When it is 09:00 in Los Angeles it is 11:00 in Chicago in January and 11:00 in July. Chicago is 2 hours ahead Los Angeles right now — and the difference is the same all year. This page gives the live times in both cities, the overlap between their working days, the daylight saving dates that move the difference, and the best meeting windows.
Try the tool: Time Zone Converter — convert any time between Los Angeles and Chicago, with the offset for the date you pick.
Live times in Los Angeles and Chicago
The two cities side by side. The January column uses the winter offsets (Los Angeles UTC−08:00, Chicago UTC−06:00); the July column uses the summer offsets (Los Angeles UTC−07:00, Chicago UTC−05:00).
| Time in Los Angeles | Chicago in January | Chicago in July |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00 | 02:00 | 02:00 |
| 06:00 | 08:00 | 08:00 |
| 09:00 | 11:00 | 11:00 |
| 12:00 | 14:00 | 14:00 |
| 15:00 | 17:00 | 17:00 |
| 17:00 | 19:00 | 19:00 |
| 21:00 | 23:00 | 23:00 |
The world clock shows the current time in both cities live, and the individual city pages — time in Los Angeles and time in Chicago — explain each city's time zone, offsets and daylight saving in full.
The time difference between Los Angeles and Chicago
The difference is constant: Chicago is 2 hours ahead Los Angeles on every day of the year. That is the simplest case in time-zone work — the answer does not depend on the date, and a meeting set for 09:00 in Los Angeles is always 11:00 in Chicago. The reason the difference never changes is that both cities observe daylight saving and change their clocks on the same dates.
To convert a time, add the difference: 09:00 in Los Angeles is 11:00 in Chicago in January and 11:00 in July; 17:00 in Los Angeles — the end of the working day — is 19:00 in Chicago in January and 19:00 in July. To go the other way, subtract it: 09:00 in Chicago is 07:00 in Los Angeles in January. The time difference calculator does the arithmetic for any date, and the UTC to Chicago page gives the full conversion table for Chicago.
Meeting overlap between Los Angeles and Chicago
The overlap is the hours when both cities are in their working day (09:00–17:00 local time). The table marks the overlapping hours in Los Angeles's working day and shows what time they are in Chicago.
January
| Los Angeles time | Chicago time | Both working? |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00 | 11:00 | Yes |
| 10:00 | 12:00 | Yes |
| 11:00 | 13:00 | Yes |
| 12:00 | 14:00 | Yes |
| 13:00 | 15:00 | Yes |
| 14:00 | 16:00 | Yes |
| 15:00 | 17:00 | Yes |
| 16:00 | 18:00 | Yes |
In January the overlap is 8 hours: 09:00, 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00, 16:00 Los Angeles time. In July it is 8 hours: 09:00, 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00, 16:00 Los Angeles time. The meeting planner finds the overlap for any two cities and any date, and the meeting time finder finds it for a whole team.
Daylight saving in Los Angeles and Chicago
Los Angeles observes daylight saving: in 2026 the clocks go forward on 8 March 2026 and back on 1 November 2026, moving the offset from UTC−08:00 to UTC−07:00.
Chicago observes daylight saving: in 2026 the clocks go forward on 8 March 2026 and back on 1 November 2026, moving the offset from UTC−06:00 to UTC−05:00.
The difference never changes, so there is no date on which a standing meeting moves. That does not mean the difference is the same as the difference with a third city — the difference between Los Angeles and London, for example, may still move when London changes its clocks. The individual DST pages — Los Angeles DST 2026 and Chicago DST 2026 — give the exact dates for each city.
Best meeting windows
The best windows in January are 09:00–17:00 in Los Angeles (11:00–19:00 in Chicago). These are the hours inside both working days, so nobody is up early or late. It is a short window, so keep the meeting short and send an agenda in advance.
Calling and travel notes
When it is 09:00 in Los Angeles it is 11:00 in Chicago in January; when it is 12:00 in Los Angeles it is 14:00 in Chicago; when it is 17:00 in Los Angeles it is 19:00 in Chicago. The difference is under 12 hours, so the two cities are usually on the same date — but check the date for late-evening and early-morning times, when the date can differ by a day. Scheduling inside the Americas is usually straightforward: the difference between Los Angeles and Chicago is small, and the working days overlap for most of the day. The main thing to check is daylight saving — not every place in the Americas observes it, and the ones that do change on different dates (the United States and Canada in March and November, Chile in September and April, Mexico not at all since 2022).
Worked conversions
Six conversions, for January (offsets Los Angeles UTC−08:00, Chicago UTC−06:00):
| Los Angeles | Chicago |
|---|---|
| 08:00 | 10:00 |
| 09:00 | 11:00 |
| 12:00 | 14:00 |
| 14:00 | 16:00 |
| 17:00 | 19:00 |
| 20:00 | 22:00 |
In July, the answers are the same. For the reverse direction, see Chicago to Los Angeles time.
Los Angeles and Chicago at a glance
| Fact | Los Angeles | Chicago |
|---|---|---|
| Country | United States | United States |
| Region | Americas | Americas |
| IANA time zone | America/Los_Angeles |
America/Chicago |
| Standard offset | UTC−08:00 | UTC−06:00 |
| Daylight saving offset | UTC−07:00 | UTC−05:00 |
| Offset in January 2026 | UTC−08:00 | UTC−06:00 |
| Offset in July 2026 | UTC−07:00 | UTC−05:00 |
| Observes daylight saving | Yes | Yes |
The table is the whole pair in one place. The two numbers that matter most are the January and July offsets: if they are the same in both columns for a city, that city's offset never changes; if they differ, the city observes daylight saving and the difference between the cities moves with it. The individual city pages — time in Los Angeles and time in Chicago — explain each city's time zone, and the DST pages — Los Angeles DST 2026 and Chicago DST 2026 — give the exact change dates.
Frequently asked questions
What is the time difference between Los Angeles and Chicago?
Chicago is 2 hours ahead Los Angeles right now. In January the difference is 2 hours ahead and in July it is 2 hours ahead — it is the same all year.
How do I schedule a recurring meeting between Los Angeles and Chicago?
Pick a time inside the overlap — 09:00–17:00 Los Angeles time — and set the calendar event in UTC so it moves correctly when the clocks change. Re-check the overlap in March and October, when the difference moves, and rotate the time if the meeting falls outside someone's working day.
What time is it in Chicago when it is 09:00 in Los Angeles?
It is 11:00 in January and 11:00 in July. The time zone converter gives the answer for any date.
What is the best time for a meeting between Los Angeles and Chicago?
The best windows in January are 09:00–17:00 Los Angeles time — inside both working days.
Does the time difference between Los Angeles and Chicago change during the year?
No. The difference is 2 hours ahead all year, because both cities change their clocks on the same dates.
What time is it in Los Angeles when it is 09:00 in Chicago?
It is 07:00 in January and 07:00 in July. See Chicago to Los Angeles time for the full comparison from Chicago's side.
What are the time zones of Los Angeles and Chicago?
Los Angeles is in America/Los_Angeles (UTC−08:00 standard time) and Chicago is in America/Chicago (UTC−06:00 standard time).
What time is it in Los Angeles when it is midnight in Chicago?
It is 22:00 in Los Angeles in January and 22:00 in July — the same day, because Los Angeles is ahead of Chicago. Midnight conversions are the ones that most often land on the wrong date, so always check the date as well as the time.
Sources
- IANA Time Zone Database, via Node.js Intl (
Intl.DateTimeFormatwithtimeZone) — offsets, daylight saving dates and local times in this article were worked out from the IANA database, not typed from memory. - TimeFlow's own time-zone data (
data/cities.ts,data/dst.ts), computed from the IANA database. - TimeFlow's time zone converter and meeting planner — the live tools behind the numbers on this page.
- Time-zone and daylight saving rules are set by governments and can change. For flights, deadlines and meetings that cannot move, confirm the time with an official source.