Zodiac sign dates: all 12 signs
| Sign | Usual dates | Element | First day, 1930–2025 (Eastern time) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ♈︎ Aries | Mar 21 – Apr 19 | Fire | Mar 19 or Mar 20 or Mar 21 |
| ♉︎ Taurus | Apr 20 – May 20 | Earth | Apr 19 or Apr 20 |
| ♊︎ Gemini | May 21 – Jun 20 | Air | May 20 or May 21 |
| ♋︎ Cancer | Jun 21 – Jul 22 | Water | Jun 20 or Jun 21 or Jun 22 |
| ♌︎ Leo | Jul 23 – Aug 22 | Fire | Jul 22 or Jul 23 |
| ♍︎ Virgo | Aug 23 – Sep 22 | Earth | Aug 22 or Aug 23 |
| ♎︎ Libra | Sep 23 – Oct 22 | Air | Sep 22 or Sep 23 |
| ♏︎ Scorpio | Oct 23 – Nov 21 | Water | Oct 22 or Oct 23 or Oct 24 |
| ♐︎ Sagittarius | Nov 22 – Dec 21 | Fire | Nov 21 or Nov 22 or Nov 23 |
| ♑︎ Capricorn | Dec 22 – Jan 19 | Earth | Dec 21 or Dec 22 |
| ♒︎ Aquarius | Jan 20 – Feb 18 | Air | Jan 19 or Jan 20 or Jan 21 |
| ♓︎ Pisces | Feb 19 – Mar 20 | Water | Feb 18 or Feb 19 |
The last column is where the Sun entered each sign in the years 1930 to 2025, counted in Eastern time. A birthday on one of those dates can belong to either sign; the calculator at the top of the page checks yours.
Why the dates shift by a day
The zodiac is tied to the Sun, not to the calendar. A sign begins when the Sun reaches the next 30° slice of its yearly path, and that moment comes about six hours later each year, because a year is about 365 days and 6 hours long. Every leap year the extra day pulls it back again. So the start of each sign wanders across roughly a day and a half of clock time, and it crosses midnight in some years and not in others.
Aries is the clearest case. The Sun enters Aries at the March equinox. In Eastern time, that happened on March 21 in 6 of the 10 years of the 1930s, on March 20 in every year from 1980 to 2019, and on March 19 in 2020 and 2024. A list that says "Aries begins March 21" was mostly true for your grandparents and is now off by a day.
The time zone shifts it again. A change at 11 p.m. in Los Angeles is already 2 a.m. the next day in New York. That is why two careful websites can disagree by one day and both be right for their own clocks.
Cusp dates: birthdays that can be either sign
We ran every year from 1930 to 2025 and asked, for each calendar day, whether the Sun was in the same sign all day. In Eastern time, 29 dates come out mixed: in some years they belong to one sign, in other years to the next, and in many years the change happens during the day itself. In Pacific time the count is 27.
| Boundary | Usual first day | Sun changed on that day | Other dates it changed on |
|---|---|---|---|
| ♓︎ Pisces → ♈︎ Aries | Mar 21 | 18 of 96 years | Mar 20 (76), Mar 19 (2) |
| ♈︎ Aries → ♉︎ Taurus | Apr 20 | 60 of 96 years | Apr 19 (36) |
| ♉︎ Taurus → ♊︎ Gemini | May 21 | 60 of 96 years | May 20 (36) |
| ♊︎ Gemini → ♋︎ Cancer | Jun 21 | 77 of 96 years | Jun 20 (12), Jun 22 (7) |
| ♋︎ Cancer → ♌︎ Leo | Jul 23 | 40 of 96 years | Jul 22 (56) |
| ♌︎ Leo → ♍︎ Virgo | Aug 23 | 68 of 96 years | Aug 22 (28) |
| ♍︎ Virgo → ♎︎ Libra | Sep 23 | 59 of 96 years | Sep 22 (37) |
| ♎︎ Libra → ♏︎ Scorpio | Oct 23 | 78 of 96 years | Oct 22 (10), Oct 24 (8) |
| ♏︎ Scorpio → ♐︎ Sagittarius | Nov 22 | 75 of 96 years | Nov 21 (18), Nov 23 (3) |
| ♐︎ Sagittarius → ♑︎ Capricorn | Dec 22 | 38 of 96 years | Dec 21 (58) |
| ♑︎ Capricorn → ♒︎ Aquarius | Jan 20 | 75 of 96 years | Jan 19 (18), Jan 21 (3) |
| ♒︎ Aquarius → ♓︎ Pisces | Feb 19 | 42 of 96 years | Feb 18 (54) |
Years 1930 to 2025, Eastern time. The Sun's entry moment comes from the astronomy-engine ephemeris; a day counts from midnight to midnight local time, with that year's daylight saving rules.
Two boundaries stand out. The Sun reached Taurus a day before the usual April 20, on April 19, in 36 of the 96 years, and Gemini a day before May 21 in 36. And the start of Capricorn landed on December 21 more often than on the December 22 most lists print.
These seven are the boundary dates people search for most. Our count for each:
| Birthday | Sign changed during the day | All day one sign |
|---|---|---|
| November 22 | 75 of 96 years (Scorpio → Sagittarius) | Sagittarius 18, Scorpio 3 |
| June 21 | 77 of 96 years (Gemini → Cancer) | Cancer 12, Gemini 7 |
| March 20 | 76 of 96 years (Pisces → Aries) | Pisces 18, Aries 2 |
| February 19 | 42 of 96 years (Aquarius → Pisces) | Pisces 54 |
| July 22 | 56 of 96 years (Cancer → Leo) | Cancer 40 |
| October 22 | 10 of 96 years (Libra → Scorpio) | Libra 86 |
| September 22 | 37 of 96 years (Virgo → Libra) | Virgo 59 |
Eastern time, 1930 to 2025.
November 22, the most searched of them, has a page of its own with the change time for every year from 1930 to 2030: November 22 zodiac sign.
Every cusp date, year by year
Each of these dates has its own page with the sign for every year from 1930 to 2030 and the clock time of the change:
Zodiac calendar: signs by month
Every month holds the end of one sign and the start of the next. The first day of the new sign falls between the 18th and the 24th, depending on the month and the year.
| Month | Signs | Change usually on |
|---|---|---|
| January | ♑︎ Capricorn, then ♒︎ Aquarius | Jan 20 (78% of years) |
| February | ♒︎ Aquarius, then ♓︎ Pisces | Feb 18 (56% of years) |
| March | ♓︎ Pisces, then ♈︎ Aries | Mar 20 (79% of years) |
| April | ♈︎ Aries, then ♉︎ Taurus | Apr 20 (63% of years) |
| May | ♉︎ Taurus, then ♊︎ Gemini | May 21 (63% of years) |
| June | ♊︎ Gemini, then ♋︎ Cancer | Jun 21 (80% of years) |
| July | ♋︎ Cancer, then ♌︎ Leo | Jul 22 (58% of years) |
| August | ♌︎ Leo, then ♍︎ Virgo | Aug 23 (71% of years) |
| September | ♍︎ Virgo, then ♎︎ Libra | Sep 23 (61% of years) |
| October | ♎︎ Libra, then ♏︎ Scorpio | Oct 23 (81% of years) |
| November | ♏︎ Scorpio, then ♐︎ Sagittarius | Nov 22 (78% of years) |
| December | ♐︎ Sagittarius, then ♑︎ Capricorn | Dec 21 (60% of years) |
Most common date the Sun entered the second sign, Eastern time, 1930 to 2025.
Zodiac signs in order, with elements
The order starts at Aries because the zodiac is counted from the March equinox. Each sign has an element and a quality, and both repeat in a fixed pattern: fire, earth, air, water, then again; cardinal, fixed, mutable, then again. The cardinal signs, Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, begin at the two equinoxes and the two solstices.
| # | Sign | Element | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♈︎ Aries | Fire | Cardinal |
| 2 | ♉︎ Taurus | Earth | Fixed |
| 3 | ♊︎ Gemini | Air | Mutable |
| 4 | ♋︎ Cancer | Water | Cardinal |
| 5 | ♌︎ Leo | Fire | Fixed |
| 6 | ♍︎ Virgo | Earth | Mutable |
| 7 | ♎︎ Libra | Air | Cardinal |
| 8 | ♏︎ Scorpio | Water | Fixed |
| 9 | ♐︎ Sagittarius | Fire | Mutable |
| 10 | ♑︎ Capricorn | Earth | Cardinal |
| 11 | ♒︎ Aquarius | Air | Fixed |
| 12 | ♓︎ Pisces | Water | Mutable |
Did the zodiac dates change? Ophiuchus and the "new" signs
Every few years a story says the zodiac dates have changed and there is a 13th sign, Ophiuchus. It mixes up two things. The constellations are star patterns of uneven size. Under the boundaries astronomers fixed in the 20th century, the Sun spends about 45 days in front of Virgo and about a week in front of Scorpius, and it also crosses Ophiuchus, from about November 30 to December 17.
The zodiac signs of Western astrology are not those constellations. They are twelve equal 30° slices counted from the March equinox, and they have kept the same dates for centuries. Over about 2,000 years the slow wobble of Earth's axis has moved the equinox, so the sign and the constellation of the same name no longer line up.
Sidereal astrology, used in India, does tie its signs to the stars. With the Lahiri setting most Vedic software uses, its Aries runs from about April 14 to May 14, so most people are one sign earlier there. If an app gives you a different sign from this page, check which of the two zodiacs it uses.
Questions about zodiac sign dates
What is my zodiac sign?
Your zodiac sign is the sign the Sun was in on the day you were born. Enter your birthday in the calculator at the top of this page, or find the date in the table. If the Sun changed signs on your birthday, the calculator shows the hour of the change, and your sign depends on your birth time.
What are the 12 zodiac signs and their dates?
Aries March 21 to April 19, Taurus April 20 to May 20, Gemini May 21 to June 20, Cancer June 21 to July 22, Leo July 23 to August 22, Virgo August 23 to September 22, Libra September 23 to October 22, Scorpio October 23 to November 21, Sagittarius November 22 to December 21, Capricorn December 22 to January 19, Aquarius January 20 to February 18, Pisces February 19 to March 20. These are the usual dates; the first day of a sign moves by a day depending on the year and time zone.
What is my zodiac sign if I was born on a cusp date?
Put your birth date, year and, if you know it, the time into the calculator. If the Sun changed signs on your birthday, it gives the exact time of the change, and your sign is the one on your side of it. In our count, 29 calendar dates have been one sign in some years and the next sign in others (Eastern time, 1930 to 2025).
Do I need my birth time to know my zodiac sign?
Only if you were born on a day when the Sun changed signs. In US Eastern and Pacific time, every other day of the year was the same sign in all the years we counted, 1930 to 2025, so the date is enough.
Why do websites give different dates for the same sign?
They round. The Sun reaches each sign at a different hour every year, so any fixed list is right for most years and wrong for some. Lists also differ by a day because a change at, say, 11 p.m. in California is already the next day in New York and London.
Did the zodiac sign dates change?
No. Western astrology uses the tropical zodiac, which starts at the March equinox and has not moved. The "new dates" stories, with a 13th sign called Ophiuchus, describe the constellations behind the Sun, which are a different thing. Sidereal (Vedic) astrology has its own dates, about three and a half weeks later.
What zodiac sign is it right now?
As of October 25, 2026, the Sun is in Scorpio. It moves into Sagittarius on Nov 22, 2026 at 2:23 a.m. Eastern time.
Why does the zodiac start with Aries and not Capricorn?
Because the tropical zodiac is counted from the March equinox, when the Sun reaches 0° Aries. The order runs Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, even though the calendar year starts in Capricorn.
Can I share my result?
Yes. After you press the button, the address of the page includes your date, and you can send that link. Pages with a date in the address are not indexed by search engines.
Sources
- Astronomy Engine: the open-source ephemeris library behind our planet positions, dates and statistics
- Wikipedia: Zodiac: comparison table of tropical, sidereal and constellation dates
- How we create our readings: our own calculation of sign dates, positions and the 1930 to 2025 statistics
Written by The Zodiac Atlas editorial team with the help of AI and edited by a person. The Sun's position comes from the astronomy-engine ephemeris in the tropical zodiac, and every count on this page comes from our own run of each year from 1930 to 2025. Constellation and sidereal dates follow Wikipedia's comparison table. Astrology is a symbolic tradition, not a science.