Yes. Is Black Friday after Thanksgiving? Honestly, it’s the most consistent thing about the holiday season, occurring precisely the day after the fourth Thursday in November.
It’s a simple answer. But the reality is way messier than a calendar date.
If you’ve stepped into a Target or scrolled through Amazon lately, you know that "Friday" is basically a suggestion now. Retailers have stretched the concept so thin it’s practically transparent. We used to wait for the turkey to get cold before hitting the malls; now, we’re getting "Black Friday" alerts while we’re still buying Halloween candy.
The Calendar Math: When Does It Actually Happen?
Thanksgiving in the United States is legally tied to the fourth Thursday of November. This was a decision made by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939—a move mockingly called "Franksgiving" at the time—because he wanted to lengthen the Christmas shopping season during the Great Depression. Since Friday follows Thursday, Black Friday is always the day after.
In 2024, that puts it on November 29. In 2025, it’ll be November 28.
It feels predictable. Yet, every few years, we get a "late" Thanksgiving where the holiday falls on the 27th or 28th. When that happens, the retail world loses its collective mind. A shorter shopping window between Thanksgiving and Christmas means companies push their deals earlier and earlier to compensate for the lost days.
The Death of the "Midnight Madness" Era
Remember the tents?
A decade ago, the ritual was brutal. You’d eat, nap for three hours, and then stand in a Best Buy parking lot at 2:00 AM hoping to snag a $200 Westinghouse TV. It was a contact sport.
That version of the holiday is mostly dead. Big-box retailers like Walmart, Target, and Costco have largely moved toward staying closed on Thanksgiving Day itself. This shift started gaining real momentum around 2020. People realized that making employees work on a national holiday for a slightly cheaper air fryer was, well, kind of a bad look.
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Now, the "after Thanksgiving" part of the question is getting blurry.
Most major sales start on the Monday before the holiday. Some, like Amazon’s "Early Access" events, happen in October. So, while the official calendar day for Black Friday remains the day after Thanksgiving, the actual economic event is now a month-long marathon.
Why Do We Even Call It "Black Friday"?
There is a persistent myth that the name comes from retailers finally turning a profit for the year—moving from the "red" (debt) to the "black" (profit).
It sounds nice. It’s also mostly a marketing invention.
The real origin is much grittier. The term was actually coined by the Philadelphia Police Department in the 1950s and 60s. They used "Black Friday" to describe the absolute chaos that ensued the day after Thanksgiving. The city would be flooded with suburban shoppers and tourists ahead of the Army-Navy football game held that Saturday.
For the cops, it was a nightmare.
Traffic was backed up for hours. Shoplifting spiked. Officers couldn't take the day off. It was a "black day" for the city's infrastructure. Retailers actually hated the name at first because it sounded so negative. They tried to rebrand it as "Big Friday," but it never stuck. By the 1980s, the "red to black" profit story was created to give the day a more positive, corporate spin.
The Shift to Digital and the Rise of Cyber Monday
You can’t talk about whether Black Friday is after Thanksgiving without mentioning Cyber Monday.
In 2005, the National Retail Federation noticed a weird trend: people were doing a ton of shopping from their office computers on the Monday after the holiday weekend. Why? Because home internet was still slow and office T1 lines were fast.
They slapped a name on it, and a new tradition was born.
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Today, the distinction between Black Friday and Cyber Monday is basically nonexistent. If a laptop is on sale on Friday, it’s probably the same price on Monday. The only difference is whether you want to deal with a crowded parking lot or a UPS delivery driver.
Is It Actually the Best Time to Buy?
Not always. This is where people get tripped up.
Data from groups like Consumer Reports and Adobe Analytics shows that while Black Friday is great for certain things—TVs, small kitchen appliances, and "doorbuster" electronics—it’s actually not the best time for everything.
- Toys: Usually cheapest in the 10 days leading up to Christmas.
- Furniture: Better deals are often found in January or during Labor Day.
- Clothing: You’ll get better clearances in the "post-holiday" sales in late December.
Retailers use "loss leaders." They’ll sell a specific Samsung TV at a massive loss just to get you in the door or on the site. Once you're there, they hope you’ll buy five other things that aren’t actually discounted that much.
Survival Tactics for the Modern Shopping Season
If you are planning to shop the Friday after Thanksgiving, you need a strategy that doesn't involve wrestling a stranger in an aisle.
First, use price trackers. Sites like CamelCamelCamel (for Amazon) or Honey can show you the price history of an item. Retailers are notorious for "price anchoring"—raising the price of a blender to $150 in October so they can "discount" it to $90 in November. If it was $85 in August, you aren't actually getting a deal.
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Second, check the model numbers.
This is a big one. Companies often manufacture "derivative" models specifically for Black Friday. A TV might look identical to the premium model you saw in June, but the Black Friday version (often with a slightly different serial number) might have fewer HDMI ports, a cheaper processor, or a lower-quality panel.
What to Do Now
Don't wait until the Friday after Thanksgiving to start looking.
- Build your "Must-Have" list now. Write down the specific model numbers of the tech or appliances you want. This prevents impulse buys of inferior products.
- Set up price alerts. Use browser extensions to notify you when your target items hit your "buy" price.
- Check return policies. Many stores extend their return windows for the holidays, but some "doorbuster" items are final sale. Read the fine print before you click.
- Focus on the "Big Three". If you're looking for Apple products, gaming consoles, or high-end kitchen tools (like KitchenAid mixers), the Friday after Thanksgiving usually is the bottom-out price for the year.
The "holiday" is a marathon, not a sprint. While the calendar says Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, the smartest shoppers are usually finished with their lists before the turkey even hits the oven.