When Is Thanksgiving?
Find out when Thanksgiving is this year in the US and Canada. Live countdown, dates for the next 10 years, and Thanksgiving traditions.
Next occurrence of Thanksgiving
Thursday, 26 November 2026
Thanksgiving in 2026: Thursday, 26 November 2026
What is Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States. It is a national holiday and family celebration where Americans gather to give thanks for the harvest and blessings of the past year. Thanksgiving traditionally features a large family meal with turkey as the centrepiece. The holiday marks the beginning of the holiday season and is deeply rooted in American tradition and culture.
Traditions
- •Gathering with family for a large festive meal
- •Serving roast turkey as the main course
- •Side dishes like stuffing, gravy, and cranberry sauce
- •Watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade
- •Watching American football on television
- •Giving thanks and expressing gratitude
- •Preparing pumpkin pie for dessert
- •Travelling to spend time with family
Fun Facts
- ✨Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November
- ✨Approximately 46 million turkeys are eaten at Thanksgiving in the US
- ✨The first Thanksgiving is traditionally dated to 1621
- ✨Thanksgiving marks the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season
- ✨Black Friday follows the day after Thanksgiving
When is Thanksgiving each year?
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 26 November 2026 | Thursday |
| 2027 | 25 November 2027 | Thursday |
| 2028 | 23 November 2028 | Thursday |
| 2029 | 22 November 2029 | Thursday |
| 2030 | 28 November 2030 | Thursday |
| 2031 | 27 November 2031 | Thursday |
| 2032 | 25 November 2032 | Thursday |
| 2033 | 24 November 2033 | Thursday |
| 2034 | 23 November 2034 | Thursday |
| 2035 | 22 November 2035 | Thursday |
Related Tools
When Thanksgiving Falls in the US and Canada
US Thanksgiving 2026 is on Thursday 26 November. In 2027 it falls on Thursday 25 November, in 2028 Thursday 23 November. The rule is fixed: the fourth Thursday of November every year. Note that the 'fourth Thursday' is not always the last Thursday: if November starts on a Thursday or Friday, there are five Thursdays in the month, so the fourth Thursday lands on 22 or 23 November (Thanksgiving in 2018 was on 22 November for this reason).
Canadian Thanksgiving is held on a different date - the second Monday of October. In 2026 that is Monday 12 October, in 2027 Monday 11 October. Canadian Thanksgiving is closer to the European harvest festival tradition and predates US Thanksgiving by several decades; the first proclaimed Canadian Thanksgiving was in 1879, declared as a federal holiday in 1957 fixed to the second Monday of October. The countdown on this page targets US Thanksgiving by default; for Canadian Thanksgiving, refer to a dedicated tool or use the [days until calculator](/days-until-calculator).
Thanksgiving Travel and Black Friday
Thanksgiving is the busiest US travel period of the entire year, far exceeding Christmas. The TSA screened a record 4.7 million passengers on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving 2024, beating the all-time record set the same week in 2019. Most US workplaces close Thursday and Friday, so the four-day weekend (Thursday to Sunday) drives a massive holiday-travel surge. Roughly 49 million Americans travel by car for Thanksgiving each year, peaking on the Wednesday afternoon before and the Sunday returning home.
Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving (so Friday 27 November 2026), and it is now larger than Thanksgiving itself for retailer revenue. UK retailers fully adopted Black Friday around 2014; in 2024 UK Black Friday spending hit £8.7 billion across the long weekend. Cyber Monday follows the next Monday (30 November 2026). The [When Is Black Friday](/when-is-black-friday) tool tracks the date; the [Christmas Countdown](/christmas-countdown) is the natural next stop after Thanksgiving for both UK shoppers using Thanksgiving deals to bulk-buy presents and US households starting their Christmas decorating that weekend.
Frequently Asked Questions
What date is Thanksgiving 2026?
US Thanksgiving 2026 is Thursday 26 November. Canadian Thanksgiving 2026 is Monday 12 October. The rule for US Thanksgiving is fixed at the fourth Thursday of November; the rule for Canadian Thanksgiving is the second Monday of October.
Is Thanksgiving celebrated in the UK?
Not as a public holiday - the UK does not observe Thanksgiving. Some American expats living in the UK host Thanksgiving dinner on the Saturday after (29 November 2026) to fit the working calendar. A growing number of UK supermarkets now stock turkeys, pumpkin pie ingredients and cranberry sauce in the Thanksgiving week, mainly aimed at expats and curious first-timers.
Why is Black Friday the day after Thanksgiving?
The name dates to 1960s Philadelphia police officers using 'Black Friday' to describe the chaotic shopping crowds and traffic the day after Thanksgiving. Retailers reframed it in the 1980s as the day stores 'go into the black' (move from loss to profit) for the year. The four-day weekend gives shoppers time to queue, and most US employees have the day off, so it became the largest single retail day of the year.
Why does Thanksgiving move dates each year?
It is fixed to the fourth Thursday of November, so the calendar date moves between 22 and 28 November depending on what day of the week 1 November falls on. Until 1941 the date was the last Thursday of November (sometimes the fifth); President Roosevelt moved it to the fourth Thursday to lengthen the Christmas shopping season during the Great Depression.
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