When is Black Friday 2025 and What is Black Friday?

Black Friday is known for large crowds queuing outside stores as early as dawn, marking the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season. This event takes place the day after Thanksgiving, a U.S. national holiday observed on the fourth Thursday of November, and always falls between November 23 and November 29.

In recent years, Black Friday has become the busiest shopping day in the U.S. for in-store traffic. Retailers typically offer significant discounts to attract shoppers and kick off the holiday shopping season. While not an official holiday, many workers, including those in non-retail industries, and schools have both Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday off. This, combined with the weekend that follows, creates a long four-day weekend.

The Christmas shopping season that begins on Black Friday also includes:

• Buy Nothing Day: An international day of protest against consumerism, observed on the same day as Black Friday.
• Small Business Saturday: A day to encourage shopping at small, local businesses, held the Saturday after Black Friday.
• Cyber Monday: A term coined by online retailers to boost online shopping, taking place on the Monday after Black Friday.
• Giving Tuesday: An international day of charitable giving, occurring the day after Cyber Monday.
• Super Saturday (or Panic Saturday): The Saturday before Christmas Eve, marking the unofficial end of the holiday shopping season.

Though Black Friday remains the largest shopping day in the U.S., its transaction volume and number of shoppers now pale in comparison to China’s Singles’ Day, which has become the biggest global shopping event.

The term “Black Friday” has also been historically used to describe disastrous events that occurred on a Friday. For more details, check out the history of Black Fridays.

When is Black Friday 2026? Black Friday 2026 will fall on Friday, November 27 (in 630 days).

Upcoming Black Friday Dates:

• Black Friday 2020: November 27, 2020 (5,601 days ago)
• Black Friday 2021: November 26, 2021 (4,197 days ago)
• Black Friday 2022: November 25, 2022 (3,833 days ago)
• Black Friday 2023: November 24, 2023 (2,469 days ago)
• Black Friday 2024: November 29, 2024 (98 days away)
• Black Friday 2025: November 28, 2025 (266 days away)
• Black Friday 2026: November 27, 2026 (630 days away)