Juneteenth paid – By 2026, administrative calendars show at least 33 states and the District of Columbia will give most state government workers a paid day off for Juneteenth. But the legal status varies sharply—some states make it permanent by law, others rely on executive ord
On June 19, the buses usually run on time, the state offices usually open—unless they don’t.
For 2026. administrative calendars compiled by Pew Research Center show that Juneteenth National Independence Day will land as a paid day off for most state government workers in at least 33 states and the District of Columbia. The federal holiday—created to celebrate the end of slavery in the United States—may be uniform on the calendar. but the experience of whether people get the day off is not.
In the vast majority of those states—30 plus D.C.—Juneteenth is a permanent holiday by law and is commemorated annually. based on records compiled by the Congressional Research Service. Alabama joined the permanent legal list most recently, adopting Juneteenth as a permanent holiday in 2025. Alaska and Vermont made Juneteenth permanent in 2024. with Vermont officially adding it to their calendars for the first time last year.
Elsewhere, the payment certainty depends on how each state treats the holiday. In three states. Juneteenth is not a permanent legal holiday—but administrative calendars still show a paid day off for most state workers. It could become permanent in those states if their legislators pass a bill to make it so.
New Mexico is already on that paid-off footing: the state personnel board has approved Juneteenth as a paid day off annually since 2022.
Kansas and Kentucky offer another kind of arrangement. The governors of Kansas and Kentucky declared Juneteenth an annual state holiday for executive branch employees in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Because these declarations do not have permanent legal backing, they could be undone by future governors.
California and North Carolina add even more variation. California passed legislation in 2022 recognizing Juneteenth as a legal state holiday. but state employees do not get an automatic day off. Instead, eligible workers can choose to take Juneteenth off in lieu of a personal holiday. In North Carolina. some employees are eligible for paid personal leave on a day of “cultural or religious importance. ” which they can apply to Juneteenth.
West Virginia complicates the picture in a different way. State employees in West Virginia will get June 19 off this year—but in observance of West Virginia Day, not Juneteenth. From 2021 to 2024, former Gov. Jim Justice authorized Juneteenth as a state holiday via an annual proclamation, but current Gov. Patrick Morrisey chose not to follow suit after taking office in 2025.
Where the country’s federal promise is clear, state policy still moves at different speeds. Juneteenth is a federal holiday on June 19—the newest of the nation’s federal holidays—yet every state still decides what it means in practice, especially for state workers’ schedules.
What ties all of it together is the legal distinction between “permanent holiday by law” and “recognition” without a guaranteed paid day off. All 50 states officially recognize Juneteenth as either a legal holiday or an observance—meaning a day of public awareness that isn’t necessarily accompanied by a paid day off. Pew’s analysis specifically identifies 30 states (plus D.C.) where Juneteenth is a permanent legal holiday accompanied by a paid day off for most state government employees. excluding California because its workers do not get an automatic paid day off in observance.
The broader history explains why states started adding Juneteenth at different moments. Juneteenth commemorates June 19 as the day more than two months after the end of the Civil War—and more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation—when enslaved Black Americans in Galveston. Texas. were informed of their freedom.
Most states that made Juneteenth a permanent legal holiday did so in 2020 or later. The exception is Texas, where the holiday originated and is also known as Emancipation Day. Juneteenth has been celebrated locally in Texas since the 1860s, and it became a permanent holiday there in 1980.
National momentum accelerated in 2020 amid nationwide protests after police killings of several Black Americans, including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Former President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan bill that made Juneteenth a federal holiday in June 2021.
In the years after, states’ patterns diverged. Florida, Oklahoma and Minnesota were the first states outside Texas to commemorate Juneteenth as an official observance in the 1990s. Minnesota later went on to make it a permanent holiday in 2023. Hawaii. North Dakota and South Dakota were the last states to give Juneteenth formal recognition of any kind—Hawaii and North Dakota made it an observance in 2021. and South Dakota adopted it as a permanent holiday in 2022.
Some states that treat it as an observance only—among them Arkansas, Iowa and Montana—affix it to the third Saturday in June instead.
For federal workers, closure is more consistent. Juneteenth is one of 11 annual federal holidays. on which federal workers get a paid day off and there is no mail delivery. Most federal offices are closed on these holidays. The country’s major stock exchanges and bond markets are also closed on many federal holidays. including Juneteenth. as are some major national banks. Most stores, supermarkets and other businesses remain open, though this varies by occasion.
Pew’s update of this post originally published June 17. 2022 looks at where state government workers get a paid day off for Juneteenth. a list that differs slightly from where states have made it a permanent legal holiday. Information about state laws recognizing Juneteenth comes from a July 2025 Juneteenth fact sheet from the Congressional Research Service. State human resources websites and other administrative sources were used to confirm the holiday’s various designations for 2026.
The result is a map that tells a sharper story than a single national date can: Juneteenth may be shared, but for state employees, whether it comes with time off—and whether that time off is guaranteed—depends on where they work and which kind of legal footing their state has chosen.
Juneteenth Juneteenth paid holiday 2026 state government workers paid day off Congressional Research Service Pew Research Center Alabama Alaska Vermont New Mexico Kansas Kentucky California North Carolina West Virginia
Good, everyone should get the day off.
Wait so some states are like “paid” but others it’s just like optional? Kinda seems pointless if it depends on who your boss is. Also why isn’t this federal already uniform across the board?
Alabama made it permanent in 2025 right? But I swear my cousin in Alabama said they don’t get it because the calendar “changes.” Maybe Pew is talking about state workers only, not regular people? I’m confused because the buses on June 19 always run on time… unless they don’t. Seems like mixed messages.
Half the states adding paid Juneteenth by 2026… so it’s still not even all of them. I keep hearing it’s a “federal holiday” but then the article says the experience varies sharply, like some places do it by executive order not law. So basically if a governor changes their mind people lose it? Wild. Also I didn’t realize Vermont/Alaska were late to the party, thought it was everywhere already.