Federal Holidays 2026

2026 is an unusually tidy holiday year. Of the five holidays pinned to a calendar date, four fall on a weekday, and the six holidays tied to a weekday rule always do. The result is a schedule with a single moved day off and no holiday split across two years. The sections below cover that one exception, the long weekends, what closes on each date and how the list of holidays grew to 11. For the full-year grid, see the 2026 calendar.

July 3: the only moved holiday

July 4, 2026 is a Saturday, and it is not an ordinary Independence Day: it marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776. For federal pay and leave, though, the date works like any Saturday holiday. Under 5 U.S.C. 6103(b), the Friday before becomes the legal holiday for employees with a Monday-to-Friday schedule, so federal offices close on Friday, July 3. Fireworks, parades and other celebrations still follow the calendar date.

The shift does not apply everywhere. The New York Stock Exchange closes on July 3. The Federal Reserve applies its own rule for Saturday holidays: its Banks stay open on the Friday while the Board of Governors closes. The Postal Service kept post offices open with normal delivery on July 3 and closed them on Saturday, July 4. Had July 4 fallen on a Sunday instead, the day off would have been the Monday after, under Executive Order 11582, as happens in 2027.

The year's other date-fixed holidays all land on weekdays: New Year's Day on a Thursday, Juneteenth on a Friday, Veterans Day on a Wednesday and Christmas on a Friday. New Year's Day 2027 is a Friday as well, so unlike 2027, this year ends without a December 31 holiday.

Long weekends in 2026

Monday and Friday holidays make three-day weekends by themselves; Thursday holidays become four-day weekends with one vacation day on the Friday.

• Sat, Jan 17 to Mon, Jan 19: Martin Luther King Jr. Day, 3 days
• Sat, Feb 14 to Mon, Feb 16: Washington's Birthday (Presidents Day), 3 days
• Sat, May 23 to Mon, May 25: Memorial Day, 3 days
• Fri, Jun 19 to Sun, Jun 21: Juneteenth, 3 days
• Fri, Jul 3 to Sun, Jul 5: Independence Day, 3 days
• Sat, Sep 5 to Mon, Sep 7: Labor Day, 3 days
• Sat, Oct 10 to Mon, Oct 12: Columbus Day, 3 days
• Fri, Dec 25 to Sun, Dec 27: Christmas Day, 3 days
• Thu, Jan 1 to Sun, Jan 4: New Year's Day, 4 days if you take Fri, Jan 2 off
• Thu, Nov 26 to Sun, Nov 29: Thanksgiving, 4 days if you take Fri, Nov 27 off

Summer offers the biggest payoff for the fewest vacation days. Juneteenth on Friday, June 19 and the observed Independence Day on Friday, July 3 are exactly two weeks apart, so nine vacation days, June 22 to 26 and June 29 to July 2, buy 17 straight days off, from June 19 through Sunday, July 5. At year end, Christmas on Friday, December 25 and New Year's Day 2027 on Friday, January 1 are one week apart; four vacation days in between turn them into ten days off.

What is open and closed in 2026

Federal offices close on all 11 observed days. The table adds the three days that matter to markets but are not federal holidays: Good Friday and the two early closes around Thanksgiving and Christmas.

• Banks. The Federal Reserve closes on every federal holiday that falls on a weekday, including Columbus Day and Veterans Day, which many people assume are business as usual. Banks set their own hours, and many follow this calendar.
• Post offices. The Postal Service observes the same 11 holidays. Its 2026 schedule lists Independence Day on Saturday, July 4, the one date when post offices and federal offices close on different days.
• Stock market. The NYSE closes on ten days in 2026: the federal holidays except Columbus Day and Veterans Day, plus Good Friday, April 3. It closes at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, November 27 and Thursday, December 24.

Juneteenth, the newest federal holiday

Juneteenth National Independence Day became the 11th federal holiday when President Biden signed Public Law 117-17 on June 17, 2021. It marks June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3, announcing to the people of Texas that the Emancipation Proclamation's freeing of enslaved people was in effect. The first federal observance came the very next day, Friday, June 18, 2021, because June 19 that year was a Saturday. In 2026 the holiday falls on a Friday, so it creates a three-day weekend without any shift.

From four holidays to eleven

According to the Congressional Research Service, the first federal holidays date from June 28, 1870, when Congress gave federal workers in the District of Columbia New Year's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Washington's Birthday followed in 1879, and in 1885 holiday pay was extended to federal employees outside Washington. Decoration Day, now Memorial Day, came in 1888, Labor Day in 1894 and Armistice Day in 1938; it was renamed Veterans Day in 1954. Congress fixed Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of November in 1941, created Columbus Day in 1968 and Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983, and added Juneteenth in 2021. Inauguration Day, a holiday only in the Washington area every fourth year, dates from 1957.

State holidays are a separate list

A federal holiday binds only the federal government and the District of Columbia; neither Congress nor the President has claimed the power to set holidays for the states, which decide their own. That is why state offices may be open on a federal holiday or closed on a day the federal government works. Massachusetts, for example, closes state offices for Patriots' Day on the third Monday in April, which was April 20 in 2026, and Louisiana's legal holidays include Mardi Gras, which fell on February 17 this year. Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, is not a federal holiday either; Congress has considered bills to make it one, but none has passed. Private employers decide their own holiday schedules, because federal law does not require paid holidays.

Sources

• U.S. Office of Personnel Management: Federal Holidays (2026 schedule and weekend rules).
• U.S. Government Publishing Office: 5 U.S.C. 6103, Holidays (United States Code, 2024 edition).
• Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System: Federal Reserve Holidays.
• New York Stock Exchange: Holidays and Trading Hours.
• U.S. Postal Service: 2026 postal holidays and Independence Day 2026 closing announcement.
• National Archives: Juneteenth and General Order No. 3.
• Congressional Research Service: Federal Holidays: Evolution and Current Practices (R41990).
• U.S. Department of Labor: Holidays.