00 to 18:00 in Chicago, which is 06:00 to 07:00 in Hong Kong, is usually the least painful compromise. Both cities work Monday to Friday, so only the clock has to be reconciled.
Two local details worth knowing. Futures trading at the CME starts at 08:30 Central, which is why Chicago mornings begin an hour earlier than the clock difference to New York suggests. The exchange trades 09:30 to 16:00 with a lunch break, and UTC+08:00 has been fixed since daylight saving was dropped in 1979.
Write the invitation in both clocks. "09:00 Chicago / 22:00 Hong Kong" removes the ambiguity that abbreviations introduce — Chicago alone is read as CST in winter and CDT in summer, and calendar software will happily convert one into the other without telling you.
The formula
local Chicago- The time you enter, on the Chicago clock
offset- Each city’s UTC offset at that moment, read live from the IANA time zone database in your browser
+13- The difference in hours that holds for most of 2026: Hong Kong is 13 hours ahead of Chicago
day shift- Whether the converted time falls on the previous, same or next calendar day in Hong Kong
How it works, step by step
- Enter a time in Chicago using the 24-hour hour box and the minute box — 15:30 is hour 15, minute 30.
- Your browser reports the UTC offset in force in Chicago and in Hong Kong for that moment, so a date near a daylight saving transition is handled correctly rather than with a fixed 13 hour rule.
- The second offset minus the first gives the difference, which is added to the time you entered. A result past midnight is marked as the next or previous day, because that is where most conversion mistakes live.
- The panel also shows the current time in both cities, the date in Hong Kong, and whether the two offices are open at the same moment.
Worked examples
08:00 in Chicago
08:00 in Chicago is 21:00 in Hong Kong — after the Hong Kong working day has finished. In 12-hour terms, 8:00 am against 9:00 pm. Only one of the two offices is open at that moment, so it is worth offering rather than assuming.
12:00 in Chicago
12:00 in Chicago is 01:00 in Hong Kong (next day) — the middle of the night in Hong Kong. In 12-hour terms, 12:00 pm against 1:00 am (next day). Only one of the two offices is open at that moment, so it is worth offering rather than assuming.
16:00 in Chicago
16:00 in Chicago is 05:00 in Hong Kong (next day) — the middle of the night in Hong Kong. In 12-hour terms, 4:00 pm against 5:00 am (next day). Only one of the two offices is open at that moment, so it is worth offering rather than assuming.
The 1 January window, when the usual answer is wrong
Between 1 January and 7 March the difference is +14:00 rather than +13:00, because one city has changed its clocks and the other has not. In that window 09:00 in Chicago is 23:00 in Hong Kong, an hour away from where a fixed-offset table would put it.
How to read your score
Frequently asked questions
How many hours ahead of Chicago is Hong Kong?
Hong Kong is 13 hours ahead of Chicago for most of 2026, so 09:00 in Chicago is 22:00 in Hong Kong. The difference changes during the daylight saving changeovers, and the table on this page lists every period in the year with its exact dates.
What is 2 pm Chicago time in Hong Kong?
3:00 am (next day), the middle of the night in Hong Kong. In 24-hour form 14:00 in Chicago is 03:00 in Hong Kong (next day), and that is outside working hours in Hong Kong.
What is the best time to call between Chicago and Hong Kong?
There is no time when both offices are open, so one side has to step outside its normal hours. The two least disruptive options are 07:00 in Chicago, which is 20:00 in Hong Kong, or 17:00 in Chicago, which is 06:00 in Hong Kong.
Is Hong Kong ahead of or behind Chicago?
Hong Kong is ahead. Chicago is at UTC-06:00 and Hong Kong is at UTC+08:00 in mid-January, and UTC-05:00 and UTC+08:00 in mid-July. The clock moves forward going from Chicago to Hong Kong, which is why Hong Kong reaches the end of its working day first.
Do Chicago and Hong Kong change their clocks on the same date?
No. In 2026, Chicago changes on 8 March 2026 and 1 November 2026, and Hong Kong does not change its clocks at all. That is why the difference between them takes 2 different values across the year rather than one.
What do the abbreviations for Chicago mean?
Chicago is on CST in winter and CDT in summer, while Hong Kong uses HKT and HKT. Abbreviations are the least reliable way to write a time: several are ambiguous between regions, and the summer and winter forms are an hour apart. A UTC offset, or the time given in both cities, cannot be misread.
Does this converter stay correct after the clocks change?
Yes. It does not use a stored number for the difference. Each time you change a value it asks your browser for the UTC offset that America/Chicago and Asia/Hong_Kong are on at that moment, using the IANA time zone database that ships with your operating system, and takes the difference. The tables on this page are computed from the same database for 2026.
Chicago to Hong Kong: every hour, every period of 2026, and meeting slots
| Chicago (24h) | Chicago (12h) | Hong Kong (24h) | Hong Kong (12h) | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 | 12:00 am | 13:00 | 1:00 pm | office hours in Hong Kong |
| 01:00 | 1:00 am | 14:00 | 2:00 pm | office hours in Hong Kong |
| 02:00 | 2:00 am | 15:00 | 3:00 pm | office hours in Hong Kong |
| 03:00 | 3:00 am | 16:00 | 4:00 pm | office hours in Hong Kong |
| 04:00 | 4:00 am | 17:00 | 5:00 pm | office hours in Hong Kong |
| 05:00 | 5:00 am | 18:00 | 6:00 pm | outside office hours |
| 06:00 | 6:00 am | 19:00 | 7:00 pm | outside office hours |
| 07:00 | 7:00 am | 20:00 | 8:00 pm | outside office hours |
| 08:00 | 8:00 am | 21:00 | 9:00 pm | office hours in Chicago |
| 09:00 | 9:00 am | 22:00 | 10:00 pm | office hours in Chicago |
| 10:00 | 10:00 am | 23:00 | 11:00 pm | office hours in Chicago |
| 11:00 | 11:00 am | 00:00 (next day) | 12:00 am (next day) | office hours in Chicago |
| 12:00 | 12:00 pm | 01:00 (next day) | 1:00 am (next day) | office hours in Chicago |
| 13:00 | 1:00 pm | 02:00 (next day) | 2:00 am (next day) | office hours in Chicago |
| 14:00 | 2:00 pm | 03:00 (next day) | 3:00 am (next day) | office hours in Chicago |
| 15:00 | 3:00 pm | 04:00 (next day) | 4:00 am (next day) | office hours in Chicago |
| 16:00 | 4:00 pm | 05:00 (next day) | 5:00 am (next day) | office hours in Chicago |
| 17:00 | 5:00 pm | 06:00 (next day) | 6:00 am (next day) | outside office hours |
| 18:00 | 6:00 pm | 07:00 (next day) | 7:00 am (next day) | outside office hours |
| 19:00 | 7:00 pm | 08:00 (next day) | 8:00 am (next day) | outside office hours |
| 20:00 | 8:00 pm | 09:00 (next day) | 9:00 am (next day) | office hours in Hong Kong |
| 21:00 | 9:00 pm | 10:00 (next day) | 10:00 am (next day) | office hours in Hong Kong |
| 22:00 | 10:00 pm | 11:00 (next day) | 11:00 am (next day) | office hours in Hong Kong |
| 23:00 | 11:00 pm | 12:00 (next day) | 12:00 pm (next day) | office hours in Hong Kong |
Computed at a difference of 13 hours, which is the one that holds for most of 2026. During the transition windows in the table below, shift the right-hand columns by an hour.
| Period | Length | Chicago offset | Hong Kong offset | Difference | Abbreviations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Jan to 07 Mar | 66 days | UTC-06:00 | UTC+08:00 | +14:00 | CST / HKT |
| 08 Mar to 31 Oct | 238 days | UTC-05:00 | UTC+08:00 | +13:00 | CDT / HKT |
| 01 Nov to 31 Dec | 61 days | UTC-06:00 | UTC+08:00 | +14:00 | CST / HKT |
Every row is read from the IANA time zone database. Short periods appear where one city has changed its clocks and the other has not yet done so.
| Chicago | 12-hour | Hong Kong | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 06:00 | 6:00 am | 19:00 | Outside both |
| 06:30 | 6:30 am | 19:30 | Outside both |
| 07:00 | 7:00 am | 20:00 | Outside both |
| 07:30 | 7:30 am | 20:30 | Outside both |
| 08:00 | 8:00 am | 21:00 | After hours in Hong Kong |
| 08:30 | 8:30 am | 21:30 | After hours in Hong Kong |
| 09:00 | 9:00 am | 22:00 | After hours in Hong Kong |
| 09:30 | 9:30 am | 22:30 | After hours in Hong Kong |
| 10:00 | 10:00 am | 23:00 | After hours in Hong Kong |
| 10:30 | 10:30 am | 23:30 | After hours in Hong Kong |
| 11:00 | 11:00 am | 00:00 (next day) | Too early in Hong Kong |
| 11:30 | 11:30 am | 00:30 (next day) | Too early in Hong Kong |
| 12:00 | 12:00 pm | 01:00 (next day) | Too early in Hong Kong |
| 12:30 | 12:30 pm | 01:30 (next day) | Too early in Hong Kong |
| 13:00 | 1:00 pm | 02:00 (next day) | Too early in Hong Kong |
| 13:30 | 1:30 pm | 02:30 (next day) | Too early in Hong Kong |
| 14:00 | 2:00 pm | 03:00 (next day) | Too early in Hong Kong |
| 14:30 | 2:30 pm | 03:30 (next day) | Too early in Hong Kong |
| 15:00 | 3:00 pm | 04:00 (next day) | Too early in Hong Kong |
| 15:30 | 3:30 pm | 04:30 (next day) | Too early in Hong Kong |
| 16:00 | 4:00 pm | 05:00 (next day) | Too early in Hong Kong |
| 16:30 | 4:30 pm | 05:30 (next day) | Too early in Hong Kong |
| 17:00 | 5:00 pm | 06:00 (next day) | Outside both |
| 17:30 | 5:30 pm | 06:30 (next day) | Outside both |
| 18:00 | 6:00 pm | 07:00 (next day) | Outside both |
| 18:30 | 6:30 pm | 07:30 (next day) | Outside both |
| 19:00 | 7:00 pm | 08:00 (next day) | Outside both |
| 19:30 | 7:30 pm | 08:30 (next day) | Outside both |
| 20:00 | 8:00 pm | 09:00 (next day) | After hours in Chicago |
| 20:30 | 8:30 pm | 09:30 (next day) | After hours in Chicago |
| 21:00 | 9:00 pm | 10:00 (next day) | After hours in Chicago |
| 21:30 | 9:30 pm | 10:30 (next day) | After hours in Chicago |
Office hours taken as 08:00–17:00 in Chicago and 09:00–18:00 in Hong Kong, which are the customary hours in each city rather than a generic nine to five.