Friday the 13th Dates by Year
| Year | How many | Months |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 3 | February, March, November |
| 2027 | 1 | August |
| 2028 | 1 | October |
| 2029 | 2 | April, July |
| 2030 | 2 | September, December |
| 2031 | 1 | June |
| 2032 | 2 | February, August |
| 2033 | 1 | May |
| 2034 | 2 | January, October |
| 2035 | 2 | April, July |
How Often Does Friday the 13th Happen?
Every year has at least one Friday the 13th and at most three. A month has a Friday the 13th whenever it starts on a Sunday. The longest possible gap between two of them is 14 months, and the shortest is one month, which happens when February in a common year is followed by March, both starting on a Sunday. That is exactly what happened in 2026, with Friday the 13th in both February and March, and again in November.
Is the 13th More Likely to Be a Friday?
Surprisingly, yes, slightly. The Gregorian calendar repeats every 400 years, and in each cycle the 13th of the month falls on a Friday 688 times, a little more often than on any other day of the week. It is a quirk of how the 400-year cycle of leap years lines up with the seven-day week.
Why Is Friday the 13th Unlucky?
Both Friday and the number 13 have long been considered unlucky in Western folklore, but the combination only became a widespread superstition in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A 1907 novel called Friday, the Thirteenth helped popularize it, and the horror film series that began in 1980 made it famous. Fear of Friday the 13th even has its own names: paraskevidekatriaphobia and friggatriskaidekaphobia. In Spain, Greece and much of Latin America, Tuesday the 13th is the unlucky day instead.
Counting down to something happier? Try the days until date calculator or the Halloween countdown.