Independence Day Countdown 2027

Independence Day falls on 4 July, a federal holiday in the United States. The countdown above follows your own time zone and runs to midnight, as 4 July 2027 begins.

What the date actually marks. Congress voted for independence on 2 July 1776; the wording of the Declaration was approved two days later, on the 4th. John Adams expected the 2nd to be the day Americans celebrated — he wrote as much to his wife — and was wrong by 48 hours. Most delegates did not sign until 2 August.

A coincidence hard to invent. Both Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on 4 July 1826, the fiftieth anniversary to the day. James Monroe died on 4 July 1831.

It became a federal holiday late. Congress made it unpaid for federal employees in 1870 and paid only in 1938.

Fireworks were there from the start. The first organised celebration, in Philadelphia in 1777, already included bells, bonfires and fireworks — a form borrowed straight from the British royal celebrations the colonies had just rejected.

Practical note: when 4 July falls on a Saturday, the federal holiday is observed the Friday before; when it falls on a Sunday, the Monday after. The date of the celebration never moves, only the day off does.

The Fourth is a night people photograph: the fireworks, the cookout, the street. Photo & camera mode lays this countdown over a picture of your own, or over the live camera, and hands you the image or the video to send — built in the browser, with nothing uploaded. For any other date, create your own timer.