Federal holidays
When is Labor Day 2027?
The countdown shows the next Labor Day; switch the year to compare. The day is always the first Monday of September, so it moves between September 1 and 7.
Labor Day 2027
313 days
| Date | Monday, September 6, 2027 |
| Weeks | 44 weeks, 5 days |
| Weekends before it | 45 |
| Business days (federal holidays off) | 213 |
| Labor Day 2026 | Monday, September 7, 2026 |
| Labor Day 2027 | Monday, September 6, 2027 |
| Labor Day 2028 | Monday, September 4, 2028 |
Labor Day is the first Monday in September under 5 U.S.C. 6103, which makes it one of the five federal holidays that always produce a three-day weekend. It fell on Monday, September 7, 2026, and it comes next on Monday, September 6, 2027, then on Monday, September 4, 2028. Because the rule picks a weekday rather than a date, the holiday can only land between September 1 and September 7: the earliest case happens when September begins on a Monday, the latest when September begins on a Tuesday. Congress made the day a national holiday in 1894, after several states had already adopted it to honor working people. On Labor Day, federal offices close, the Federal Reserve Banks close so most banks do not process payments, the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq do not trade, and post offices close with no regular delivery and no collection from blue boxes, since the Postal Service counts Labor Day among its six widely observed holidays. The weekend is commonly treated as the end of summer.
The Monday-holiday rule, any year
2027
Monday, May 31, 2027
| Long weekend | Sat, May 29 to Mon, May 31 |
| Range of possible dates | May 25 to 31 |
Dates computed and checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
Labor Day from 2026 to 2032
| Year | Labor Day | Days before the fall equinox |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Mon, Sep 7 | 15 |
| 2027 | Mon, Sep 6 | 17 |
| 2028 | Mon, Sep 4 | 18 |
| 2029 | Mon, Sep 3 | 19 |
| 2030 | Mon, Sep 2 | 20 |
| 2031 | Mon, Sep 1 | 22 |
| 2032 | Mon, Sep 6 | 16 |
The column on the right shows how much of astronomical summer is left after the holiday: Labor Day comes about two to three weeks before the fall equinox, so the long weekend is treated as the unofficial close of summer while the season itself runs on until late September.
The first-Monday rule
Section 6103 of title 5 lists the holiday as "Labor Day, the first Monday in September". Since a Monday holiday cannot fall on a weekend, Labor Day never moves for federal workers and never splits the calendars of banks, markets and post offices: all of them close on the same Monday. The mini-tool under the summary applies the same kind of rule to the other Monday holidays, so you can check Labor Day against Memorial Day or Columbus Day for any year.
The earliest possible date, September 1, occurs when September starts on a Monday, as in 2025 and again in 2031. The latest, September 7, occurs when September starts on a Tuesday, as in 2026. Between them the date steps back one day each ordinary year and two days after a leap year, then jumps forward a week.
What closes on Labor Day
Labor Day closes everything that runs on the federal calendar. Federal offices and courts close. The Federal Reserve Banks close, so wire transfers, direct deposits and ACH payments scheduled for the Monday move to Tuesday. The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq close. For the Postal Service, Labor Day is in the list of widely observed holidays of the Postal Operations Manual: retail counters close, there is no regular delivery and the blue boxes are not collected.
Post offices (retail counters), Monday, September 6, 2027
Closed
Labor Day
| Mail deliveryNo regular mail delivery; Priority Mail Express and some same-day packages can still arrive | Limited |
| Blue collection boxesNo collection from blue boxes (widely observed holiday) | Not collected |
| Banks (Federal Reserve calendar)Labor Day | Closed |
| Stock market (NYSE, Nasdaq)Labor Day | Closed |
| Federal officesLabor Day | Closed |
Most state and local government offices and public schools close as well; private employers decide for themselves. Retail stores and restaurants generally open, often with sales, but their hours vary by store and this site does not list them.
A holiday older than most
Workers' parades in New York in the early 1880s gave rise to the idea, and Oregon passed the first state law recognizing Labor Day in 1887. By 1894 about two dozen states observed it, and Congress made it a holiday for federal employees in an act signed on June 28 of that year. The date has never changed since: Labor Day was already on a Monday long before the Uniform Monday Holiday Act moved other holidays there in 1971.
The next Monday holiday after Labor Day is Columbus Day in October; the one before it is Memorial Day, covered on the Memorial Day page. The full list for the coming year is on federal holidays 2027.