The short answer
No, Good Friday is not a federal holiday in the United States. The federal list of legal public holidays, 5 U.S.C. §6103, names 11 days: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday, Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Good Friday is not among them.
That does not mean every office is open. Stock markets close, and a small number of states recognize the day for their own employees. The table below shows who does what, with the source for each row.
| Who | Good Friday status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Federal government | Not a legal public holiday; not among the 11 days in the statute | 5 U.S.C. §6103(a) |
| Federal Reserve Banks | Not on the 2026 to 2030 holiday schedule | Federal Reserve Financial Services |
| NYSE markets | Closed: April 3, 2026; March 26, 2027; April 14, 2028 | NYSE holidays and trading hours |
| Hawaii state government | State holiday, the Friday preceding Easter Sunday | Hawaii DHRD, citing HRS §8-1 |
| Texas state employees | Optional holiday, alongside Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur | Texas Government Code §662.003(c) |
The next Good Friday is March 26, 2027, according to both the NYSE calendar and Hawaii's state holiday list.
Federal offices and the Federal Reserve
Because Good Friday is not in §6103, it is not a paid holiday for federal employees under that statute, and federal offices keep normal hours unless an agency announces otherwise. The statute does provide a route for one-off additions, since its pay and leave rules also apply to any other day declared a holiday by federal statute or executive order, but no standing law adds Good Friday.
The statute's amendment history shows how the federal list grows. Congress added Columbus Day in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday in 1983 and Juneteenth National Independence Day in 2021, each by amending §6103(a). None of those amendments concerns Good Friday.
The Federal Reserve follows the same list. Its holiday schedule for 2026 through 2030 names the same 11 holidays, and Good Friday is not on it. The FedACH schedule, which shows when the Fed's automated clearing house stops and restarts processing, likewise has no Good Friday entry.
That matters for anyone waiting on a direct deposit or bill payment. Since the Reserve Banks are open, a Good Friday payment is not delayed by a Fed closure. Individual banks set their own branch hours; our page on whether Chase is open on Good Friday looks at one large bank's published schedule.
Stock markets close
The New York Stock Exchange is the big exception. Its holidays and trading hours page says all NYSE markets observe the holidays it lists, and Good Friday is on the list: Friday, April 3, 2026; Friday, March 26, 2027; and Friday, April 14, 2028.
So Good Friday produces an unusual split. The stock exchange is closed while the Federal Reserve and federal agencies are open. Traders get a long weekend, but most office workers in the federal system do not.
That split is visible in the NYSE's own table, where Good Friday sits between Washington's Birthday and Memorial Day as a full market holiday, while the Federal Reserve's calendar for the same years jumps straight from Washington's Birthday to Memorial Day. Anyone moving money between a brokerage account and a bank should expect the bank side to keep working that Friday even though the market is shut.
The NYSE list does not cover every market, and bond markets and other exchanges publish their own calendars. If you trade anything other than NYSE-listed stocks, check that market's holiday page.
States that recognize Good Friday
State law can differ from the federal list. Hawaii's Department of Human Resources Development publishes the state holidays under Hawaii Revised Statutes §8-1, and Good Friday is one of them, defined as the Friday preceding Easter Sunday. For 2027 it lists Good Friday on Friday, March 26, the same day as Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole Day, and for 2028 on Friday, April 14.
The Hawaii list carries an important footnote: it is for use solely by state government agencies, and federal government and local banking holidays may differ. In other words, a Hawaii state office closing does not mean a bank or federal office in Hawaii closes. The footnote also tells state agencies that run on schedules other than Monday to Friday office hours to check their collective bargaining agreements.
Texas takes a middle route. Its Government Code §662.003 defines an optional holiday as the days on which Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur or Good Friday falls. Under §662.006, a state employee is entitled to a paid day off on an optional holiday only if the employee agrees to give up, in the same fiscal year, a state holiday that falls on a weekday. Good Friday is not one of the Texas national or state holidays listed in §662.003(a) and (b). Section 662.006 adds further conditions: the optional holiday must fall on a weekday, and the General Appropriations Act must not prohibit agencies from observing it. Texas universities are separate, since §662.011 lets the governing body of an institution of higher education set its own holiday schedule within the same overall number of days.
The swap has limits. Section 662.006(c) says an employee may not give up the Friday after Thanksgiving, December 24 or December 26 in exchange for an optional holiday, so a Texas state worker who wants Good Friday off has to trade away a different state holiday, such as Texas Independence Day or San Jacinto Day when one of those falls on a weekday, both of which appear on the state holiday list.
Some states with long holiday lists still leave Good Friday out. Connecticut's legal holidays statute, for example, names New Year's Day through Christmas, plus any day appointed by the governor or the president for thanksgiving, fasting or religious observance, but does not name Good Friday itself.
Private employers and schools
No federal rule requires private employers to give Good Friday off, because it is not a legal public holiday. Even §6103 itself governs federal employees rather than private businesses. Whether you get the day off depends on your employer's policy or contract.
Schools vary in the same way. The sources used here do not cover school calendars, so check your district's published calendar rather than assuming either way.
If you are planning around the day, the practical checklist is short: federal offices and the Fed are open, the NYSE is closed, and state offices follow state law, which in Hawaii means closed and in Texas means open with an optional day off for some employees.
Why the date changes each year
Hawaii's statute defines the day by its relation to Easter, the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and Easter itself moves each year. That is why Good Friday fell on April 3 in 2026 and falls on March 26 in 2027 and April 14 in 2028, the dates shown in both the NYSE and Hawaii schedules.
Because it moves, Good Friday can land on the same day as a fixed-date holiday. In 2027, Hawaii's schedule shows Good Friday and Prince Kūhiō Day both falling on Friday, March 26. The date table on this page lists the next several Good Fridays so you can plan ahead; for the season leading up to it, see our guide to when Lent starts and ends.