In the US, daylight saving time ends at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 1, 2026, when clocks go back one hour. It starts again at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, March 14, 2027, when clocks go forward one hour.
The rule has been the same since 2007: clocks spring forward on the second Sunday in March and fall back on the first Sunday in November, at 2:00 a.m. local time. Europe changes on different weekends, so for a few weeks each year the gap between US and European clocks is one hour smaller than usual. This guide lists every date through 2030, explains what happens to the clock, shows who doesn’t change, and covers the weeks when time differences shift.
US daylight saving time dates
| Year | DST starts (clocks forward) | DST 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 |
Count down to the next change: days until daylight saving time ends and days until it starts. Because the rule is “second Sunday” and “first Sunday”, the start date always falls between March 8 and 14, and the end date always falls between November 1 and 7.
What happens to the clock
- Fall back (November): at 2:00 a.m. the clock jumps back to 1:00 a.m., so the hour from 1:00 to 2:00 a.m. happens twice. The day has 25 hours.
- Spring forward (March): at 2:00 a.m. the clock jumps to 3:00 a.m., so times between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. don’t exist that night. The day has 23 hours.
Phones, computers and most smart devices change automatically, because they use the official time zone rules. Ovens, microwaves, car clocks and many wall clocks need to be changed by hand.
Standard time in winter is written EST, CST, MST and PST; daylight time in summer is EDT, CDT, MDT and PDT. Eastern time is five hours behind UTC in winter (UTC−5) and four hours behind in summer (UTC−4).
A short history of the rule
The US first used daylight saving time in 1918, under the same law that created standard time zones, and again all year round during the Second World War. For the next two decades, states and cities chose their own dates, which caused confusion for railways and broadcasters. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 set national start and end dates, while still letting a state opt out and stay on standard time all year.
The dates have moved several times since then. A year-round experiment in 1974, during the energy crisis, was dropped after less than a year. From 1987 to 2006, daylight time ran from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended it to the current March-to-November period, starting in 2007. The US Department of Transportation oversees time zones and the observance of daylight saving time.
Who doesn’t change the clocks
- Hawaii and most of Arizona stay on standard time all year. The Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona does observe daylight saving time.
- US territories, namely Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa, don’t use daylight saving time.
Outside the US, Mexico ended daylight saving time in most of the country in 2022, though cities along the US border still follow the US dates. India, China and Japan don’t use daylight saving time at all.
How it changes time differences
Within the mainland US every zone changes on the same night, so Eastern time stays 3 hours ahead of Pacific time all year. The difference with Arizona changes: in summer, Arizona matches Pacific time; in winter, it matches Mountain time. The difference with Hawaii changes too.
The UK and the EU change clocks on the last Sunday of March and the last Sunday of October, at 1:00 a.m. UTC. That creates short periods with a smaller gap:
| Period | London vs New York |
|---|---|
| Usual | 5 hours ahead |
| October 25 – November 1, 2026 (Europe has changed, the US hasn’t) | 4 hours ahead |
| March 14 – March 28, 2027 (the US has changed, Europe hasn’t) | 4 hours ahead |
| October 31 – November 7, 2027 (Europe has changed, the US hasn’t) | 4 hours ahead |
Countries that don’t use daylight saving time, and countries in the southern hemisphere, see a change of one hour when the US changes. In southeastern Australia, including Sydney and Melbourne, clocks go back on the first Sunday in April and forward on the first Sunday in October, the opposite of the US.
| City | Hours ahead of New York in winter (January) | Hours ahead of New York in summer (July) |
|---|---|---|
| Honolulu | 5 hours behind | 6 hours behind |
| Phoenix | 2 hours behind | 3 hours behind |
| Los Angeles | 3 hours behind | 3 hours behind |
| London | 5 hours ahead | 5 hours ahead |
| Paris and Berlin | 6 hours ahead | 6 hours ahead |
| India (IST) | 10 hours 30 minutes ahead | 9 hours 30 minutes ahead |
| Tokyo | 14 hours ahead | 13 hours ahead |
| Sydney | 16 hours ahead | 14 hours ahead |
If you schedule calls across time zones in those weeks, check the time with our time zone converter, which works out each date’s own offset, or open a ready-made chart such as London to Eastern time, Eastern to India time or Eastern to Pacific time.
A checklist for the change
- Recurring meetings: calendar apps keep a meeting at the organizer’s local time. If the organizer is in Europe and you are in the US, the meeting moves by an hour for you during the gap weeks above.
- Early flights and trains: timetables use local time. On the night clocks fall back, a 1:30 a.m. departure happens only once, at the second 1:30.
- Sleep: the spring change costs an hour of sleep. Going to bed 15 to 20 minutes earlier for a few nights beforehand makes the change easier.
- Manual clocks: change the oven, microwave, car and any clock without an internet connection. Many fire departments also suggest testing smoke alarms on the same weekend.
- Night shifts: a worker on an overnight shift works an extra hour in November and an hour less in March, which matters for timesheets.
For developers and anyone scheduling by computer
Store times in UTC and convert to local time only for display. Use a named time zone such as America/New_York from the IANA time zone database, not a fixed offset like −05:00, because the offset changes twice a year. Be careful with jobs scheduled between 1:00 and 3:00 a.m. local time: in March a 2:30 a.m. job has no matching time and may be skipped, and in November a 1:30 a.m. job can run twice.
Frequently asked questions
Do we gain or lose an hour in November?
You gain an hour. Clocks go back from 2:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m., so you get an extra hour of sleep that night.
Is daylight saving time becoming permanent?
Proposals to stop changing the clocks have been introduced in Congress several times. The Sunshine Protection Act passed the Senate in 2022, but it did not pass the House and did not become law. Many states have passed laws to adopt permanent daylight time if Congress allows it, but federal law only lets a state stay on standard time all year. Until the law changes, the dates above apply.
What time do the clocks change?
At 2:00 a.m. local time in each US time zone, so the change happens an hour apart as it moves west across the country.
Why is it called “daylight saving” time?
Moving the clock forward in summer shifts an hour of daylight from the early morning, when many people are asleep, to the evening. The correct name is “daylight saving time”, without an s, although “daylight savings” is common in everyday speech.