Massachusetts State Holidays 2026

Massachusetts legal holidays in 2026

Massachusetts defines its legal holidays in chapter 4, section 7 of the General Laws, clause Eighteenth. Five are fixed dates (January 1, June 19, July 4, November 11 and Christmas Day), each moved to the following day only when it falls on a Sunday. The rest are set by rule: the third Mondays of January, February and April, the last Monday in May, the first Monday in September, the second Monday in October, and Thanksgiving Day. The third Monday in April is the one legal holiday the federal list does not have; the Trial Court's list calls it Patriots' Day, and in 2026 it is Monday, April 20.

July 4 stays on the Saturday, so the Friday most federal employees have as their holiday is not a Massachusetts legal holiday.

The same clause makes Evacuation Day (March 17) and Bunker Hill Day (June 17) legal holidays in Suffolk County only, each moved off a Sunday, and requires state and municipal offices located in the county to be "open for business and appropriately staffed" on March 17 and June 17. In 2026 they fall on Tuesday, March 17 and Wednesday, June 17. Neither is in the calendar above.

Section 9 of the same chapter is the rule for deadlines. "Except as otherwise provided", when the day or the last day for an act that a statute or a contract authorizes or requires, the making of a payment included, falls on a Sunday or a legal holiday, the act may be performed on "the next succeeding business day", unless it is specifically authorized or required to be performed on the Sunday or the holiday. Patriots' Day is the case a federal count misses: under section 9 a payment a contract requires on Monday, April 20 may be made on the next succeeding business day, although the federal business-day count treats April 20 as a working day. The section names Sundays and legal holidays; it says nothing about Saturdays.

The Executive Office of the Trial Court applies clause Eighteenth to court closures and publishes the result. Its 2026 list shows no closure at all for Independence Day, because July 4 is a Saturday.

2026 in Massachusetts: the same total by a different route

A year's working days are its weekdays minus the holidays that land on them, and both halves move. The weekday supply depends only on the year's length and the weekday it starts on; the holiday half depends on where each fixed date falls that year. 2026 runs 365 days, 52 whole weeks and one day over. It opens and closes on a Thursday, so the spare day is a weekday and the year holds 261 of them.

Eleven federal holidays in this page's count fall on weekdays, so Massachusetts has 250 working days in 2026. That matches 2025 exactly, with the same weekday supply and the same number of weekday holidays. 2027 falls to 249.

Saturday holidays in 2026

A fixed-date holiday on a weekend is where the federal, Reserve Bank and state calendars part company. For most federal employees a Saturday holiday moves to the Friday and a Sunday one to the Monday (5 U.S.C. 6103(b) and Executive Order 11582, as OPM applies them); the Federal Reserve Banks follow the Monday rule but not the Friday one; and Massachusetts has its own rule. In 2026:

• Independence Day falls on Saturday, July 4; most federal employees have Friday, July 3 as the holiday instead. The Federal Reserve Banks are open that Friday; the Board of Governors is closed. It is not a Massachusetts legal holiday, because chapter 4, section 7 moves a holiday only off a Sunday.

This page's count leaves out the Friday or Monday that federal employees have as the holiday, because the count follows the federal employees' holidays. A count on the Federal Reserve Banks' schedule has one more business day across each of those Fridays.

Where Massachusetts's own calendar departs from the count in 2026

The count on this page and the Massachusetts legal-holiday calendar (General Laws chapter 4, section 7) differ only where one of them has a holiday on a weekday and the other does not. The Massachusetts calendar has Patriots' Day on Monday, April 20 as a holiday, which the federal count treats as a working day. The federal count takes out Independence Day (observed) on Friday, July 3, which the Massachusetts calendar does not.

The two cancel out: both calendars give 250 working days in 2026, on different dates.

Where the fixed-date holidays land in 2026

A holiday tied to a calendar date moves one weekday later each year, so the week it breaks changes every year while its date stays put. Against 2025, each of these has moved one weekday on:

• New Year's Day is a Thursday in 2026, after a Wednesday in 2025, which leaves Friday, January 2 as a single working day before the weekend on this page's count.
• Juneteenth is a Friday in 2026, after a Thursday in 2025, so on this page's count the weekend after it becomes three days off.
• Independence Day is a Saturday in 2026, after a Friday in 2025, a weekend day, so the date itself takes no working day on this page's count; the weekend rules above decide whether a weekday is given for it.
• Veterans Day is a Wednesday in 2026, after a Tuesday in 2025: a midweek break that leaves two working days on each side of it on this page's count.
• Christmas Day is a Friday in 2026, after a Thursday in 2025, so on this page's count the weekend after it becomes three days off.

Eight long weekends in 2026

A weekday holiday next to a weekend turns two days off into three; two closures side by side, or one on each side of a weekend, make four or more. That is arithmetic on the dates, so the list moves every year even when the holidays do not. On this page's count, Massachusetts has eight such breaks in 2026:

• Saturday, January 17 to Monday, January 19: three days, for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
• Saturday, February 14 to Monday, February 16: three days, for Presidents' Day.
• Saturday, May 23 to Monday, May 25: three days, for Memorial Day.
• Friday, June 19 to Sunday, June 21: three days, for Juneteenth.
• Friday, July 3 to Sunday, July 5: three days, for Independence Day (observed).
• Saturday, September 5 to Monday, September 7: three days, for Labor Day.
• Saturday, October 10 to Monday, October 12: three days, for Columbus Day.
• Friday, December 25 to Sunday, December 27: three days, for Christmas Day.

On the Massachusetts calendar the breaks differ: Saturday, April 18 to Monday, April 20 (three days). Those follow the state's own holidays and do not change this page's count.

Bridge days and midweek breaks in 2026

A holiday on a Tuesday or a Thursday strands a single working day between it and the weekend; a Wednesday one splits the week into two short runs instead. 2026 has both kinds. The stranded days are Friday, January 2, next to New Year's Day and Friday, November 27, next to Thanksgiving Day.

The midweek closure is Veterans Day on Wednesday, November 11. A deadline counted across a Wednesday holiday loses its day in the middle of the week, not at either end, so a count that steps through the week one day at a time has to skip it there.

Massachusetts month by month, 2026

A month's working days are its weekdays less the holidays on them, so a month with no weekday holiday is set entirely by how its weekdays fall, and every holiday that lands midweek takes one day off the month it sits in.

The second column follows the federal set this page counts. The third follows the Massachusetts legal-holiday calendar (General Laws chapter 4, section 7), for readers dealing with that calendar directly.

Massachusetts's longest stretch without a holiday, 2026

The longest run of working days with no weekday holiday inside it depends on how far apart consecutive closures sit, so it moves whenever one fixed-date holiday changes weekday. In 2026 it runs from Tuesday, February 17 to Friday, May 22 inside the first half of the year: 69 working days, 13 full working weeks and four days.

The first working day of 2026 on this count is Friday, January 2, after New Year's Day. The last is Thursday, December 31, which is the latest date a count of working days can end on inside 2026.

Which calendar the 2026 count uses

The working-day total counts the legal public holidays of 5 U.S.C. 6103 on the dates most federal employees have them, as OPM publishes them. It is not identical to the Federal Reserve Banks' calendar. The Board of Governors' K.8 schedule states that the Federal Reserve Banks are open on the Friday before a Saturday holiday, and in 2026 that means Friday, July 3. A count on the Reserve Banks' schedule has one more business day across that Friday than this page's count shows.

The Massachusetts legal-holiday calendar (General Laws chapter 4, section 7) is shown in the table and never subtracted from the count.