When is fall break in 2026?

1. Week of September 213 districts
2. Week of September 282 districts
3. Week of October 57 districts
4. Week of October 1216 districts
5. Week of October 191 district

Only the 29 districts off a whole week are counted here, each in the week its break fills (Gilbert Public Schools, out two weeks, is counted in the first). A break that opens on a Friday belongs to the week after, because that is the week the classrooms are empty. The 20 long weekends and single days are in the next table.

20 of the 49 fall breaks are shorter than a week. 12 of them include Monday, October 12.

The days are the weekdays each calendar keeps students home, so a one-day fall break next to a Monday holiday reads as two.

Counted in weekdays, not calendar days: the fall break as the calendar lists it, widened across any holiday or other day off it touches. Weekends are not counted. Neither is an intersession, a week when the calendar says some students still have class: El Paso ISD lists one next to its fall break.

The fall break column is the entry as the district's calendar lists it, in its own words where they are not simply "Fall Break", with a link to that calendar. The last column counts the weekdays students are out, and gives the dates when a holiday next to the break makes them longer than the break itself.

In the other 32 states tracked here, none of the tracked districts' calendars lists a fall break before Thanksgiving week: Alabama, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming.

76 of the 125 tracked districts list no fall break. That is not the same as an autumn without a day off: every one of them has at least one weekday off between Labor Day and Thanksgiving week, going by names like Veterans Day, Election Day, Indigenous Peoples' Day, Columbus Day, Yom Kippur or a teacher workday. Those days are on each district's own page.

9 of them use the words for Thanksgiving week instead, so a parent there looking for fall break means late November: Austin ISD (November 23–27, 2026), Charleston County School District (November 23–27, 2026), Hillsborough County Public Schools (November 23–27, 2026), Long Beach Unified (November 23–27, 2026), Polk County Public Schools (November 23–27, 2026), Portland Public Schools (November 25–27, 2026), Round Rock ISD (November 23–27, 2026), San Francisco Unified (November 23–27, 2026) and Wichita Public Schools (November 25–27, 2026).

• When is Thanksgiving break? — the late-November days off, and how much of that week each district takes.
• When is winter break? — the December dates, and the day students go back in January.
• When is spring break? — the week families book travel around.
• When do schools start? — the first day of school, state by state.
• Is there school on Labor Day? — which districts close, and which stretch it to four days.
• When is the last day of school? — when the year ends.

When is fall break in 2026?

49 of the 125 school districts tracked here, in 18 states, take a fall break in 2026. The busiest week is the week of October 12, 2026, when 16 of them are out Monday to Friday; 29 in all take a full week or more, the first starting September 21, 2026. The other 20 take a long weekend or a single day, 12 of them around Monday, October 12. 76 of the 125 list no fall break at all. Every date comes from the district's own 2026–27 calendar, so the one to check is yours.

How long is fall break?

Anything from one school day to 10 school days. 29 of the 49 districts with a fall break are out a full week or more; the other 20 are out 1 to 3 school days. Counting the weekdays each calendar keeps students home — the fall break plus any holiday touching it — 4 are out 1 school day, 10 are out 2 school days, 6 are out 3 school days, 15 are out 5 school days, 13 are out 6 school days and 1 is out 10 school days. Six is a school week plus one more day, usually the Friday before or the Monday after. The longest is Gilbert Public Schools in Arizona, out October 5–16, 2026.

What is fall break?

A break of a day to a week or more in the autumn term, after Labor Day and before Thanksgiving week, that a district's calendar sets aside as a fall break. Some calendars call it October break, fall recess or fall holiday instead, and Anoka-Hennepin in Minnesota calls its two days MEA break. It is not a federal holiday — the autumn ones under 5 U.S.C. § 6103 are Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day and Thanksgiving — so whether a district has a fall break, and when, is on its own adopted calendar and nowhere else.

Do all schools have fall break?

No, and it clusters by state. 49 of the 125 districts tracked here take one and 76 do not. Every tracked district takes one in Arizona (3), Georgia (6), Kentucky (2) and Tennessee (3), as do 20 of the 27 in Texas. In 32 of the 50 states tracked here none of the tracked districts does, among them Maryland (7 districts), California (6 districts), Illinois (4 districts) and Massachusetts (3 districts).

Is fall break the same as Thanksgiving break?

Usually not: on most calendars that have one, fall break is a separate stretch weeks earlier. But 10 of the districts tracked here use the name for the Thanksgiving week itself — Austin ISD, Charleston County School District, Hillsborough County Public Schools, Long Beach Unified, Madison Metropolitan School District, Polk County Public Schools, Portland Public Schools, Round Rock ISD, San Francisco Unified and Wichita Public Schools — and for families there, "fall break" means late November. Those weeks are counted on the Thanksgiving page, not this one; Madison Metropolitan School District has an earlier fall break as well, which is here.

Thanksgiving break 2026, district by district

Is fall break always in October?

Mostly. 42 of the 49 fall breaks here begin in October, 6 in September and 1 in November. The earliest first day off is September 21, 2026 and the latest is November 2, 2026. The day the short breaks share most is October 12, 2026, the second Monday in October, which federal law makes Columbus Day (5 U.S.C. § 6103) — 12 of the 20 are built around that long weekend.

When is fall break in Texas?

20 of the 27 Texas districts tracked here take one. 11 are out a full week (2 the week of October 5 and 9 the week of October 12), and 9 take a long weekend or a single day. Between them, the first day off is October 5, 2026 and the last is November 2, 2026. Each district's dates are in the table on this page, linked to its own page.

When is fall break in Georgia?

All 6 Georgia districts tracked here take one. 5 are out a full week (3 the week of September 21 and 2 the week of October 12), and one takes a long weekend or a single day. Between them, the first day off is September 21, 2026 and the last is October 16, 2026. Each district's dates are in the table on this page, linked to its own page.

When is fall break in Arizona?

All 3 Arizona districts tracked here take one. Every one of them is out a full week: 2 the week of October 5 and one the week of October 12. Between them, the first day off is October 5, 2026 and the last is October 16, 2026. Each district's dates are in the table on this page, linked to its own page.

When is fall break in Tennessee?

All 3 Tennessee districts tracked here take one. Every one of them is out a full week: one the week of October 5 and 2 the week of October 12. Between them, the first day off is October 5, 2026 and the last is October 19, 2026. Each district's dates are in the table on this page, linked to its own page.

Does this include college fall break?

No. Every calendar here belongs to a K-12 public school district. Colleges and universities set their own fall breaks on their own academic calendars, and this site does not track them — for a college, the registrar's calendar is the place to look.