The ADA Title II website dates moved: 26 April 2027 and 26 April 2028

By Matt Kerr·Published 7 November 2026

The ADA Title II website dates moved by one year. State and local governments with a total population of 50,000 or more now have until 26 April 2027. Smaller ones, and every special district, have until 26 April 2028. The standard did not change: WCAG 2.1 Level AA.

Checked 7 November 2026 against the Federal Register and the current regulation. Work out which date applies to you.

What changed, and what did not

The Department of Justice published an interim final rule on 20 April 2026 (91 FR 20902). It moved the first date from 24 April 2026 to 26 April 2027, and the second from 26 April 2027 to 26 April 2028. In its own words, it “does not alter the substantive requirements adopted in the 2024 final rule”: the same websites, apps and documents are covered, to the same standard. Comments on the change closed on 22 June 2026, and the Department said it may propose further changes, so check the date again before you plan around it.

Which date is yours

• 26 April 2027: a state, county, city, town, township or other public body whose total population is 50,000 or more.
• 26 April 2028: a public body whose total population is under 50,000, and every special district (a water, fire, library, park or transit district, for example), whatever its size.

“Total population” is the Census Bureau’s figure from the most recent decennial census. A school district uses the Census Bureau’s school district estimate. An agency or authority that has no figure of its own uses the combined population of the governments it belongs to. The date checker walks through it.

The 5 exceptions, in plain words

The rule lists 5 kinds of content that do not have to meet the standard (28 CFR 35.201):

1. Archived web content. Pages and files made before your date (or copies of older paper or media), kept only for reference, research or records, not changed after archiving, and kept in an area clearly marked as archived.
2. Older documents. PDFs, Word files, slide decks and spreadsheets that were already on your site or app before your date, unless people use them today to apply for, get or take part in a service, programme or activity.
3. Content posted by someone else. What a member of the public posts, such as a comment. It does not cover a vendor or contractor posting for you: that is still yours.
4. Private documents about one person. Documents about a specific person, their property or their account, kept behind a password or otherwise secured, such as a tax bill or utility account.
5. Older social media posts. Your own social media posts from before your date.

The second one matters most for a town: agendas, minutes and old reports posted as PDFs before your date are exempt, unless people still use them to apply for or take part in something. A form or an application posted years ago is not exempt if it is still how people apply. Anything you post after your date has to meet the standard.

What to do before your date

1. Find out which date is yours, using the census figure.
2. List what is on the site: pages, PDFs, forms, embedded tools from vendors, and any app.
3. Sort the documents by posting date, so you know which are older and exempt, and which are new or still used to apply for something.
4. Check the pages and new documents against WCAG 2.1 Level AA, and fix what fails, starting with what people need to apply, pay, register or attend.
5. Ask every vendor whose content sits on your site what they are doing; content they post for you is yours.

An automated check finds some problems, not all of them, and no overlay or widget makes a site meet the standard by itself. Real fixes are made in the pages and documents.

This page explains the rule in plain words. It is not legal advice; for a decision about your own body, ask your attorney.

Related

• Which Title II date applies to us?
• What a site audit checks