March 4, 2026, 4:28 a.m. ET
The annual ritual is nearly here.
The start of daylight saving time, the time period in which many Americans set their clocks ahead by an hour, is fast approaching. The seasonal time change when we “spring forward” will occur on Sunday, March 8, more than a full week before the official start on March 20.
Daylight saving time begins at 2 a.m. which is the official hour to set all of our clocks forward by one hour. That’s when local time will instantly become 3 a.m. The sunrise and sunset will be one hour later on March 8 then the previous day – which will equal more light in the evening hours and a later sunrise in the morning.
The time adjustment impacts the daily lives of hundreds of millions of Americans, prompting clock changes, contributing to less sleep in the days following and, of course, later sunsets.
It’s not plural
It is daylight saving time not saving’s or savings time. It is singular, no matter how people around you pronounce the phrase.
When is it exactly?
Since 2007, daylight saving time has begun on the second Sunday of March and ended on the first Sunday of November. Previously, it had started on the last Sunday of April and ended on the last Sunday of October.
When daylight saving time begins in March, we will “spring forward,” and lose an hour of sleep, as opposed to the November time change, where we “fall back,” and gain an extra hour.
Never about farmers
Daylight saving time was not started to help American farmers. According to timeanddate.com, daylight saving time was first used in 1908 by a few hundred Canadians in Thunder Bay, Ontario. But Germany popularized daylight saving time after it first set the clocks forward on April 30, 1916, to save coal during World War I.
Daylight saving time became a national standard in 1966 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Uniform Time Act, which was established as a way to continue to conserve energy. The thinking was if it’s light out longer, that’s less time you’ll need to use the lights in your house.
Do all states observe DST?
Presently, Hawaii and Arizona are the only two U.S. states that do not observe daylight saving time. Neither do the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and Northern Mariana Islands.
Who’s in charge of time?
The U.S. Department of Transportation is in charge of daylight saving time and all time zones in the U.S. “The oversight of time zones was assigned to DOT because time standards are important for many modes of transportation,” according to the DOT website.
Is daylight saving time ending permanently?
The push to stop changing clocks was put before Congress in recent years, when the U.S. Senate unanimously approved the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022, a bill that would make daylight saving time permanent. However, it did not pass in the U.S. House of Representatives and was not signed into law, so the bi-annual ritual of changing the clock remains.
A 2023 version of the act remained idle in Congress as well.
In December 2024, Trump said he planned to eliminate daylight saving time. Congress, however, must approve such a change and that has not occurred, though the conversation has continued.
Which states want permanent daylight saving time?
As of 2022, at least 31 states have introduced legislation in support of establishing year-round daylight saving time, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Twenty states have already approved legislation or passed resolutions to permanently observe daylight saving time, with the most recent state being Oklahoma in 2024. However, these states still need approval from Congress to enact the change.
What about the rest of the planet?
Daylight saving time is now used in more than 70 countries worldwide and affects over one billion people every year. The beginning and end dates vary from one country to another.
Phones and smoke alarms
Most phones and computers automatically adjust for the time change, though manual clocks need to be reset. It’s also a good time to change the batteries in your smoke alarm.
Next year?
Unless it is eliminated, daylight saving time will end at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, when we will “fall back” and again gain an hour of sleep. Daylight saving time will pick up again on Sunday, March 14, 2027.
Includes reporting by the USA Today network