Most Americans will gain an extra hour of sleep this weekend as daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. local time on Sunday, November 1, 2026, when clocks turn back one hour to 1 a.m. and the country returns to standard time until March 14, 2027. The familiar fall ritual arrives just one day after Halloween — the first time the two have shared a weekend since 2020 — and it comes after President Donald Trump's months-long push to end the twice-yearly clock change ran out of time in the Senate.
For most people, the practical advice is simple: before going to bed on Saturday night, October 31, turn back any clock that does not reset itself. Phones, computers and other connected devices will update on their own, but wall clocks, ovens, microwaves and car dashboards usually need a manual change. When the hour between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. repeats itself on Sunday, the day effectively stretches to 25 hours.
A Rare Halloween Weekend
This year's timing is unusual in two ways. First, November 1 is the earliest possible date for the fall time change, because daylight saving time ends on the first Sunday in November — a date that can fall anywhere from November 1 to November 7 depending on the calendar. Second, Halloween falls on Saturday, October 31, the night before the change.
According to reports, that coincidence gives Halloween revelers an extra hour on Saturday night into Sunday morning, and it will not happen again until 2037. The overlap last occurred in 2020. One caveat noted in coverage is that the time change itself happens after Halloween is technically over, at 2 a.m. Sunday, so the extra hour lands in the small hours of Sunday morning rather than during Saturday evening festivities.
The change also shifts the daily pattern of light. Sunrises and sunsets both move about an hour earlier on the clock, which means brighter mornings but darker evenings through the fall and winter. In Ohio, for example, U.S. Naval Observatory data cited in local reporting puts sunrise in Akron at 6:57 a.m. and sunset at 5:22 p.m. on November 1. Times vary by location, but the direction of the shift is the same everywhere clocks fall back.
Who Does Not Change Their Clocks
Not everyone in the United States takes part. Hawaii and most of Arizona do not observe daylight saving time and will not change their clocks on Sunday. The Navajo Nation in Arizona does observe daylight saving time, so it is an exception within the state.
Several U.S. territories also remain on standard time year-round, including American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The current schedule has been in place since 2007: daylight saving time begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November, under the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The broader practice of changing clocks across most of the nation dates back to the 1960s and the Uniform Time Act of 1966, which set a national framework for the switch.
The Bill That Stalled in the Senate
The reason the clocks are still changing at all is that Congress has not agreed to stop them. In July, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 308-117 to pass the Sunshine Protection Act, legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent year-round and end the twice-yearly ritual. The bill, introduced by Representative Vern Buchanan of Florida, was referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on July 15.
The Senate has not voted on it. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Politico earlier this month that there is no consensus and "no clear path forward," according to Reuters. Congressional aides told Reuters there is likely not enough time remaining to take up the issue when the Senate returns for a brief post-election session. Neither chamber was scheduled to be in session before the November 1 time change or the November 3 election, according to reporting on the congressional calendar.
President Trump pressed the Senate hard in the final weeks. Reuters reported that earlier this month he shared the phone number of Republican Senator Tom Cotton, a strong critic of making daylight saving time permanent, in a push to get him to support the bill, and that he called dozens of other senators seeking their support. This week, Trump wrote on social media: "The United States Senate is letting the Daylight Saving Time bill die," again urging action.
For now, that push has failed to move the bill. If it were enacted, clocks would no longer return to standard time in 2027, although states could opt out of year-round daylight saving time if they do not currently observe it or voted to adopt permanent standard time before the law was changed.
The Argument For Keeping the Switch — and Against It
The debate over permanent daylight saving time is not new, and both sides point to real trade-offs. Critics of permanent daylight saving time note that it would mean the sun rises an hour later on winter mornings, leaving more children traveling to school and commuters, construction workers, farmers and others heading to work before daylight. In some places, Reuters reported, the sun would not rise until nearly 9 a.m. or later at the height of winter.
Supporters of ending the switch argue that changing the clocks disrupts sleep, increases workplace injuries and contributes to more road accidents. They also argue that keeping clocks an hour ahead year-round would provide more evening daylight and boost economic activity during the winter months, when early darkness now cuts the day short.
America has tried year-round daylight saving time before. The United States used it during World War Two and enacted it again in 1974 to reduce energy use, according to Reuters. But it proved deeply unpopular and Congress repealed it later that year — a history that still hangs over the current debate, especially for parents and schools worried about dark winter mornings.
What This Means
For households, Sunday's change is mostly a small disruption with a welcome payoff: an extra hour in bed, brighter mornings, and an adjustment period as bodies adapt to the new schedule. The darker evenings that follow are the part most people notice first — commutes home in twilight, evening walks cut short, and outdoor plans that suddenly need to end earlier.
For policymakers, the failed push is a reminder of how hard it is to settle a question that splits Americans by region, routine and lifestyle. A permanent daylight saving time would favor evening light; permanent standard time would favor morning light. The current system splits the difference by switching twice a year, and each switch brings its own complaints. That is why, despite a large bipartisan House majority and presidential backing, the bill could not find a path through a Senate where, in Thune's words, there is no consensus.
The debate also shows the limits of presidential pressure on the Senate calendar. Sharing a senator's phone number, calling dozens of colleagues and publicly declaring the bill dead did not produce a vote. With the Senate in an extended election recess and only a brief post-election session expected, the window for action this year has effectively closed.
What Happens Next
In the short term, nothing changes: standard time begins Sunday and runs through the winter. Americans will live with earlier sunsets and earlier sunrises until daylight saving time returns on Sunday, March 14, 2027, when clocks move forward one hour again.
In Congress, the Sunshine Protection Act remains pending in the Senate, and its supporters could try again in a future session. Any new attempt would face the same objections that stalled it this year — dark winter mornings for schoolchildren and early workers, versus disrupted sleep and lost evening daylight from the current twice-yearly switch. Until the Senate acts, the ritual will continue: spring forward in March, fall back in November, and one extra hour of sleep on the first Sunday of November.
So on Saturday night, turn the clocks back before bed and enjoy the extra hour — while remembering that Sunday's sunset will come an hour earlier than Saturday's did.
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