What is daylight saving time? Here is what you need to know
What is daylight saving time? Here is an explainer for everything you need to know to set up your clocks.
It’s almost time to change the clocks, but not quite yet.
As we slip further and further into the darkest time of the year, you might be wondering when it’s time to change the clocks for daylight saving time.
In November, clocks will “fall back” to standard time, where they will remain until next spring. This will mean an earlier sunset and more hours in the dark of night.
And, yes – this is the time change where we gain an hour, which means you’ll get an extra hour of sleep the morning we switch to standard time.
Here’s what to know about the November 2025 time change.
When does daylight saving time end in 2025?
This year’s change from daylight saving time to standard time takes place on Sunday, Nov. 2, at 2 a.m. local time. Americans will adjust their clocks back by one hour (but not residents of Hawaii, Arizona, and some U.S. territories).
We gain an hour in November (as opposed to losing an hour in the spring) to make for more daylight in the winter mornings. On that day, time will jump from 1:59 a.m. back to 1 a.m.
When we “spring forward” in March, it’s to add more daylight in the evenings. And in the autumn, we “fall back.”
When does daylight saving time start again in spring 2026?
Daylight saving time will start again on Sunday, March 8, 2026, at 2 a.m. local time.
At this time, most Americans will adjust their clocks ahead by one hour. On that day, time will jump from 1:59 a.m. forward to 3 a.m.
Daylight saving time was first introduced in the U.S. in 1918 under the Standard Time Act as a measure to save on fuel costs during World War I by adding an extra hour of sunlight to the day, according to the Library of Congress.
While it was abandoned at the federal level after the war, the government re-instituted daylight saving time on an emergency basis throughout the mid to late 20th century.
A uniform twice-a-year time change was established through the Uniform Time Act of 1966.
And in 2005, Congress amended the act to expand daylight saving time to the period in effect today: Starting on the second Sunday of March and ending on the first Sunday of November, according to the Congressional Research Service. This move was, again, for energy-saving purposes.
Debate remains about daylight saving time and its usefulness. Some lawmakers want to establish one uniform time year-round, without any clock changes.
Which locations in the U.S. do not participate in daylight saving time?
Hawaii and Arizona (with the exception of the Navajo Nation) do not observe daylight saving time.
Neither do American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Will we get rid of daylight saving time?
There have been several legislative pushes to stop the fiddling with the clocks, which the Rhode Island congressional delegation has supported.
And President Donald Trump has shown some interest in taking action on the issue.
Trump has shown support for doing away with the time changes, but as of March he wasn’t sure there is enough consensus.
“The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate daylight saving time,” Trump on Truth Social in December. “Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”
But later this year, he said it was a toss-up and difficult to rally support for.
“This should be the easiest one of all, but it’s a 50-50 issue. If something’s a 50-50 issue, it’s hard to get excited. I assume people would like to have more light later, but some people want to have more light earlier, because they don’t want to take their kids to school in the dark,” Trump said in March, according to Reuters. “A lot of people like it one way, a lot of people like it the other way, it’s very even. And usually I find when that’s the case − what else do we have to?”
However, there’s no sign of something conclusive taking effect any time soon.
Orlando Mayorquin, Kinsey Crowley and Emily DeLetter of USA TODAY contributed to this report.
