At 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 1, 2026, the clock jumps back to 1 a.m. and daylight saving time ends for most of the U.S. That happens just a few hours after Halloween night, which means this year’s Saturday, October 31, gets 25 hours instead of 24.
One extra hour. On Halloween. Right before Día de Muertos begins. The calendar is basically doing you a favor.
When does daylight saving time end in 2026?
Daylight saving time ends on Sunday, November 1, 2026, at 2 a.m. local time, when clocks fall back one hour to 1 a.m. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the change always happens on the first Sunday in November, so the 1 a.m. hour repeats once.
In practice, that means the night of Saturday, October 31, runs one hour longer in every place that observes the change. If you’re still up at 1:59 a.m., congrats: you get to live 1 a.m. twice.
The change happens in your own time zone, not all at once. New York falls back first, then Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles, each at 2 a.m. local time.
What the extra hour means for your Halloween weekend
Saturday is already stacked. Here’s where that bonus hour can land:
- The Halloween party runs longer. If the plan is to stay out until 2 a.m., the clock gives you an extra hour of costume time before it gets there. Your mom’s curfew may not follow the same rules, though.
- A possible Game 7 fits in. If the World Series goes the distance, Game 7 between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Milwaukee Brewers is scheduled for Saturday, October 31, at 8 p.m. ET, according to MLB. That’s 5 p.m. on the West Coast, so you could watch the game and still make it to the party.
- More sleep before the ofrenda. Día de Muertos starts that same Sunday, November 1. If the familia is setting up the altar, cooking or heading to the cemetery in the morning, the extra hour is your recovery time.
- Sunday gets dark earlier. Sunset on November 1 will come about an hour earlier on the clock than it did Saturday. If you’re planning an evening visit to an ofrenda or a Día de Muertos event outside, build in that earlier dark.
Halloween night itself still runs on daylight saving time. Trick-or-treating happens before the switch, so the little ones won’t notice a thing. The change kicks in hours later, in the middle of the night.
Which states don’t get the extra hour?
Not everyone gets the bonus. As of October 2026, NIST says daylight saving time is not observed in Hawaii and Arizona, or in Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Those places stay on standard time all year, so their clocks won’t move on November 1.
There’s one twist inside Arizona: the Navajo Nation does observe daylight saving time, according to NIST. So in parts of northeastern Arizona, the clocks do fall back while the rest of the state stays put.
What that looks like for your group chat:
- Phoenix and Tucson: no change on November 1.
- San Juan, Puerto Rico: no change. Before the switch, Puerto Rico shares the same clock time as New York. After it, San Juan is one hour ahead.
- Honolulu: no change, and the gap with the mainland grows by one hour.
If you have family in Puerto Rico, that’s the one to remember. The Sunday video call with abuela that used to line up perfectly with Eastern time now lands an hour later for her.
What comes after November 1?
Standard time stays in place through the winter. Clocks will spring forward again in March 2027, when daylight saving time returns on the second Sunday of the month.
Until then, enjoy the longest Saturday of the year: plan the costume, set the alarm for the ofrenda, and tell us how you’re spending your extra hour on Halloween night.
