The North American Central Time Zone (CT) is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, and a few Caribbean islands.

[2] From the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November the same areas observe daylight saving time (DST), creating the designation of Central Daylight Time (CDT), which is five hours behind UTC and known internationally as UTC−5.

One major exception includes Lloydminster, a city whose borders overlap both Alberta and Saskatchewan.

[6][7] Most of Mexico—roughly the eastern three-fourths—lies in the Central Time Zone, except for five northwestern states (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, Sonora, and most of Nayarit) and one southeastern state (Quintana Roo).

[citation needed] In the United States, all time zones that observe DST were effectively changed by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.