In the United States, daylight saving in 2026 starts on the second Sunday of March and ends on the first Sunday of November. That is Sunday, 8 March 2026 to Sunday, 1 November 2026 in 2026 — about eight months of daylight saving and four months of standard time. Almost every state observes it; the exceptions are Arizona and Hawaii, and the territories that do not.
Try the tool: Time Zone Converter — convert any time between any two US cities, with the 2026 daylight saving rules applied.
The 2026 dates in detail
The spring change is on Sunday, 8 March 2026: at 2am local time the clocks jump forward to 3am, and an hour is lost. The autumn change is on Sunday, 1 November 2026: at 2am the clocks fall back to 1am, and the hour is regained. The dates are the same in every observing state, from New York to Los Angeles, because the Energy Policy Act of 2005 standardised them across the country. Before 2007 the dates were different — the change took effect in 2007 and extended daylight saving by about a month.
Every US time zone in 2026
| Time zone | Daylight saving starts 2026 | Daylight saving ends 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Atlanta (America/New_York) | Sunday, 8 March 2026 | Sunday, 1 November 2026 |
| Seattle (America/Los_Angeles) | Sunday, 8 March 2026 | Sunday, 1 November 2026 |
| Dallas (America/Chicago) | Sunday, 8 March 2026 | Sunday, 1 November 2026 |
| Denver (America/Denver) | Sunday, 8 March 2026 | Sunday, 1 November 2026 |
| Phoenix (America/Phoenix) | No change — no daylight saving | No change — no daylight saving |
| Honolulu (Pacific/Honolulu) | No change — no daylight saving | No change — no daylight saving |
| Anchorage (America/Anchorage) | Sunday, 8 March 2026 | Sunday, 1 November 2026 |
Atlanta (America/New_York) moves its clocks forward on Sunday, 8 March 2026 and back on Sunday, 1 November 2026 — the standard US dates. Seattle (America/Los_Angeles) moves its clocks forward on Sunday, 8 March 2026 and back on Sunday, 1 November 2026 — the standard US dates. Dallas (America/Chicago) moves its clocks forward on Sunday, 8 March 2026 and back on Sunday, 1 November 2026 — the standard US dates. Denver (America/Denver) moves its clocks forward on Sunday, 8 March 2026 and back on Sunday, 1 November 2026 — the standard US dates. Anchorage (America/Anchorage) moves its clocks forward on Sunday, 8 March 2026 and back on Sunday, 1 November 2026 — the standard US dates.
The states that do not observe it
Phoenix: Arizona opted out of daylight saving in 1968, under the federal law that lets states exempt themselves. The reason is the desert heat: an extra hour of evening sun would mean an extra hour of air conditioning, not an extra hour outdoors. The Navajo Nation inside Arizona does observe it. Honolulu: Hawaii opted out of daylight saving in 1967, under the federal law that lets states exempt themselves. Hawaii's tropical latitude means day length barely changes, so there is nothing to gain.
Arizona opted out in 1968 under the federal law that lets states exempt themselves, and Hawaii opted out in 1967. The Navajo Nation, which lies inside Arizona, does observe daylight saving — so the same state can have two different times on the same day, depending on whose land you are standing on. It is the only place in the United States where the clock change depends on tribal land.
The gap with Europe
The United States changes three weeks before Europe in spring and a week later in autumn, so for three weeks each spring — and one week each autumn — the gap between New York and London is four hours instead of five. In 2026 the US springs forward on Sunday, 8 March 2026 while Europe waits until Sunday, 29 March 2026, and the US falls back on Sunday, 1 November 2026 while Europe has already fallen back on Sunday, 25 October 2026. A recurring meeting scheduled across the Atlantic in March or October needs to be checked against the actual dates, not the usual gap.
Daylight saving in 2027
In 2027, daylight saving in the United States starts on Sunday, 14 March 2027 and ends on Sunday, 7 November 2027 — the second Sunday of March and the first Sunday of November, as always. The dates move by a few days each year because they are defined by the weekday, and the gap with Europe is four hours for three weeks in spring and one week in autumn, as in every year.
What the change means in practice
The clock change is not just an hour on the clock. In spring, everyone loses an hour of sleep, and studies consistently find a spike in road accidents, heart attacks and workplace injuries in the days after the change. In autumn, the hour is regained, and there is no comparable spike. For travellers, the change means checking flight times: a flight that leaves at 2am on the night of the change may not exist, or may exist twice. For anyone scheduling across time zones, it means checking the offset for the date, not the offset you remember — the time zone converter applies the rules for the date you choose.
Frequently asked questions
When does daylight saving start in 2026?
On the second Sunday of March — Sunday, 8 March 2026 in 2026.
When does daylight saving end in 2026?
On the first Sunday of November — Sunday, 1 November 2026 in 2026.
How many time zones observe daylight saving in 2026?
51 of the 100 zones covered on this site — 45 in the northern hemisphere and 6 in the southern hemisphere.
Does every country observe daylight saving?
No. Most of Africa and Asia do not, and several countries have abolished it — Russia in 2014, Türkiye in 2016, Brazil in 2019, Mexico in 2022, Jordan in 2022, and Morocco in 2026.
How do I check the daylight saving dates for a city?
Use the time zone converter: enter the city and the date, and it shows the offset in effect on that date. The city's own page — for example the daylight saving page for New York — gives the dates too.
Related pages
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. - Daylight saving dates: the IANA Time Zone Database, as applied by this site's tools. Dates on this page are computed from the database for 2026.
- TimeFlow's time zone converter — the live tool behind the dates 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.