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Hours Apart

Chicago to Sydney

These two are not a fixed distance apart. The gap is +15h, +16h, +17h at different points in the year, and it changes 6 times.

Reading your clock…

Every gap between Chicago and Sydney, with dates

This is the table other converters do not show. Each row is a stretch of the year during which the difference is a particular number. Dates are Chicago's local dates.

Time difference between Chicago and Sydney by date range
FromUntilSydney isLength
Tuesday, 1 September 2026Friday, 2 October 202615 hours ahead32 days
Saturday, 3 October 2026Saturday, 31 October 202616 hours ahead29 days
Sunday, 1 November 2026Saturday, 13 March 202717 hours ahead133 days
Sunday, 14 March 2027Friday, 2 April 202716 hours ahead20 days
Saturday, 3 April 2027Friday, 1 October 202715 hours ahead182 days
Saturday, 2 October 2027Saturday, 6 November 202716 hours ahead36 days
Sunday, 7 November 2027onwards17 hours ahead—

The highlighted row is the one to watch. For 20 days from Sunday, 14 March 2027, the difference is 16 hours ahead rather than the usual figure. A weekly call booked outside that window arrives an hour off inside it.

Chicago hours converted to Sydney

As at Sunday, 13 September 2026. Use the converter above for any other day — and if the table of gaps says the difference changes, these numbers change with it.

Hourly conversion from Chicago to Sydney
ChicagoSydney
07:0022:00
08:0023:00
09:0000:00next day
10:0001:00next day
11:0002:00next day
12:0003:00next day
13:0004:00next day
14:0005:00next day
15:0006:00next day
16:0007:00next day
17:0008:00next day
18:0009:00next day
19:0010:00next day
20:0011:00next day

Chicago

America/Chicago

Changes clocks twice a year, between UTC-06:00 and UTC-05:00. Next change Sunday, 1 November 2026.

Sydney

Australia/Sydney

Changes clocks twice a year, between UTC+10:00 and UTC+11:00. Next change Sunday, 4 October 2026.

When Chicago and Sydney can actually talk

On a standard 09:00–17:00 day there is no overlap at all between Chicago and Sydney. One side has to take the call outside their working hours — there is no arrangement of a normal working day that avoids it. Themeeting planner shows how much either side has to stretch, and who is affected least.

Calculated for Sunday, 13 September 2026. Because the gap changes during the year, this window moves with it — the planner recomputes it for any date you pick.

Put both on a world clockFind a meeting time for both

Questions

Chicago and Sydney, explained

What is the time difference between Chicago and Sydney?

There is no single answer, which is why most converters get this wrong for part of the year. Sydney is 15 hours ahead, 16 hours ahead, 17 hours ahead relative to Chicago at different points in the year. Right now it is 15 hours ahead. The table on this page gives the exact dates for each.

Why does the difference between Chicago and Sydney change?

Chicago moves between UTC-06:00 and UTC-05:00, while Sydney moves between UTC+10:00 and UTC+11:00. Because the two do not change on the same weekend, and in opposite hemispheres they change in opposite directions, there are short windows each year where the gap is different from the rest of it.

When is the difference between Chicago and Sydney unusual?

The shortest window runs from Sunday, 14 March 2027 to Friday, 2 April 2027 — 20 days during which Sydney is 16 hours ahead relative to Chicago rather than the usual amount. Short windows like this are where recurring meetings break, because nobody thinks to check.

Does this account for daylight saving automatically?

Yes. Offsets come from your device's own copy of the IANA time zone database through the browser's Intl API, so they reflect whatever rules are current rather than a table bundled here that could go stale. Pick any date in the converter and it resolves that date's rules, not today's.