Halloween 2026 is on Saturday, October 31, 2026. It always falls on October 31, and this year it lands on a weekend night, with daylight saving time ending a few hours later at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 1.
A Saturday Halloween changes the practical picture: no school night, no workday to rush home from, and an extra hour of sleep once the clocks fall back. This guide covers when Halloween 2026 is, whether anything closes, how trick-or-treat times are set, the clock change that follows, the next five years of dates and a short history of the night.
When is Halloween 2026?
Halloween is a fixed-date celebration, so the only thing that changes from year to year is the weekday. In 2026, October 31 is a Saturday. It is the 304th day of the year and falls in ISO week 44.
Counting from today, October 6, 2026, Halloween is 25 days away, or three weeks and four days. That gives you four weekends to sort out costumes, candy and decorations. Our Halloween countdown keeps the exact number, and children can follow sleeps until Halloween instead.
The full moon of October 2026, the Hunter’s Moon, comes five days earlier, at 12:12 a.m. EDT on Monday, October 26. By Halloween night the moon will be waning, so expect a bright but no longer full moon if the sky is clear. The moon phase calendar shows the nightly phase.
Is Halloween a federal holiday?
No. Halloween is not one of the 11 federal holidays on the OPM holiday schedule. Banks, post offices, government offices and stock markets follow their normal hours on October 31.
In 2026 that question matters less than usual, because October 31 is a Saturday. Offices and schools that are normally closed on weekends will be closed anyway, and Saturday mail delivery and banking hours apply as on any other Saturday. The nearest federal holidays are Columbus Day on Monday, October 12, and Veterans Day on Wednesday, November 11. The 2026 holiday calendar lists every date.
Trick-or-treat times in 2026
There is no national trick-or-treat schedule. Hours are set locally, and how that works varies a lot:
- Some cities, towns and townships announce official hours each year, often a window in the early evening.
- Some places move trick-or-treating to a different night when October 31 falls on a Sunday or a school night. With Halloween on a Saturday in 2026, most communities are likely to keep it on the 31st, but check your local announcement.
- Many neighborhoods, malls, schools and churches run their own events, such as trunk-or-treats, on dates of their choosing.
The safest plan is to check your city or town website, local police or the neighborhood association in the week before. In most of the country sunset comes earlier in late October than it did a month before, so trick-or-treating in the early evening usually happens around dusk or after dark. Reflective costumes and a flashlight are worth packing.
Daylight saving time ends the next morning
US clocks go back one hour at 2:00 a.m. local time on Sunday, November 1, 2026, the first Sunday in November. That is only a few hours after the last trick-or-treaters head home, so set clocks back before bed on Saturday night and you gain an hour of sleep after the party.
From Sunday on, sunset comes about an hour earlier on the clock than it did on Halloween. Arizona (outside the Navajo Nation) and Hawaii don’t observe daylight saving time, so their clocks don’t change. The daylight saving time 2026–2027 guide has the full rules and the March 2027 start date.
The two dates don’t always fall this close together. The first Sunday in November can be any date from November 1 to November 7, so in some years the clock change comes a week after Halloween. The table below shows the gap for the next five years.
Halloween dates, 2026 to 2030
| Year | Halloween (October 31) | Daylight saving time ends |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Saturday | Sunday, November 1 |
| 2027 | Sunday | Sunday, November 7 |
| 2028 | Tuesday | Sunday, November 5 |
| 2029 | Wednesday | Sunday, November 4 |
| 2030 | Thursday | Sunday, November 3 |
2026 is the only year in this stretch where the clocks change the very next morning. 2027 brings a Sunday Halloween, the case where some towns move trick-or-treating to Saturday, and from 2028 to 2030 Halloween falls on a school night.
Where Halloween comes from
The name is short for All Hallows’ Eve, the evening before All Saints’ Day on November 1. “Hallow” is an old word for a saint, and “e’en” is a contraction of “even,” meaning evening. By about 800 CE some churches in Ireland and northern England were already honoring all saints on November 1, and the date spread from there.
Many of Halloween’s customs are usually traced to Samhain, the Gaelic festival around October 31 and November 1 that marked the end of the harvest and the start of winter. Historians still debate how much of modern Halloween comes from Samhain and how much from Christian Allhallowtide, the three days from October 31 to November 2 that also include All Souls’ Day.
Two familiar traditions came to the US with Irish and Scottish immigrants in the 19th century. Jack-o’-lanterns were carved from turnips in Ireland and Scotland, and pumpkins, which are larger and easier to carve, took over in North America. Going door to door has older roots in customs such as souling, where people went from house to house asking for soul cakes in return for prayers for the dead. Trick-or-treating in its modern form is a much more recent American habit.
What comes after Halloween in 2026
- All Saints’ Day and Día de los Muertos: Sunday, November 1, with All Souls’ Day and the second day of Día de los Muertos on Monday, November 2. See days until Día de los Muertos.
- Election Day: Tuesday, November 3, 2026, three days later. Our Election Day 2026 guide explains the date rule.
- Veterans Day: Wednesday, November 11, a federal holiday.
- Thanksgiving: Thursday, November 26, 26 days after Halloween.
- Christmas: Friday, December 25, 55 days after Halloween.
The November 2026 calendar puts all of these on one page.
Frequently asked questions
When is Halloween 2026?
Halloween 2026 is on Saturday, October 31, 2026. It is on October 31 every year; only the weekday changes.
Is Halloween a federal holiday?
No. It isn’t on the federal holiday list, so banks, post offices and government offices keep their usual hours. In 2026 it falls on a Saturday anyway.
What time is trick-or-treating on Halloween 2026?
It depends on where you live. Many towns announce official hours, usually in the early evening, so check your city website or local news the week before October 31.
Do the clocks change on Halloween night in 2026?
Yes, almost. Daylight saving time ends at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 1, 2026, so clocks go back one hour a few hours after Halloween night ends.
What day is Halloween 2027?
Halloween 2027 is on Sunday, October 31, 2027, and daylight saving time ends a week later, on Sunday, November 7.
How many days until Halloween 2026?
From October 6, 2026, there are 25 days until Halloween. The live countdown updates every day.