Daylight saving time 2025: When to ‘spring forward’ for time change and why we do it
Most Americans should consider going to bed early Saturday night, because they are about to lose an hour of sleep.
Daylight saving time is imminent, meaning that on Sunday, 2 a.m. will become 3 a.m. in the matter of a seconds. On the bright side, the “spring forward” will delay when day becomes night leading to sunnier drives home from work for many.
The new time schedule will go until November, when standard time returns ahead of the holiday season.
Here’s what to know about “spring forward” this weekend, including when the process began, which two states are exempt from it and efforts to end time changes permanently.
Daylight saving time begins on Sunday, March 9 at 2 a.m. local time.
Daylight saving time is the time between March and November when most Americans adjust their clocks ahead by one hour.
We lose an hour in March (as opposed to gaining an hour in the fall) to make for more daylight in the summer evenings. In the Northern Hemisphere, the vernal, or spring equinox, is on March 20, marking the start of the spring season.
Daylight saving time ends for the year on Sunday, Nov. 2.
Hawaii and most of Arizona do not observe daylight saving time. Because of its desert climate, Arizona doesn’t follow daylight saving time (with the exception of the Navajo Nation). After most of the U.S. adopted the Uniform Time Act, the state figured that there wasn’t a good reason to adjust clocks to make sunset occur an hour later during the hottest months of the year.
The Standard Time Act of 1918 was the first law to implement standard and daylight saving times at the federal level.
“Federal oversight of time zones began in 1918 with the enactment of the Standard Time Act, which vested the Interstate Commerce Commission with the responsibility for establishing boundaries between the standard time zones in the U.S.,” according to The U.S. Department of Transportation. “This responsibility was transferred from the Interstate Commerce Commission to DOT when Congress created DOT in 1966.”
The DOT oversees the observance of daylight saving time, as well as U.S. time zones, according to the federal agency. The DOT cited energy reduction and reduced crime as reasons for having both standard and daylight saving time.
Recent bills that would make daylight saving time the national year-round standard have languished in committee after being introduced in January.
Officials have vowed to put an end to the procedure, including President Donald Trump, who said in a Truth Social post in December that “the Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate daylight saving time.”
However, since resuming office for his second term in January, the president has not issued any executive orders on the issue. Congress, which has a narrow GOP majority, has also not shown a major push on the issue.
Contributing: Alexis Simmerman, Jana Hayes, The Oklahoman, James Powel, Emily DeLetter, Jennifer Sangalang, USA TODAY Network.
When does daylight saving time start?
What is daylight saving time?
When does daylight saving time end?
Which states don’t observe daylight saving time?
When did federal time changes start?
Who is in charge of daylight saving time?
Is daylight saving time ending?
Daylight Saving Time: Clocks Spring One Hour Forward Tonight—As Trump Suggests He Won’t Change It
President Donald Trump has grown less aggressive about getting rid of a national time change, saying Thursday ending daylight saving time is a “50-50 issue”—changing his previous stance that the time change is “inconvenient” just days before clocks will spring forward.
President Donald Trump speaks as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on … [+]
When asked in the Oval Office on Thursday when he was going to remove daylight saving time, Trump said, “it’s a 50-50 issue, and if something’s a 50-50 issue it’s hard to get excited about it.”
Trump said he assumed people would like to have more light later in the day, but that “some people want to have more light earlier because they don’t want to take their kids to school in the dark.”
“It’s something I can do, but 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 do?” Trump said Thursday.
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It’s unclear, though his comments Thursday evening indicate he is leaning against removing it. As recently as December, Trump said on Truth Social the “Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate” daylight saving time, which he said “has a small but strong constituency” and is “very costly to our Nation.” Trump could not remove daylight saving time alone: Getting rid of it would require an act from Congress and approval from the president.
PROMOTED
Until Sunday, the U.S. is in standard time, or ST. Beginning Sunday at 2 a.m., most U.S. states will move to daylight saving time, or DST.
Daylight saving time begins overnight, on Sunday, March 9, at 2 a.m. People in most of the U.S. will turn their clocks forward one hour, meaning they will lose one hour of sleep, but the sun will set an hour later until daylight saving time ends on Nov. 2.
Unclear. On Wednesday, key Trump adviser Elon Musk took to X to ask Americans what they wanted to see happen to daylight saving time. Musk asked X users if daylight saving time was canceled, what would they prefer, and 58.1% of respondents said they’d prefer an hour later, while 41.9% said an hour earlier.
Daylight saving time begins on the second Sunday of March each year and runs through the first Sunday in November. The practice was first established in 1918 as a wartime policy designed to give people more daylight, though it was repealed and became a local matter shortly after, according to the U.S. Navy Astronomical Applications Department. Daylight saving time was brought back nationwide in 1966 through the Uniform Time Act, and has stuck around despite opponents believing it does more harm than good to peoples’ health. People who want to see daylight saving time end argue it’s associated with increased heart problems, car crashes and mood disorders, according to the American Medical Association, which has previously advocated for a permanent move to standard time. Proponents of the time change, though, say people are grateful to have more sunshine after the traditional work day and that the policy can reduce energy usage and improve quality of life. Lawmakers have worked to make changes to daylight saving time for years, and got closest in 2022 when the Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act that would have made the practice permanent and gotten rid of the switch to standard time—though the House never took up a vote on the bill.
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Elon Musk And Vivek Ramaswamy Toy With Eliminating Daylight Saving Time Changes—As Some States Push To End Practice (Forbes)
Trumps Says Republicans Will Work To Eliminate Daylight Saving Time (Forbes)
Molly Bohannon is a reporter on the news team, where she covers a range of breaking news stories including politics,… Read More
Molly Bohannon is a reporter on the news team, where she covers a range of breaking news stories including politics,
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WILL TRUMP GET RID OF DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME?
IS IT DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME?
WHEN EXACTLY DOES DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME BEGIN?
WHAT’S ELON MUSK’S TAKE ON DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME?
WHY DOES DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME EXIST?
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Daylight saving time is here. What to know about ‘springing forward.’
Daylight saving time is here. What to know about ‘springing forward.’
After a long winter of short days, it’s finally time to spring forward.
Clocks across the U.S. will jump from 1:59 a.m. to 3 a.m. Sunday.
Here’s what you need to know about daylight saving time and why we change the clocks twice a year in the U.S.
Daylight saving time will start Sunday and last until Nov. 2. Standard time will have been in effect from Nov. 3, 2024, until Sunday.
The springtime clock change differs from the fall. Unlike the fall, when we gain an extra hour and the clocks fall back, we lose an hour in the spring.
But that turns into longer days and brighter evenings as the spring and summer months begin. It will remain in effect until we turn the clocks back to standard time, which comes back into effect on Nov. 2 as we ready for winter and usher in an era of shorter days.
The U.S. has been observing daylight saving time since 1918, with the passage of the Standard Time Act, according to the U.S. Astronomical Applications Department. It was an effort to extend summertime daylight hours by pushing off sunset an hour.
Daylight saving time wasn’t totally accepted at first — it was quickly repealed in 1919, making the changing of clocks a local matter. The practice was officially reinstated during the early days of World War II and was observed from 1942-45, according to the department.
Daylight saving time varied by state until 1966 with the passage of the Uniform Time Act, which standardized dates of daylight saving time, but allowed for states and localities to opt out of the practice if they did not want to participate.
Since that act passed, the standardized dates have been changed throughout the years, according to the department.
But the dates have remained the same since 2007. Since then, daylight saving time has started on the second Sunday in March and ended on the first Sunday in November.
Yes. Residents in Hawaii and most of Arizona won’t lose an hour of sleep Sunday night. The two states do not observe daylight saving time and do not change the clocks twice a year, according to the Astronomical Applications Department.
The U.S. Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent year-round and usher out the era of changing clocks, in March 2022. Under the bill, Hawaii and most of Arizona would continue to observe year-round standard time.
But the bill stalled in the House of Representatives, so the U.S. will continue to flip the clocks twice a year until new legislation is passed in the House and Senate and then signed by the sitting president.
President Donald Trump addressed the practice this week when asked by a reporter when he is going to “get rid of” daylight saving time.
“I assume people would like to have more light late, but some people want to have more light earlier because they don’t want to take their kids to school in the dark,” he said, calling the issue “50-50.”
“But a lot of people like it one way, a lot of people like it the other way. It’s very even,” he said. “And usually, I find when that’s the case, what else do we have to do?”
Shortly after winning the election last year, Trump said he and Republicans would try to “eliminate” daylight saving time, calling it inconvenient and costly. It was unclear at the time whether he was referring to eliminating daylight saving time or making it permanent.
Almost all U.S. states have considered legislation to avoid changing the clocks, staying on either standard or daylight saving time year-round.
In the last six years, 20 states have passed bills or resolutions to codify year-round daylight saving time, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But since federal law does not currently allow year-round daylight saving time, those states are in a holding pattern until Congress passes the bill to make the change.
No, many other countries observe some version of “summer time,” whether that’s daylight saving time or their own version. Not all do so on the same schedule as the U.S., though.
In the Southern Hemisphere, for example, the seasons are swapped, so the start and end date of “summer time” are reversed from ours, according to the Astronomical Applications Department.
Some studies suggest that using daylight saving time year-round could reduce the number of traffic accidents and the amount of crime, but a number of experts are against longer days year-round.
According to some sleep experts, the sun should reach the highest point in the sky at noon, or solar time, which occurs during standard time.
A study from June 2022 found that people whose clock times weren’t closely aligned with the sun had 22% higher road fatality rates than those living within 30 minutes of solar time.
CORRECTION (March 8, 2025, 3:26 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated how often the clocks change. It is twice a year, not every six months.
Rebecca Cohen is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
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