When Is Daylight Savings 2023?

Are you ready to spring forward? This year, daylight saving time (AKA daylight savings time) begins in early March—Sunday, March 12th at 2 a.m. That means you'll lose an hour of sleep (which you'll get back in November when daylight saving time ends).

Want to know more about daylight saving time, clock changes—and why we still do these crazy things twice a year, even though most Americans don't want it? (A 2022 Monmouth poll found that 61 percent of Americans would like to make either daylight saving time or standard time permanent year-round.) Here are all the answers to your burning questions about daylight saving time.

When do you turn the clocks forward?

Officially, the clocks move the clocks forward at 2 a.m. when daylight savings begin—and you'll find that your computers, smartphones, and other tech do it automatically, if you're willing to stay up long enough to watch daylight saving time come into effect. But you'll likely still have to switch the clocks manually on many of your less smart appliances and clocks.

When is daylight saving time ending in 2023?

You'll get to enjoy the late sunshine until 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 5th, when the clocks fall back an hour—and you regain the hour of sleep you lost on March 12th.

When is daylight saving time in 2024?

Ready to plan ahead for next year's time changes? We'll spring forward on Sunday, March 10th, and fall back on Sunday, November 3rd next year.

What is the Sunshine Protection Act—and when will it end daylight saving time permanently?

The Sunshine Protection Act would do away with moving the clocks backward and forward twice a year, and make daylight saving time the new, permanent time around the country. A bipartisan group of senators passed the Sunshine Protection Act on March 15, 2022 last year, but it was never taken up or voted on by the House of Representatives.

In order for the bill to be enacted now, it will need to be reintroduced, as a new Congress was convened in January. Both houses would have to vote on and approve the Sunshine Protection Act, and the President would then need to sign it into law.

So for now, plan for more daylight saving in the future.

Why are people concerned about daylight saving time?

Switching the clocks back and forth has some real, negative impacts on society—with studies finding a correlation between the clock shifts and an increase in car crashes, heart attacks, workplace injuries, and depression in the weeks immediately after a switch between daylight savings time and standard time. Experts theorize that the danger may be due to the hour jump impacting people's sleep cycles. (If you already struggle with your sleep, you may want to try these sleep tips to get things back on track as you start fresh during daylight saving time.)

But switching over to permanent daylight savings time will lead to much later sunrises during the winter in many locations—with the sun rising after 8 a.m. in cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis.

What states don't do daylight saving time?

Only two states don't currently follow daylight savings—Hawaii and Arizona, in part because they both have plenty of sunshine year round. Several U.S. territories–American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands—also do not turn their clocks ahead or back.

Many other states, including California, Florida, Delaware, Georgia, and Ohio, have passed ballot measures or legislation looking to stop daylight savings, but none of the laws have gone into effect, awaiting action on the federal level.

How did daylight saving time get its start?

You may have heard that daylight savings began as an attempt to help farmers, but it was actually first enacted temporarily to help reduce energy usage during World Wars I and II. After each war ended, it was repealed again, which earned it the nickname "war time," according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

It came back again in a more permanent way in 1966 as part of the Uniform Time Act, which had daylight saving time starting in April and ending in October. Over the years, the dates when we begin and end daylight savings time have shifted—most recently in 2005 as part of the Energy Policy Act. Since then, daylight savings begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.

What should you do on daylight saving time?

The twice-yearly clock changes have become a great opportunity to do things you should do semiannually—like checking the batteries in your smoke detectors. (In fact, we have the ultimate guide to everything you should do this daylight savings day—consider it the perfect kickoff to your spring cleaning.)