Daylight saving time ends on Sunday, November 1, 2026, at 2:00 a.m. local time, when clocks go back one hour to 1:00 a.m. It begins again on Sunday, March 14, 2027, at 2:00 a.m.
Clocks in most of the United States go back one hour on Sunday, November 1, 2026, and the question this year is whether they will keep doing so.
On Tuesday, July 14, 2026, the House of Representatives passed the Sunshine Protection Act by 308 votes to 117, a bill that would make daylight saving time permanent.
It is not law: it sits with a Senate committee, and until something is signed, the existing rule stands.
This page gives the dates for 2026 through 2030, the law that sets them, where the permanent-time bill actually stands, which states and territories ignore the change, and how the American dates differ from Europe’s.
For the season boundaries that people often confuse with the clock change, see our When Does Winter Start guide.
Table of Contents
When does daylight saving time end in 2026?
Daylight saving time ends on Sunday, November 1, 2026, at 2:00 a.m. local time. At that moment clocks go back to 1:00 a.m., so the hour from 1:00 to 2:00 a.m. happens twice and the night is one hour longer.
The Farmers’ Almanac states the date and adds the caveat that matters this year: “Unless a new federal law is enacted, clocks go back one hour on November 1.”
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Date | Sunday, November 1, 2026 |
| Time | 2:00 a.m. local time |
| Clocks go | Back one hour, to 1:00 a.m. |
| Effect on the night | One hour longer |
| Effect on mornings | Sunrise one hour earlier by the clock |
| Effect on evenings | Sunset one hour earlier by the clock |
| Next change | Sunday, March 14, 2027 |
The change happens at 2:00 a.m. in each time zone separately, not simultaneously across the country, so the East Coast falls back three hours before the West Coast does.
Daylight saving time dates 2026 to 2030
In the United States, daylight saving time runs from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November. The table lists both dates for each year under the current law.
| Year | Begins, clocks forward | Ends, clocks back |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Sunday, March 8, 2026 | Sunday, November 1, 2026 |
| 2027 | Sunday, March 14, 2027 | Sunday, November 7, 2027 |
| 2028 | Sunday, March 12, 2028 | Sunday, November 5, 2028 |
| 2029 | Sunday, March 11, 2029 | Sunday, November 4, 2029 |
| 2030 | Sunday, March 10, 2030 | Sunday, November 3, 2030 |
Both changes happen at 2:00 a.m. local time. In March the clock jumps forward to 3:00 a.m., so that night is an hour shorter, and the 2:00 a.m. hour does not exist.
Will clocks still change? Where the permanent-time bill stands
The Sunshine Protection Act has passed the House but is not law, so the 2026 and 2027 changes go ahead as scheduled.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee confirms that the House passed H.R. 139 on July 14, 2026, a bill introduced by Congressman Vern Buchanan of Florida to “lock the clock.”
The committee’s own statement points to the next step: “I look forward to the Senate’s consideration of this important legislation.”
| Stage | What happened | Date |
|---|---|---|
| House passage | H.R. 139 passed 308 to 117 | July 14, 2026 |
| Senate referral | Referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation | September 23, 2026 |
| Signed into law | Has not happened | Pending |
The Farmers’ Almanac puts the status plainly: “It is not law yet.” Until it is, the dates in the table above are the operative ones.
Permanent daylight time or permanent standard time?
The debate is not only about ending the switch, but about which time to keep. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine supports ending the twice-yearly change but opposes making daylight saving time the permanent setting.
Its president, Dr. Fariha Abbasi-Feinberg, said that “the U.S. House ignored the overwhelming evidence supporting the health and safety benefits of permanent standard time.”
| Position | What it would mean | Who holds it |
|---|---|---|
| Permanent daylight saving time | Later sunrises and later sunsets year round | H.R. 139, passed by the House |
| Permanent standard time | Earlier sunrises and earlier sunsets year round | American Academy of Sleep Medicine |
| Keep the current system | Clocks change twice a year | The law as it stands today |
The Academy argues that permanent daylight time “would cause misalignment with human circadian rhythms,” and raises “public safety concerns by increasing the risk of traffic accidents and pedestrian deaths, particularly for children waiting for school buses.”
It backs a rival bill, the Sunshine for Our Kids Act, which would make standard time permanent instead.
The law that sets the dates
The dates come from federal law, at 15 U.S. Code § 260a. The statute provides for daylight saving time “commencing at 2 o’clock antemeridian on the second Sunday of March of each year and ending at 2 o’clock antemeridian on the first Sunday of November,” during which standard time “shall be advanced one hour,” according to Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute.
Those are not the original dates. The same source notes that the end date used to be the last Sunday of October, and that the Energy Policy Act of 2005 moved it to the first Sunday of November, effective March 1, 2007.
| Period | Daylight saving time ran |
|---|---|
| Before 2007 | First Sunday in April to last Sunday in October |
| 2007 onward | Second Sunday in March to first Sunday in November |
Which states and territories do not change their clocks
Most of Arizona and all of Hawaii stay on standard time all year, along with five territories.
The US Department of Transportation states that “Daylight Saving Time is not observed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and most of Arizona,” and that under the Uniform Time Act “States may exempt themselves from observing Daylight Saving Time by State law.”
| Place | Observes DST? |
|---|---|
| Hawaii | No |
| Most of Arizona | No |
| American Samoa | No |
| Guam | No |
| Northern Mariana Islands | No |
| Puerto Rico | No |
| US Virgin Islands | No |
| All other states | Yes |
The law allows a state to opt out of daylight saving time but not to adopt it permanently on its own, which is why the permanent-time question has to be settled in Congress.
Cornell’s text of the statute says a state “may by law exempt itself,” and that an exempting state must then “observe the standard time otherwise applicable during that period.”
Clock changes outside the United States
The United Kingdom and the European Union change their clocks on the last Sundays in March and October, not the American dates.
Gov.uk states that “in the UK the clocks go forward 1 hour at 1am on the last Sunday in March, and back 1 hour at 2am on the last Sunday in October,” and lists 25 October for 2026 and 31 October for 2027.
| Year | US clocks back | UK and EU clocks back |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Sunday, November 1, 2026 | Sunday, October 25, 2026 |
| 2027 | Sunday, November 7, 2027 | Sunday, October 31, 2027 |
| 2028 | Sunday, November 5, 2028 | Sunday, October 29, 2028 |
The gap matters for anyone scheduling calls across the Atlantic. In 2026 the UK falls back a week before the United States, so for that week the usual five-hour gap between London and New York shrinks to four.
What daylight saving time is not
Daylight saving time is not “daylight savings time,” although almost everyone says it that way: the statute uses the singular, saving.
It does not create extra daylight, only shifts the clock against it, so the length of the day is set by the season and your latitude rather than by the time change.
It is not a time zone change either: Arizona does not leave the Mountain time zone by staying on standard time, and neither do Hawaii or Puerto Rico move zones.
Finally, the 2026 and 2027 changes are not cancelled by the House vote. A bill that has passed one chamber is not a law, and the Senate had not acted on it as of Wednesday, September 30, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
When does daylight saving time end in 2026?
Daylight saving time ends on Sunday, November 1, 2026, at 2:00 a.m. local time, when clocks go back one hour to 1:00 a.m. The change happens separately in each time zone rather than all at once. Sunrise and sunset both fall an hour earlier by the clock from that morning onward.
When does daylight saving time start in 2027?
Daylight saving time begins on Sunday, March 14, 2027, at 2:00 a.m. local time, when clocks jump forward to 3:00 a.m. Federal law sets the start as the second Sunday in March. That night is one hour shorter, and the 2:00 a.m. hour does not exist on the clock.
Are clocks still changing, or has permanent daylight saving time passed?
Clocks are still changing. The House passed the Sunshine Protection Act, H.R. 139, on July 14, 2026, by 308 votes to 117, but the bill was referred to a Senate committee and has not become law. The Farmers’ Almanac states plainly that “it is not law yet,” so the November 2026 and March 2027 changes stand.
Why does daylight saving time end on the first Sunday in November?
Because federal law says so. 15 U.S. Code § 260a sets daylight saving time as ending “at 2 o’clock antemeridian on the first Sunday of November.” The end date was the last Sunday in October until the Energy Policy Act of 2005 moved it, a change that took effect in March 2007.
Which states do not observe daylight saving time?
Hawaii and most of Arizona do not observe daylight saving time, along with American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, according to the Department of Transportation. Under the Uniform Time Act, a state may exempt itself by state law, but it cannot adopt daylight saving time permanently without Congress.
Do the clocks change on the same day in the UK and the US?
No. The UK and the EU change on the last Sundays in March and October, while the United States uses the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November. In 2026 the UK goes back on October 25 and the US on November 1, so for that week the time difference between London and New York is four hours instead of five.
Is it daylight saving time or daylight savings time?
The correct form is daylight saving time, singular, which is the wording used in federal law at 15 U.S. Code § 260a. “Daylight savings time” is common in speech and widely understood, but it does not appear in the statute. Both refer to the same practice of advancing clocks by one hour in spring.
Sources:
- Farmers’ Almanac: Daylight Saving Time 2026
- House Energy and Commerce Committee: House Passes Legislation to Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent
- American Academy of Sleep Medicine: AASM condemns House passage of Sunshine Protection Act
- Cornell Legal Information Institute: 15 U.S. Code § 260a
- US Department of Transportation: Daylight Saving Time
- Gov.uk: When do the clocks change?
