Inauguration Day 2029 Countdown

Inauguration Day 2029 records

Noon on January 20

The 20th Amendment fixes the start of the presidential term at noon on January 20. The president-elect takes a 35-word oath, delivers an inaugural address, and a parade and balls follow.

A peaceful transfer

Inauguration Day marks the peaceful transfer of power that has anchored American democracy since 1789. When January 20 falls on a Sunday, the public ceremony is typically held the next day.

The year the parade froze

Ronald Reagan's second inauguration, on January 21, 1985, is the coldest on record: 7°F at noon, after a morning low of 4 below zero. With wind chills near minus 20, doctors warned that marching bands would suffer frostbite within minutes, so the swearing-in moved indoors to the Capitol Rotunda and the outdoor parade was canceled outright — a scene that wouldn't repeat for 40 years, until bitter cold pushed the 2025 ceremony and parade indoors too. Thousands of student musicians who had traveled to Washington in 1985 played instead at a hastily arranged indoor event at the Capital Centre arena.

How to be there at noon

Tickets to the swearing-in are always free and are distributed through Congress: request them from your representative's or senators' offices, which take names in the weeks after the November election. No luck? The National Mall between 4th and 12th Streets is open to everyone without a ticket, with jumbotron screens and speakers carrying the ceremony. Every major network and C-SPAN broadcast it live, and the official schedule is posted by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.

Quick facts

• January 20, 2029, at noon Eastern
• The date is set by the 20th Amendment
• The oath of office is just 35 words
• Held on the steps of the U.S. Capitol
• The coldest inauguration was Reagan's in 1985: 7°F at noon, forcing the ceremony indoors
• FDR's 1937 inauguration was the first held on January 20 under the 20th Amendment