Indiana Time Zone: Which Counties Are on Central Time

Last updated October 23, 2026 · Written by Han with AI assistance, fact-checked against official sources.

Indiana is split between two clocks. Indianapolis and 80 of the state's 92 counties keep Eastern time, while two corners, one near Chicago and one around Evansville, keep Central time an hour behind.

Compare Eastern and Central time on a date of your choice in the Meeting Planner. New York shows the Indianapolis clock and Chicago shows the Gary and Evansville clock.

Which parts of Indiana use which time

The table is calculated from the time zone database for the coming January and July. The two parts of the state move their clocks on the same Sundays, so the one-hour gap between them never changes.

The northwest counties sit in the Chicago metro area, and many people there work in Illinois. The southwest counties around Evansville trade with western Kentucky and southern Illinois, which are also on Central time. The state lists the same 12 counties on its time zone page.

Places that catch people out

• South Bend and Notre Dame are on Eastern time, although they are less than 100 miles from Chicago. Michigan City and Valparaiso, closer to Chicago, are on Central time.
• Jasper the city and Jasper County are different places. The city is in Dubois County, on Eastern time. Jasper County is in the northwest, on Central time.
• Jeffersonville, Clarksville and New Albany, across the Ohio River from Louisville, are on Eastern time with Louisville.
• Evansville is on Central time, but Vincennes and Jasper, an hour's drive north and northeast, are on Eastern time.

Indiana and daylight saving time

Every part of Indiana now changes its clocks with the rest of the US. Daylight saving time starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. The next change is on Sunday, November 1, 2026, when clocks fall back.

That has only been true since April 2, 2006. For many years before that, the Central time counties used daylight saving time and most of the Eastern time part of the state did not, as the US Department of Transportation's 2006 rule describes. Indianapolis stayed on UTC−5 all year. In winter it matched New York, and in summer it matched Chicago. In 2005 the Indiana General Assembly passed a law that put the whole state on daylight saving time from 2006. Older websites and some people still say Indiana does not change its clocks.

How the line moved between 2005 and 2007

The switch to daylight saving time came with a dispute over the time zone line. In January 2006 the Department of Transportation moved eight counties from Eastern to Central time from April 2, 2006: Starke, Pulaski, Knox, Daviess, Martin, Pike, Dubois and Perry. It turned down requests from ten other counties, including St. Joseph (South Bend). Pulaski County went back to Eastern time on March 11, 2007. Knox, Daviess, Martin, Pike and Dubois followed on November 4, 2007. Starke and Perry stayed on Central time, which is how the current 12 Central counties came about.

The table shows which clock each area showed in mid-January and mid-July of each year, read from the time zone database. Where two cities are named, the first is the January clock and the second the July clock.

Before 2006, most of the Eastern part of Indiana and the Central part showed the same time all summer, because one side stayed put while the other moved forward. No county has changed zone since November 2007, and every area now keeps exactly the same clock as New York or Chicago.

A longer history

The 2006 federal rule sums up the earlier changes. In 1918, when the federal government first set time zones, all of Indiana was on Central time. In 1961 the eastern half moved to Eastern time. From April 27, 1969, the line put the whole state on Eastern time except six counties in the northwest and six in the southwest. Pike County moved to Eastern time after a 1977 request, and Starke County did the same in 1991. That left 10 Central counties until the 2006 changes.

Planning calls and meetings in Indiana

• Name the city when you set a time. "10 a.m. Indiana time" can be read as 10 a.m. in Indianapolis or 10 a.m. in Evansville, and those are an hour apart.
• For Indianapolis, Fort Wayne or South Bend, use New York in a scheduling tool. For Gary, Hammond or Evansville, use Chicago.
• Near the line, check the county. Phones near a county border can pick up a cell tower on the other side and show the wrong hour.

Open the Meeting Planner to test a time, or see the city pages for New York and Chicago. Which US States Have Two Time Zones? covers Indiana's neighbors, Kentucky and Michigan, and the US time zones guide covers the six main zones.