Santa Trackers 2026: NORAD, Google and a Time for Every US Town

Which Santa trackers are there, and when does each start?

There are two worldwide trackers, NORAD Tracks Santa and Google's Santa Tracker, and ours, which works place by place across the US. All three follow the same idea: Santa sets off from the North Pole on Christmas Eve and works his way around the world with the night.

NORAD Tracks Santa (noradsanta.org). 2026 dates are not announced yet (checked November 12, 2026): its website still shows last year's season. Last year, NORAD's announcement of November 28, 2025 said the website "will launch on Dec. 1", with Santa's North Pole Village: "a holiday countdown, games, movie theater, holiday music, web store, and more." Its phone line ran "from 4 a.m. to midnight MST" on December 24, which is 6 a.m. Christmas Eve to 2 a.m. Christmas Day Eastern, or 3 a.m. to 11 p.m. Pacific. NORAD's program page, written for that 2025 season, says live tracking on the website began "at 2:00 a.m. MST on December 24th", which is 4:00 a.m. Eastern and 1:00 a.m. Pacific. NORAD can change its times each year, so check its own site in December.

Google's Santa Tracker (santatracker.google.com). 2026 dates are not announced yet (checked November 12, 2026). Google's site describes its village as a place to "Explore, play and learn with Santa's elves all December long", and the live map of Santa's flight comes on Christmas Eve. We could not find Google's own 2025 announcement. The last start time Google published that we could read was for 2019: "Dec. 24 at 2 AM Pacific time", which was 5 a.m. Eastern. Treat that as an old example, not this year's time.

Our Santa tracker (/santa-tracker). It is counting down now, and gives the time Santa is due in any US city or town from a ZIP code. The live flight starts at 5:00 AM Eastern on Christmas Eve (2:00 AM Pacific), and the map follows him around the world and then across America, one time zone at a time.

NORAD Tracks Santa: how it began, the phone line and the apps

NORAD is the North American Aerospace Defense Command, run jointly by the United States and Canada. Its Santa tracker began by accident. NORAD's program page says: "The tradition began in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement printed a telephone number for children to call Santa. One child calling misdialed the number and happened to reach the CONAD Crew Commander's operations hotline." The Director of Operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, "had his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole."

CONAD, the Continental Air Defense Command, was NORAD's predecessor. NORAD's site says it "replaced CONAD in 1958 and took over the mission of tracking Santa's flight around the world, and they have been tracking Santa every year since!" It says the program "is made possible by volunteers and through the generous support of corporate licensees who bear virtually all of the costs."

The phone line. NORAD's site says you can "call 1 877 HI-NORAD (1 877 446-6723) to talk directly to a Santa Tracker". Last year the live operators answered "from 4 a.m. to midnight MST" on December 24. For 2025 NORAD also added "a web-based calling option" on its website, and said that after the operators finish, "trackers can continue to follow Santa's flight until 3 a.m. on Dec. 25" (Mountain time, 5 a.m. Eastern) on its recorded line or its website. NORAD says more than 1,000 volunteers answer "the hundreds of thousands of phone calls" on the day.

The website and apps. On Christmas Eve you can follow Santa on noradsanta.org or "through the official NORAD Tracks Santa application from the Apple App store or Google Play", with videos from what NORAD calls its Santa Cams. In 2025 NORAD said its website was available in nine languages, and that it would also be on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X, and on Amazon Alexa, SiriusXM and OnStar. NORAD says Santa "usually starts at the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean and travels west."

Google's Santa Tracker: the village and the map

Google said in 2021 that its Santa Tracker "launched in 2004", and that "up to 20 or so Googlers volunteer to help make it happen every year". Through December the site is Santa's Village, which Google describes as a place to "Explore, play and learn with Santa's elves all December long".

On Christmas Eve the village gives way to the map. In Google's own words from 2019, "A live map will track the magic, showing Santa's location", and "the Santa Tracker will display how far they are from your town and how long it will take for them to get there." Google has not said yet what is new for 2026.

What time does Santa come?

NORAD's answer is that nobody can say for sure, but he waits until children are asleep: "NORAD tracks Santa, but only Santa knows his route, which means we cannot predict where and when he will arrive at your house. We do, however, know from history that it appears he arrives only when children are asleep! In most countries, it seems Santa arrives between 9:00 p.m. and midnight on December 24th. If children are still awake when Santa arrives, he moves on to other houses. He returns later, but only when the children are asleep!"

Ours agrees with that. It gives a time for every US city and town, worked out from where you live, always between 9 PM and midnight in your own time zone, and a time to be asleep by. It is make-believe and made for fun: Santa's flight plan is ours, it is the same every year, and the time is the same for every visitor. Put your ZIP code into the Santa tracker to see yours, or look your city up in the timetable of every stop.

A few to start with: New York City, Chicago, Houston, Denver, Los Angeles, Anchorage and Honolulu.

Our Santa tracker: a time for every US city and town

NORAD and Google follow Santa around the world. Ours follows him across America, place by place. Put in a ZIP code and it finds your own city or town and shows the time Santa is due and when to be asleep by. Your ZIP code stays in your browser: it reads a small file from our site that covers every ZIP code starting with the same three digits, and the full ZIP code is never sent to us or stored.

Before Christmas Eve it counts down the sleeps. On Christmas Eve it shows his flight live: around the rest of the world first, then across the US from Eastern time to Hawaii, with the lights of each city turning gold as he passes. 599 cities and towns have their own page, with sunset on Christmas Eve, where he comes from and goes next, and a ticket to save or share.

The flight plan is make-believe. The weather alerts on it are real, from the National Weather Service.

Which Santa tracker should I use?

For the whole world, and the history: NORAD Tracks Santa. It has run since 1955, it has a phone line on the day, and its app is on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

For games through December and a live map on the night: Google's Santa Tracker. The village has games and things to explore all through December.

For the time Santa reaches your own town: ours. It gives a set time for every US city and town, in your own time zone, and a time to be asleep by.

There is no need to choose. You can watch the worldwide map in the afternoon and look up your own town's time at bedtime.

Driving to family on Christmas Eve?

Check the live weather alerts for your state before you set off, and keep a winter car emergency kit in the car. If a storm is forecast, our winter storm checklist covers what to do before, during and after.