What this site tracks
Half Staff Today shows the current U.S. flag status — full staff or half staff — for the federal government and every U.S. state and the District of Columbia. When the flag is at half staff, we show the reason and the period the order covers.
Where the data comes from
- Federal: Presidential proclamations published on the White House website and the Federal Register.
- States: Official orders from each governor's office and state press releases.
- Reference: U.S. Flag Code (4 U.S.C. §7) for default observance dates (Memorial Day, Patriot Day, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, etc.).
How updates happen
New proclamations are reviewed and entered manually, usually within hours of publication. Each entry includes the issuing authority, the reason, and the start and end dates. When the period ends, the status automatically reverts to full staff.
Email alerts
You can subscribe to alerts for the federal government or any individual state. We'll email you whenever the half-staff status for that scope changes. You can manage your subscriptions anytime.
Feeds
A live RSS feed of current half-staff alerts is available for news aggregators and readers.
Disclaimer
Half Staff Today is an independent project and is not affiliated with the U.S. government or any state government. For official orders, always consult the originating authority.