Most U.S. clocks fall back Sunday as time-change debate continues

Clocks across most of the United States will move back one hour at 2 a.m. local time Sunday, Nov. 1, ending daylight saving time for 2026 and bringing earlier sunrises and sunsets.

The switch from 1:59 a.m. back to 1 a.m. gives most Americans an extra hour overnight. In Boston, for example, the sun will rise at 6:17 a.m. and set at 4:37 p.m. Sunday, compared with a 7:16 a.m. sunrise and 5:39 p.m. sunset Saturday, according to National Weather Service figures cited by CBS News. Phones set to update their time automatically should make the change on their own.

Daylight saving time began March 8. It is scheduled to return March 14, 2027, when clocks move forward at 2 a.m. Under rules in place since 2007, the change begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.

Hawaii and most of Arizona do not change their clocks. The Navajo Nation, which extends into Arizona, does observe daylight saving time, CBS News reported. American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands remain on standard time year-round.

The United States first adopted daylight saving time in 1918, during World War I, in an effort to conserve fuel. Congress later repealed the measure, leaving states to decide whether to observe it. Daylight saving time returned during World War II, and a 1966 law established uniform start and end dates while allowing exemptions. A move to year-round daylight saving time in the 1970s was reversed after objections to dark winter mornings.

The twice-yearly switch remains a subject of debate in Congress. CBS News reported that the House passed the Sunshine Protection Act in July 2026 and sent it to the Senate. NBC News, however, reported that a version of the bill introduced in January 2025 stalled in the Senate during the summer. Both outlets describe efforts to make daylight saving time permanent; NBC News said federal law currently prevents states from adopting it year-round on their own.

President Donald Trump supports ending the clock changes. In an October social media post, he urged Senate Republicans to “get moving,” saying the process “costs our Country a fortune” and is bad for crime, stress and sports, NBC News reported. CBS News reported that Trump accused Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas of holding up the legislation. Cotton responded that an earlier attempt at permanent daylight saving time ended after Americans experienced “absurdly late sunrises in the winter.”

Some studies suggest permanent daylight saving time could reduce traffic accidents and crime, according to NBC News. But the outlet reported that many health and sleep researchers oppose it, citing the risks of dark mornings, including for children traveling to school, and the health effects of schedules less closely aligned with sunlight.