US Federal Holidays Widget

How it works

Each holiday is derived from its statutory rule, so no year is ever typed in: four fixed dates (January 1, June 19, July 4, November 11, December 25), five Monday holidays (third Monday of January and February, last Monday of May, first Monday of September, second Monday of October) and Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November. The observed column then applies the in-lieu rule OPM publishes: a Saturday holiday is taken on the Friday before (5 U.S.C. 6103(b)(1)) and a Sunday holiday on the Monday after (Executive Order 11582). That is why Independence Day 2026 shows Friday, July 3, and why New Year's Day 2028 is observed on Friday, December 31, 2027. Inauguration Day appears only in its years (2025, 2029 ...) and is labelled for the Washington, DC area; on a Saturday, as in 2029, it gets no substitute day. The download button writes an RFC 5545 file of all-day events on the observed dates.

Method

• Monday holidays: day = 1 + (1 - weekday of the 1st + 7) mod 7 + 7(n - 1); Memorial Day = last day of May minus (its weekday - 1 + 7) mod 7
• Thanksgiving = fourth Thursday of November; fixed dates as listed in 5 U.S.C. 6103(a)
• Observed day off: Saturday -> Friday before; Sunday -> Monday after; weekdays unchanged
• Inauguration Day: January 20 when (year - 1965) mod 4 = 0; Sunday -> January 21; Saturday -> no in-lieu day
• Days to next holiday = observed date - visitor's local date (0 = today)

Worked examples

Limitations

• Federal holidays only: state holidays such as Cesar Chavez Day, Patriots' Day or Mardi Gras and company closure days are not listed.
• Observed dates follow the Monday-Friday rule; staff on other schedules (6103(b)(2)) may get a different in-lieu day.
• One-off closures ordered by executive order (for example a day of mourning) are not predictable and are not shown.
• "Next holiday" uses the visitor's device date, so a wrong device clock shows a wrong count.

Where publishers use it

• A payroll provider's help centre showing which 2027 dates shift deposits because Christmas Eve is the observed holiday
• A government contractor's intranet listing the days federal offices are closed this year and next
• A bank or credit union page explaining why branches close on Friday, July 3, 2026
• A school district or courthouse site that follows the federal calendar and wants an importable .ics file
• A DC-area employer's HR page that must show Inauguration Day in 2029 and explain why it is not moved

Questions

Sources

1. 5 U.S. Code 6103 - Holidays - Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School . Subsection (a) lists the 11 legal public holidays and their rules; (b)(1) moves a Saturday holiday to the Friday before; (c) defines Inauguration Day for the DC area. Checked 2026-10-01.
2. Federal Holidays - U.S. Office of Personnel Management . Holiday lists for 2025-2030 used as the test reference, the Sunday-to-Monday rule (Executive Order 11582 s.3(a)) and the note that Inauguration Day 2029 falls on a Saturday with no in-lieu day. Checked 2026-10-01.
3. RFC 5545 - Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification (iCalendar) - IETF . All-day events written with DTSTART;VALUE=DATE and an exclusive DTEND.

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