How many days until every holiday

How we calculate the dates

Last reviewed 2026-11-11

The day count

"Days until" is the number of calendar days from today to the event, so on the day before it shows 1 and on the day itself the page says it is here. The timer counts down to midnight at the start of the event day in your own time zone, read from your device's clock, which is why the timer's days can be one fewer than the day count during the day.

Weekdays are Monday to Friday and weekend days are Saturday and Sunday, counted from today up to (not including) the event. Public holidays are not taken out, because they differ by state, employer and country.

How each kind of date is worked out

  • Fixed dates (Christmas on December 25, Halloween on October 31) never move.
  • Weekday rules (Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday of November, Memorial Day the last Monday of May) are calculated from the rule in federal law or long-standing custom.
  • Easter uses the standard Gregorian calculation (the "anonymous Gregorian algorithm" published by Meeus) for Western churches. Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are set days before Easter Sunday.
  • Clock changes follow the Uniform Time Act: 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday of March and the first Sunday of November.
  • Tax Day is April 15, moved to the next business day for weekends and the Washington DC Emancipation Day holiday. Always confirm with the IRS, which can also extend deadlines after disasters.
  • Jewish holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Hanukkah, Passover) are calculated with the fixed rules of the Hebrew calendar (as set out in Reingold and Dershowitz's Calendrical Calculations) and checked against Hebcal. They are shown as the evening they begin.
  • Lunar-calendar festivals (Chinese New Year, Diwali, Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr) use dates from published calendars, checked against at least two sources. We only list years that are published; Ramadan and Eid are expected dates that can move by a day or two with the local moon sighting.
  • Seasons use the astronomical dates of the equinoxes and solstices, calculated with Jean Meeus's standard formulas (accurate to about a minute) and shown in US Eastern time. They are checked against US Naval Observatory times. Meteorological seasons start on the 1st of March, June, September and December instead.
  • The date calculator and "days from today" pages add calendar days to today's date on your device. Months keep the day of the month and use the month's last day when needed; business days skip Saturdays and Sundays only.

Every date rule is covered by automated tests that check known dates, such as Easter 2026 (April 5) and Thanksgiving 2027 (November 25).

Observed days off

The holiday and the day off are not always the same. When a federal holiday falls on a Saturday, federal employees usually get the Friday before; on a Sunday, the Monday after. Private employers, schools and states set their own rules.

Sources

All countdowns

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