When is columbus day

when is columbus day

The date is a Monday by design. It is not a fixed October number like the 12th every year. The second Monday can fall from October 8 through October 14, depending on the year. In 2026 it is October 12. In 2027 it is October 11. The season is mid-autumn in the Northern Hemisphere: after the September equinox, before Halloween, well before Thanksgiving.

The federal holiday commemorates Christopher Columbus’s 1492 landing in the Americas, dated October 12 on the calendar used for that commemoration. Congress later placed the legal public holiday on the second Monday in October so it would make a three-day weekend. The Monday is the observed civil holiday. The historical October 12 still exists as a date; it is not always the same weekday as the holiday.

Some states and cities mark Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the same second Monday, sometimes instead of Columbus Day, sometimes beside it. That is a naming and observance choice on the same autumn Monday. It does not move the federal Monday to another season.

An autumn Monday, not a summer travel week

Columbus Day sits in the fall school term and the fall work calendar. Daylight is already shorter than in June. Outdoor parades, if a town holds them, run on a cool October Monday, not on a July heat holiday. It is not Memorial Day, which is the last Monday in May. It is not Labor Day, which is the first Monday in September and ends the U.S. summer-holiday season for many workplaces. Those are other Mondays in other seasons.

Because it is a Monday holiday, the civil weekend is Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Friday is an ordinary workday unless your workplace adds it. Do not treat the whole of October as closed. Only that Monday is the federal holiday.

Find the second Monday in October for the year you care about. Do not assume it is always October 12. Keep Memorial Day in May and Labor Day in early September on their own lines. If your town uses Indigenous Peoples’ Day, it is still that same Monday unless local law says otherwise.

October has many weekdays. Columbus Day borrowed one Monday and left the rest of the month on the ordinary autumn clock.

Are banks closed on Columbus Day

Yes, for most bank lobbies, when you mean a U.S. bank and the second Monday in October is a weekday — which it always is, because the holiday is defined as a Monday. Columbus Day is a Federal Reserve holiday. Federally chartered banks and most retail branches follow that calendar and close the lobby. That is the usual answer to are bank closed on columbus day, are banks closed for columbus day, are the banks closed on columbus day, and are banks closed columbus day: plan as if the teller window is shut.

ATMs, apps, and many automated transfers still run. The stock market’s equity session is a different calendar: U.S. stock exchanges typically stay open on Columbus Day even when bank branches do not. The bond market often follows the Reserve holiday instead. Do not assume the ticker and the branch keep the same hours.

Credit unions and small state banks write their own notices. A few may open. Read your own bank’s holiday list for that Monday rather than copying a grocery store. The U.S. Postal Service observes the federal holiday, so regular retail mail is not a Columbus Day errand. Many shops stay open. The autumn Monday closes some counters and leaves others running. If your task needs a human at a desk, move it to Tuesday or to a day your bank names as open.