November 2026 Holidays and Important Dates: Election Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Week and Days Until Each

November 2026 opens with the clock change on Sunday, Nov. 1 and closes with Cyber Monday on Nov. 30. In between come Election Day on Nov. 3, Diwali on Nov. 8, Veterans Day on Nov. 11, the launch of Grand Theft Auto VI on Nov. 19 and Thanksgiving on Thursday, Nov. 26. The countdowns below are counted from Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026.

November 2026 calendar at a glance

November 2026 starts on a Sunday and ends on a Monday, so it fills exactly five weeks on a Sunday-start calendar. Federal holidays are in bold.

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
1 · Clocks fall back	2	3 · Election Day	4	5	6	7
8 · Diwali	9	10	11 · Veterans Day	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19 · Grand Theft Auto VI	20	21
22	23	24 · Full moon	25	26 · Thanksgiving	27 · Black Friday	28
29	30 · Cyber Monday

The two federal holidays are Veterans Day on Wednesday, Nov. 11 and Thanksgiving Day on Thursday, Nov. 26, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Election Day, Nov. 3, is not a federal holiday, though 11 states close state offices; see what is open on Election Day. Our free printable below puts every date in this story on one page, in Sunday-start, Monday-start and ink-saver versions. For plain monthly layouts without the extra dates, the November 2026 printable calendar has six designs, including landscape and Monday start.

Which November 2026 dates are federal holidays?

Only two of the month’s best-known dates give federal employees a day off. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) lists Veterans Day and Thanksgiving Day for 2026; the rest are election, observance or shopping dates.

Date	Event	Federal holiday?
Tuesday, Nov. 3	Election Day	No
Wednesday, Nov. 11	Veterans Day	Yes
Thursday, Nov. 26	Thanksgiving Day	Yes
Friday, Nov. 27	Black Friday	No, a retail shopping day
Monday, Nov. 30	Cyber Monday	No, an online shopping event

A federal holiday does not close every business or school. Banks, stores, transit systems and districts set their own schedules, so check the organization directly. Black Friday and Cyber Monday hours and deals are set by each retailer; our Black Friday 2026 store hours list shows what chains have announced.

November 2026 important dates

Date	Day	What happens	Days from Nov. 8
Nov. 1	Sunday	Daylight saving time ended at 2 a.m.; All Saints’ Day	Passed
Nov. 2	Monday	Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos); All Souls’ Day	Passed
Nov. 3	Tuesday	Election Day	Passed
Nov. 5	Thursday	Guy Fawkes Night in the U.K.	Passed
Nov. 6	Friday	Dhanteras, first day of Diwali	Passed
Nov. 8	Sunday	Diwali and Lakshmi Puja; National Indigenous Veterans Day ceremonies in Canada; Bengals vs. Falcons in Madrid, 9:30 a.m. ET	Today
Nov. 9	Monday	Military health Open Season begins; Children’s Book Week and World Nursery Rhyme Week begin; National School Psychology Week (to Nov. 13); Living Wage Week in the U.K. (to Nov. 15); COP31 climate summit opens in Antalya, Türkiye (to Nov. 20); 37th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall; National Chicken Sandwich Day; FA Cup second round draw, about 1:45 p.m. ET	1
Nov. 10	Tuesday	Bhai Dooj, last day of Diwali; Marine Corps 251st birthday	2
Nov. 11	Wednesday	Veterans Day (federal holiday); Remembrance Day in Canada and the U.K.	3
Nov. 16	Monday	Anti-Bullying Week begins in the U.K. (to Nov. 20)	8
Nov. 19	Thursday	Grand Theft Auto VI launches	11
Nov. 24	Tuesday	Beaver Moon, full at 9:53 a.m. EST	16
Nov. 25	Wednesday	Day before Thanksgiving, a peak travel day	17
Nov. 26	Thursday	Thanksgiving Day (federal holiday)	18
Nov. 27	Friday	Black Friday	19
Nov. 29	Sunday	First Sunday of Advent	21
Nov. 30	Monday	Cyber Monday	22

To count from a different day, take the days left in the current month and add the date you are counting to. From Nov. 8 there are 22 days left in the month, so Nov. 30 is 22 days away, and Nov. 19 is 19 - 8 = 11 days away.

The first week: clocks, ballots and Diwali

Nov. 1, clocks fall back. At 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 1, most of the U.S. returned to standard time. Sunsets jump about an hour earlier, to 4:44 p.m. in New York by Nov. 8. Our daylight saving time report covers the change and the stalled bill to make daylight time permanent.

Nov. 3, Election Day. Polls open across the country for federal, state and local races. Texas early voting ran through Friday, Oct. 30. Our guide to finding your sample ballot by address explains why a ZIP code alone can show the wrong races.

Nov. 5. Searches for this date are rising, but no single U.S. event explains them. It is Guy Fawkes Night in Britain, and several video games are scheduled for release that day.

Nov. 6 to 10, Diwali. The five days run from Dhanteras on Friday to Bhai Dooj on Tuesday, with Lakshmi Puja on Sunday evening, Nov. 8. Our Diwali 2026 guide lists evening puja times for 12 U.S. cities.

Nov. 8, also on the calendar. Veterans Affairs Canada lists National Indigenous Veterans Day ceremonies, and the Bengals and Falcons play in Madrid at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (kickoff time and TV).

Nov. 9 to 16. Monday, Nov. 9 brings National Chicken Sandwich Day deals and the FA Cup second round draw, at about 1:45 p.m. Eastern. Children’s Book Week runs Nov. 9 to 15 and World Nursery Rhyme Week Nov. 9 to 13. National School Psychology Week runs Nov. 9 to 13, per the National Association of School Psychologists, and Living Wage Week runs Nov. 9 to 15 in the U.K., per the Living Wage Foundation. The United Nations says COP31 runs Nov. 9 to 20 in Antalya, and Berlin.de marks the 37th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9. The Marine Corps turns 251 on Nov. 10 (DeCA release), and Anti-Bullying Week runs in the U.K. from Nov. 16 to 20.

Mid-month: Veterans Day and a big game launch

Veterans Day falls on Wednesday, Nov. 11. Federal offices, banks and post offices close, while most stores stay open. Our Veterans Day story lists what is open.

Rockstar Games says Grand Theft Auto VI comes out on Thursday, Nov. 19 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, after two delays. Players who pre-order a digital copy can start pre-loading on Nov. 12, the company says.

Thanksgiving week

The full Beaver Moon peaks on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 9:53 a.m. Eastern, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory, so the evenings of Nov. 23 and 24 are best for viewing. Wednesday, Nov. 25 is the day before Thanksgiving and one of the heaviest travel days of the year.

Thanksgiving is Thursday, Nov. 26. It is always the fourth Thursday of November, which can fall anywhere from Nov. 22 to Nov. 28; our Thanksgiving explainer explains the rule. Black Friday follows on Nov. 27, and Cyber Monday on Nov. 30. Advent begins on Sunday, Nov. 29, four Sundays before Christmas. A frozen 16 to 20 lb turkey needs to go in the fridge on Nov. 21 or 22; our turkey thawing timeline covers other weights.

Deadlines that run into December

Deadline	Date
Medicare open enrollment ends	Monday, Dec. 7
Military health Open Season ends	Tuesday, Dec. 8
Federal government funding runs out	Friday, Dec. 11
First SSI payment with the 3.6% COLA	Thursday, Dec. 31

The military health Open Season dates run Nov. 9 to Dec. 8, with changes effective Jan. 1, 2027. The Medicare open enrollment guide and Social Security COLA report have the details.

Put it on the wall

Every date above fits on one page: print our free November 2026 calendar with holidays below, choose from 14 free November 2026 calendar templates, or pick a plain design from the November 2026 printable calendars and circle Nov. 3, Nov. 11 and Nov. 26. The pages on when Thanksgiving falls, Black Friday and Veterans Day cover those holidays year by year. For Nov. 11 deals, see our Veterans Day free meals list; for Nov. 27, Black Friday 2026 store hours; for Nov. 3, when election results are expected; Grand Theft Auto (GTA) VI launches Nov. 19 (what is confirmed); and federal funding runs out on Dec. 11 (the shutdown deadline).