When is Thanksgiving 2026?

Thanksgiving dates, 2026 to 2030

The last column matters to anyone planning shipping, inventory or end-of-year work: a late Thanksgiving, as in 2030, leaves less than four weeks before Christmas, while an early one gives almost five.

From proclamations to a fixed rule

For most of the nineteenth century there was no national date: each governor proclaimed a day of thanks. In 1863 Abraham Lincoln called for a national Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November, and his successors kept issuing a proclamation every autumn. Congress made the day a paid holiday for federal workers in the District of Columbia in 1870. The modern rule dates from the dispute of 1939 to 1941: since then the date has been the fourth Thursday, set by statute and repeated today in section 6103 of title 5. Presidents still issue a Thanksgiving proclamation each year, but it no longer chooses the day.

What closes on Thursday, and what reopens on Friday

On the Thursday nearly every public service stops. The Office of Personnel Management lists it as a holiday for all federal employees; the Federal Reserve Banks close, so bank transfers and checks wait until Friday; post offices close and mail is not collected, under the Postal Service's list of widely observed holidays in its Operations Manual; and the stock exchanges do not open.

Friday is a working day with exceptions. Banks are open on the Federal Reserve calendar, though branches can choose their hours. Post offices open normally. The equity markets hold a shortened session ending at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time, and the bond market usually closes early as well. Check any date in the tool below.

Planning around the long weekend

The days just before Thanksgiving are among the busiest of the year for road and air travel, and the Sunday after is often the busiest for returns. If you count working days for a deadline that crosses the holiday, remember that the Thursday drops out of any federal business-day count but the Friday stays in: a three-business-day service sent on a Tuesday arrives on Monday, not on Friday. The business days counter makes that count for any two dates.

For those cooking, the countdown gives the time left to midnight; for the shopping season, the dates of Black Friday and Cyber Monday follow the same Thursday, one and four days later.

Thanksgiving for schools and employers

School districts set their own breaks, but most close on the Thursday and Friday, and some for the whole week. Employers that follow the federal list give only the Thursday; a second paid day on Friday is a company or union decision. For shift workers, check whether the holiday premium applies to the calendar day or to the shift that starts on it.