Which Day of the Week Were Most US Presidents Born On?

George Washington’s birthday, often called “Presidents’ Day,” is a federal holiday in the USA, celebrated on the third Monday in February. Washington himself wasn’t born on a Monday, but celebrating the day on a Monday creates a three-day weekend for Americans.

What is closed on Presidents’ Day?

When Are Most Presidents Born?

Most US presidents have so far been born on a Monday or on a Thursday. Both days have eight US presidents under their belt.

Finding the day of the week that most US presidents were born is not as easy as it seems. Believe me, I tried. While birthdays and birth months are widely published, weekdays are rarely listed. Luckily, our Weekday Calculator makes short work of it.

Born on a Monday

• Bill Clinton
• Ronald Reagan
• Gerald Ford
• Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Herbert Hoover
• Chester A. Arthur
• James K. Polk
• John Tyler

Born on a Thursday

• George H.W. Bush
• Richard Nixon
• Lyndon B. Johnson
• Harry Truman
• Calvin Coolidge
• Warren Harding
• Andrew Johnson
• Martin Van Buren

Friday Is Catching Up

So far, Monday and Thursday have been the leading presidential birthdays. But Friday is catching up—the last three US presidents were born on a Friday: Joe Biden (November 20, 1942), Donald Trump (June 14, 1946), and Barack Obama (August 4, 1961).

Weekday	Number of US presidents
Sunday	5
Monday	8
Tuesday	7
Wednesday	3
Thursday	8
Friday	7
Saturday	7

Never before have three consecutive US presidents been born on the same weekday. If the next US president is also born on a Friday, that would definitely surprise many people. Or a handful of people. Ok, just me.

Find the weekday for any date

All US Presidents and Their Birthdays

Which president was born when? Which months, days, and weekdays are popular for a presidential birthday? Find out more in our big birthday table:

No.	President	Year	Month	Day	Weekday
16	Abraham Lincoln	1809	Feb	12	Sunday
7	Andrew Jackson	1767	Mar	15	Sunday
2	John Adams	1735	Oct	30	Sunday
25	William McKinley	1843	Jan	29	Sunday
28	Woodrow Wilson	1856	Dec	28	Sunday
42	Bill Clinton	1946	Aug	19	Monday
40	Ronald Reagan	1911	Feb	6	Monday
38	Gerald Ford	1913	Jul	14	Monday
32	Franklin Roosevelt	1882	Jan	30	Monday
31	Herbert Hoover	1874	Aug	10	Monday
21	Chester A. Arthur	1829	Oct	5	Monday
11	James K. Polk	1795	Nov	2	Monday
10	John Tyler	1790	Mar	29	Monday
23	Benjamin Harrison	1833	Aug	20	Tuesday
34	Dwight Eisenhower	1890	Oct	14	Tuesday
4	James Madison	1751	Mar	16	Tuesday
35	John F. Kennedy	1917	May	29	Tuesday
13	Millard Fillmore	1800	Jan	7	Tuesday
9	William Harrison	1773	Feb	9	Tuesday
27	William Taft	1857	Sep	15	Tuesday
39	Jimmy Carter	1924	Oct	1	Wednesday
26	Theodore Roosevelt	1858	Oct	27	Wednesday
12	Zachary Taylor	1784	Nov	24	Wednesday
29	Warren Harding	1865	Nov	2	Thursday
17	Andrew Johnson	1808	Dec	29	Thursday
30	Calvin Coolidge	1872	Jul	4	Thursday
41	George H.W. Bush	1924	June	12	Thursday
33	Harry Truman	1884	May	8	Thursday
36	Lyndon B. Johnson	1908	Aug	27	Thursday
8	Martin Van Buren	1782	Dec	5	Thursday
37	Richard Nixon	1913	Jan	9	Thursday
44	Barack Obama	1961	Aug	4	Friday
45	Donald Trump	1946	Jun	14	Friday
14	Franklin Pierce	1804	Nov	23	Friday
1	George Washington	1732	Feb	22	Friday*
5	James Monroe	1758	Apr	28	Friday
46	Joe Biden	1942	Nov	20	Friday
19	Rutherford B. Hayes	1822	Oct	4	Friday
43	George W. Bush	1946	Jul	6	Saturday
24	Grover Cleveland	1837	Mar	18	Saturday
22	Grover Cleveland	1837	Mar	18	Saturday
20	James Garfield	1831	Nov	19	Saturday
18	Ulysses S. Grant	1822	Apr	27	Saturday
15	James Buchanan	1791	Apr	23	Saturday
6	John Quincy Adams	1767	Jul	11	Saturday
3	Thomas Jefferson	1743	Apr	13	Saturday

* Note: Washington’s birthday and all other birthdays in this table are according to the Gregorian calendar. Washington, J. Adams, Jefferson, and Madison were all born before the British colonies switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in 1752.

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The Big Birthday Switcheroo: Washington’s Birthday

George Washington was not only the first US president, he was also the first president whose birthday has been switched and switched again.

Washington was born on a Thursday: February 11, 1731. He was born in Virginia, back then a colony of the British Empire. The British followed the Julian calendar and switched to the modern Gregorian calendar when Washington was 21 years old, in 1752.

The switch shifted dates by 11 days since that was the difference between the Julian and the Gregorian calendars. Washington’s birthday became a Friday: February 22, 1732. Yes, they also added a year because this date lay between January and March… It’s complicated.

When the US Congress decided it wanted to celebrate the first president’s birthday in 1885, February 22 was a Sunday. In the following years, Washington’s Birthday was celebrated on different weekdays.

In 1971, the US Congress changed Washington’s Birthday to the third Mondayin February to create a three-day weekend. Congress didn’t target Washington specifically; the act also changed the dates for Memorial Day and Columbus Day, as well as Veterans Day (although the latter was changed back in 1978).