Easter Sunday 2027 falls on Sunday, March 28, 2027. Good Friday is Friday, March 26 and Easter Monday is Monday, March 29. Orthodox Easter falls five weeks later, on Sunday, May 2.
Easter 2027 is early. The Western date can fall anywhere between March 22 and April 25, and March 28 sits six days from the earliest possible date — the earliest Easter since March 27, 2016.
Two consequences follow. Lent begins on February 10, one of the earliest Ash Wednesdays in the cycle, and the gap to Orthodox Pascha stretches to 35 days, one of the widest separations between the two traditions in the current century.
Table of Contents
When is Easter 2027?
Sunday, March 28, 2027. The complete Holy Week and Easter season calendar:
| Observance | Date 2027 | Weekday | Days from Easter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Septuagesima | January 24 | Sunday | −63 |
| Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras | February 9 | Tuesday | −47 |
| Ash Wednesday, Lent begins | February 10 | Wednesday | −46 |
| First Sunday of Lent | February 14 | Sunday | −42 |
| Palm Sunday | March 21 | Sunday | −7 |
| Holy Monday | March 22 | Monday | −6 |
| Holy Tuesday | March 23 | Tuesday | −5 |
| Holy Wednesday | March 24 | Wednesday | −4 |
| Maundy Thursday | March 25 | Thursday | −3 |
| Good Friday | March 26 | Friday | −2 |
| Holy Saturday | March 27 | Saturday | −1 |
| Easter Sunday | March 28 | Sunday | 0 |
| Easter Monday | March 29 | Monday | +1 |
| Ascension Day | May 6 | Thursday | +39 |
| Pentecost | May 16 | Sunday | +49 |
Every date on this list is derived from Easter by a fixed offset. Establish the Easter date and the rest of the liturgical year follows arithmetically.
How the date of Easter 2027 is calculated
Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon falling on or after the March equinox. The rule, called the computus, was fixed at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.
Applied to 2027:
- The March equinox falls on Saturday, March 20, 2027 at 4:24 p.m. EDT.
- The first full moon on or after that date is the Worm Moon, on Monday, March 22, 2027 at 6:43 a.m. EDT.
- The first Sunday after March 22 is March 28.
One qualification the shorthand omits: the computus uses an ecclesiastical approximation of the equinox fixed permanently at March 21, and an ecclesiastical moon calculated from tables rather than observed.
In most years the ecclesiastical and astronomical values agree, as they do in 2027. In rare years they diverge by a day and the ecclesiastical value governs.
If the paschal full moon itself falls on a Sunday, Easter is observed the following Sunday, which prevents Easter and Passover from coinciding under the ecclesiastical reckoning.
Easter 2027 closures by institution
Easter is not a federal holiday in the United States. Neither is Good Friday.
| Institution | Good Friday, March 26 | Easter Sunday, March 28 | Easter Monday, March 29 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal offices | Open | Closed, Sunday | Open |
| Banks, Federal Reserve schedule | Open | Closed, Sunday | Open |
| U.S. Postal Service | Normal delivery | No delivery | Normal delivery |
| NYSE and Nasdaq | Closed | Closed, Sunday | Open |
| Bond markets, SIFMA | Early close | Closed, Sunday | Open |
| State offices | Closed in roughly 12 states | Closed | Open in most states |
| Public schools | Varies by district | Closed | Varies by district |
| Most retail and grocery | Open | Reduced hours | Open |
The stock exchanges are the exception worth knowing. NYSE and Nasdaq close for Good Friday every year despite it carrying no federal status, so March 26, 2027 is a market holiday on a day when banks and federal offices are open.
Here are the key facts, figures, and research-backed trends.
1. Church Attendance & Worship Patterns
- The Highest-Attended Sunday of the Year:According to Lifeway Research, 90% of Protestant pastors report that Easter ranks among their three highest-attendance services of the entire year, with 52% citing it as their absolute #1 most-attended day (outperforming Christmas Eve).
- The Surge Effect (“Chreasters”):Weekly church attendance in the United States typically hovers around 30% of adults (Gallup). On Easter Sunday, however, self-reported church attendance regularly surges past 45% to 50%, driven by infrequent churchgoers (often colloquially called “Chreasters”—those who attend only on Christmas and Easter).
- Denominational Attendance Spikes:Mainline Protestant and traditional liturgical congregations (such as Lutheran and Methodist churches) see some of the highest reliability in Easter spikes, with over 95% of their pastors ranking Easter in their top three annual services.
- Belief in the Resurrection:Lifeway’s State of Theology research indicates that roughly 65% to 66% of all American adults affirm that the biblical accounts of the physical resurrection of Jesus are historically and factually accurate.Among those who attend religious services at least monthly, that figure rises to 90%.
2. General Public Participation & Celebrations
- Overall Celebration Rate:Around 79% to 81% of Americans actively celebrate Easter each year, according to annual National Retail Federation (NRF) and YouGov tracking.
- How People Celebrate: Among those who observe Easter:
- ~55% to 57%host or attend a family meal or gathering.
- ~51% of households with childrenorganize an Easter egg hunt at home or in their neighborhood.
- ~40% to 43% attend an in-person or virtual religious service.
- ~33% participate in outdoor spring activities, picnics, or community events.
3. Economic & Consumer Spending Figures
Easter ranks among the largest consumer spending events in the first half of the year:
| Metric | Typical Annual Figure (NRF Data) |
| Total U.S. Consumer Spend | $22B – $25B annually |
| Average Spend per Person | ~$180 – $195 |
| Food & Dining | $7.3B – $7.5B (largest category) |
| Gifts & Toys | $3.5B – $3.9B |
| Clothing (Easter Outfits) | $3.5B |
| Candy & Chocolate | $3.1B – $3.3B (~90% of celebrants buy candy) |
| Flowers & Lilies | $1.6B – $1.9B |
4. Global & Community Scale
- St. Peter’s Square (Vatican City): The Pope’s Easter Sunday Mass and subsequent Urbi et Orbi (“To the City and the World”) blessing routinely draws 50,000 to 100,000 pilgrims in person to the square, with a global television and digital broadcast reach estimated in the tens of millions.
- White House Easter Egg Roll: First held in 1878 under President Rutherford B. Hayes, this remains one of the largest public events on the South Lawn, distributing around 40,000 tickets via public lottery each year for children and families.
- Sunrise Services: A distinct Protestant tradition originating in 1732 with the Moravian Church in Herrnhut, Germany, outdoor Easter sunrise services regularly draw thousands to natural amphitheaters and parks (such as the Red Rocks Sunrise Service in Colorado, which draws up to 10,000 worshippers at dawn).
How Easter 2027 differs from other countries
The United States is an outlier among English-speaking countries in giving Easter no public holiday status at all.
| Country | Good Friday | Easter Monday | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Not federal | Not federal | No long weekend |
| United Kingdom | Bank holiday | Bank holiday | Four-day weekend |
| Ireland | Public holiday | Public holiday | Four-day weekend |
| Canada | Statutory | Statutory in some provinces | Three or four days |
| Australia | Public holiday | Public holiday | Four-day weekend |
| New Zealand | Public holiday | Public holiday | Four-day weekend |
| Germany, France, Netherlands | Public holiday | Public holiday | Four-day weekend |
Because Easter 2027 is early, that four-day weekend arrives in late March across Europe and the Commonwealth, while the weather is still unsettled in the northern half of the continent.
Easter dates 2025 to 2032
| Year | Easter Sunday | Weekday check | Ash Wednesday |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | April 20 | Sunday | March 5 |
| 2026 | April 5 | Sunday | February 18 |
| 2027 | March 28 | Sunday | February 10 |
| 2028 | April 16 | Sunday | March 1 |
| 2029 | April 1 | Sunday | February 14 |
| 2030 | April 21 | Sunday | March 6 |
| 2031 | April 13 | Sunday | February 26 |
| 2032 | March 28 | Sunday | February 11 |
The date swings by up to 35 days between consecutive years. Between 2026 and 2027 it moves eight days earlier; between 2027 and 2028 it moves nineteen days later.
There is no short cycle: the full pattern repeats only every 5,700,000 years under the Gregorian computus.
What Easter 2027 is not
Easter is not a fixed date and cannot be looked up as one. It is not tied to March 25, to the first Sunday of April, or to any calendar rule that does not involve the Moon.
Easter Sunday 2027 is not the same as Orthodox Easter 2027, which falls on Sunday, May 2, five weeks later.
Both traditions apply the same underlying rule, but Eastern churches compute it on the Julian calendar, which now runs 13 days behind the Gregorian.
Easter is not a federal holiday in the United States, and Good Friday is not either. If you are checking whether an office will be closed, the federal holiday schedule will not answer the question.
Easter 2027 does not fall in April. It falls on March 28, in the previous month, which is unusual enough that April calendars for 2027 contain no Western Easter dates at all.
Frequently asked questions
What day is Easter 2027?
Sunday, March 28, 2027. Easter always falls on a Sunday. The associated dates are Palm Sunday on March 21, Maundy Thursday on March 25, Good Friday on March 26, Holy Saturday on March 27 and Easter Monday on March 29.
Why is Easter 2027 so early?
Because the first full moon after the March equinox arrives just two days after it. The equinox falls on March 20, 2027 and the paschal full moon on March 22, so the following Sunday, March 28, is only six days past March 22 — the earliest date Easter can ever occur.
Is Easter Sunday 2027 a federal holiday?
No. Easter is not listed in 5 U.S.C. 6103 and carries no federal status. It falls on a Sunday in every year, so the question rarely affects federal offices in practice, but Good Friday on March 26 and Easter Monday on March 29 are both regular working days for federal employees.
