US Federal Holidays 2026: Every Date and How They Land
Updated October 2, 2026 · Maintained by the PrintCal team
The Full 2026 Schedule
The United States observes eleven federal holidays in 2026. On each one, federal offices close, banks and post offices close, and there is no regular mail delivery. Most state governments and many private employers follow the same schedule, which is why these eleven dates shape school calendars, trash routes, shipping deadlines, and payroll cut-offs well beyond the federal workforce.
- New Year's Day — Thursday, January 1
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day — Monday, January 19
- Washington's Birthday (Presidents' Day) — Monday, February 16
- Memorial Day — Monday, May 25
- Juneteenth National Independence Day — Friday, June 19
- Independence Day — Saturday, July 4 (observed Friday, July 3)
- Labor Day — Monday, September 7
- Columbus Day — Monday, October 12
- Veterans Day — Wednesday, November 11
- Thanksgiving Day — Thursday, November 26
- Christmas Day — Friday, December 25
The One Weekend Collision
Independence Day lands on a Saturday in 2026. Under the federal rule, holidays that fall on a Saturday are observed on the preceding Friday for most federal employees, which means the actual day off for the federal workforce is Friday, July 3. Plan around the Friday if you work with federal agencies, banks, or postal services; plan around the Saturday if you are organizing anything social, because fireworks and cookouts do not care about federal statutes and will happen on the 4th itself.
How the Rest of the Year Lands
Eight of the eleven holidays fall on a Monday or a Friday, which turns them into three-day weekends rather than isolated days off. The exceptions carry their own planning weight: New Year's Day on a Thursday breaks the first week of January in half, with Friday the 2nd as an awkward working day between two holidays in two calendar years. Veterans Day on Wednesday, November 11, sits alone mid-week, which is why that week tends to feel chopped into two two-day halves. Thanksgiving on Thursday the 26th gives the usual Friday-off-by-tradition pattern, and Christmas on a Friday closes the year with a long weekend.
Using the Schedule
Two months deserve special attention. November pairs Veterans Day and Thanksgiving in a single month, leaving it with fewer working days than any other month of 2026 — deadline-heavy work is better placed in October. December ends on a Thursday, so the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve runs only four days, and the first full working week of 2027 does not begin until Monday, January 4.
Every month page on this site shows how its holidays land: the 2026 calendar index links all twelve months, and the with-holidays versions mark each holiday in the grid itself.
Put it into practice: