The final week of daylight saving time is here, and after this week, the dreaded 5 p.m. sunset will return.
A significant number of Americans dislike the practice of changing the clocks between standard time and daylight saving time. Recently, 20 states have pushed for legislation to adopt daylight saving time year-round.
This year, the semi-annual clock change will take place over Halloween weekend, giving Saturday partiers an extra hour to sleep in on Sunday.
In April, President Donald Trump made a Truth Social post urging Congress to make daylight saving time permanent: “The House and Senate should push hard for more daylight at the end of a day. Very popular and, most importantly, no more changing of the clocks, a big inconvenience and, for our government, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!!!”
Here is what to know about daylight saving time in 2025.
When does daylight saving time end?
In 2025, daylight saving time will end on Sunday, Nov. 2, at 2 a.m. local time after it began on Sunday, March 9. Time will revert to daylight saving time on Sunday, March 8, 2026.
While it may seem like the time clock we use in winter is not standard, that is the standard time. Since 2005, daylight saving time has started on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.
Fall back vs. spring forward
Each year on the second Sunday in March, people across the country “spring” forward or set their clocks ahead one hour, thus “losing” one hour of sleep and resulting in more daylight in the evening.
Then on the first Sunday in November, clocks are set back one hour to “fall back,” thus gaining an hour of sleep. Sunrise and sunset will be about one hour earlier the following morning, resulting in more light in the morning.
What states participate in daylight saving time?
Hawaii and Arizona are the only two states that don’t participate in daylight saving time.
Hawaii observes Hawaiian Standard Time all year, and most of Arizona observes Mountain Standard Time.
The U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands also don’t observe daylight saving time.
Is the U.S. getting rid of daylight saving time?
In 2022, the Senate approved bipartisan legislation on unanimous consent to make daylight saving time permanent and keep later sunsets, but it stalled in the House, USA TODAY reported.
In December 2024, Trump expressed interest in eliminating daylight saving time, drawing support from Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Trump called the practice “inconvenient” and “very costly to our Nation” in a social media post.
“The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
It appeared that way in January, when both chambers introduced legislation to establish a permanent DST, known in the Senate as the Sunshine Protection Act of 2025. Both bills were promoted by Republicans from Florida at a time when the GOP grabbed control of the House and Senate.
However, despite the measures continuing to gain sponsors, more than 40 altogether, no action has been taken, and lawmakers from some states have expressed reservations.
Why did daylight saving time start?
In the simplest terms, World War I is credited with introducing daylight saving time. It started in Europe as a way to conserve fuel for electrical power. It was initially enacted in Germany and Austria and then spread to 11 other countries. The United States did not adopt it until 1918, when the first daylight saving time was introduced on March 30, 1918. It was so wildly unpopular that it was repealed in 1919.
Daylight saving time was reinstated during World War II. One of the biggest issues here was that the federal government did not regulate it, and states and localities were all on different schedules. This schedule lasted from 1945 to 1966.
The Uniform Time Act of 1966 established specific dates for the beginning and end of daylight saving time. It was to start on the last Sunday in April and end on the last Sunday in October. States could pass laws requiring nonparticipation if they chose.
Daylight saving as we know it today came about after the turn of the century. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended daylight saving time to begin on the second Sunday of March and end on the first Sunday of November.
Jordan Green covers trending news for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at jordan.green@commercialappeal.com.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: When does daylight saving time end? When to change the clock in TN
