Daylight saving time calculator
Enter a year, see when the clocks change.
When does daylight saving time start and end in 2026?
It starts at 2:00 AM on Sunday, March 8, 2026, and ends at 2:00 AM on Sunday, November 1, 2026. In 2027 the dates are March 14 and November 7.
What is the rule?
Federal law (15 U.S.C. 260a) sets daylight saving time from 2:00 AM on the second Sunday in March to 2:00 AM on the first Sunday in November. This rule has applied since 2007. Congress changed the dates in 2005 (Public Law 109-58) and the change took effect in 2007, when daylight saving time ran from March 11 to November 4.
Which places do not use daylight saving time?
Hawaii, most of Arizona (the Navajo Nation does observe it), Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa. The law lets a state exempt itself: a state that lies entirely in one time zone may keep standard time all year, as long as it does so for the whole state.
Is daylight saving time becoming permanent?
Not yet. The House passed the Sunshine Protection Act on July 14, 2026, but the Senate has not acted on it, so the current rule still applies.
Do clocks go forward or back?
Forward one hour in March (“spring forward”) and back one hour in November (“fall back”).
How to find the dates without a calculator
The second Sunday of March is always the Sunday that falls on March 8 through 14, and the first Sunday of November is the Sunday on November 1 through 7. In 2026, March 1 is a Sunday, so the second Sunday is March 8; November 1 is itself a Sunday, so the clocks go back on the first day of the month. The IANA time zone database, which operating systems and phones use, writes the same rule as “Sun on or after March 8” and “Sun on or after November 1”, both at 2:00 local time. Daylight saving time in 2026 lasts 238 days, from March 8 to November 1.
What happens to the hour at 2:00 AM?
In March the clock jumps from 2:00 AM straight to 3:00 AM, so 2:30 AM does not exist that night and the day is 23 hours long. In November the clock returns from 2:00 AM to 1:00 AM, so every time from 1:00 to 1:59 AM happens twice and the day is 25 hours long. Because the change is set in local time, it occurs at a different moment in each zone: at 7:00 UTC in the Eastern zone in March, for instance, since Eastern standard time is five hours behind UTC.
Common mistakes with daylight saving time
First, hard-coding a date such as “March 10”: the date moves from year to year, and only the weekday rule is fixed. Second, scheduling recurring events in a fixed time-zone abbreviation. From March to November the Eastern zone is EDT (UTC−4), not EST (UTC−5), and a meeting set in EST in July is an hour off. Third, assuming every place changes together: Hawaii and most of Arizona do not, and other countries change their clocks on different dates, so the time gap between two cities can shift by an hour for a few weeks each year. Fourth, forgetting the time of day: a deadline at 2:30 AM on the March date is impossible. Fifth, assuming the rule is stable; Congress can change it, so check the law for years far ahead.
Sources: 15 U.S.C. § 260a (daylight saving time, as amended by Pub. L. 109-58, Energy Policy Act of 2005); IANA Time Zone Database, file “northamerica” (rule “US” from 2007); H.R. 139, 119th Congress (Sunshine Protection Act). Related: time zone converter, day of the week calculator, date calculator, sunrise and sunset calculator and calendar.