US Flag Information

When to Display the Flag
Flying the Flag Correctly
Folding the U.S. Flag
When to Fly the Flag at Half-Staff
U.S. Flag Code

When to Display the Flag

It is appropriate to fly the flag every day.  It is customary to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset; however, the flag may be displayed twenty-four hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness. The flag should be displayed on all National and State holidays and on historic and special occasions.  Customary days to display the flag are:

The flag should be displayed in or near every polling place on election days. 

** United States Flag Code (36 US Code 10) states that the U.S. flag should be flown at half-staff until noon on Memorial Day.

Flying the Flag Correctly

The U.S. flag, when carried in a procession with another or other flags, should be either on the marching right (the flag's own right) or, if there is a line of other flags, in front of the center of that line. Never display the U.S. flag from a float except from a staff, or so suspended that its folds fall free as though staffed.

When other flags are flown from the same halyard, the U.S. flag should always be at the peak. When other flags are flown from adjacent staffs, the U.S. flag should be hoisted first and lowered last. No flag may fly above or the right of the U.S. flag (except flags of other nations; see below).

The U.S. flag, when displayed with another flag against a wall from crossed staffs, should be on the U.S. flag's own right, and its staff should be in front of the staff of the other flag.

When flags of two or more nations are displayed, they are to be flown from separate staffs of the same height. The flags should be of approximately equal size. International usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that of another nation in time of peace.

The U.S. flag should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of states or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.

When the U.S. flag is displayed from a staff projecting from a building, the union of the flag should be placed at the peak of the staff unless the flag is at half staff. When suspended from a rope extending from the building on a pole, the flag should be hoisted out, union first from the building.