---
title: "When did the US flag last change?"
description: "The fiftieth star was added for Hawaii, 4 July 1960. What happened, why it has not happened since, and whether it plausibly could again."
url: https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/us-flag-change/
site: "At One Place"
---

# When did the US flag last change?

**When did the US flag last change?: 4 July 1960**

The fiftieth star was added for Hawaii

A star is added on the 4 July following a state's admission, which is why the change came almost a year after Hawaii's statehood. The fifty-star arrangement was designed in 1958 by Robert G. Heft, a seventeen-year-old Ohio student, as a school project that initially earned a B minus; his teacher agreed to raise the grade if Congress adopted it, and did.

- **What:** The fiftieth star was added for Hawaii
- **When:** 4 July 1960
- **Category:** Countries and borders
- **Could this change?:** Not in any foreseeable way. The event is closed.

## Countries and borders

| Question | When |
| --- | --- |
| When did a country last join the United Nations? | 14 July 2011 |
| When was the US Constitution last amended? | 7 May 1992 |
| When did Britain last change its currency system? | 15 February 1971 |
| When was a US state last admitted? | 21 August 1959 |
| When did a European country last change calendar? | 1923 |
| When did the size of the US Supreme Court last change? | 1869 |
| When did the Union Jack last change? | 1 January 1801 |

> This page gives a date and never a "years ago". These pages are built as static files, so a computed interval would freeze at build time and quietly become wrong — which on a reference site is worse than making the reader do the subtraction.

## Common questions

### When did the US flag last change?

4 July 1960 — The fiftieth star was added for Hawaii.

### What happened?

A star is added on the 4 July following a state's admission, which is why the change came almost a year after Hawaii's statehood. The fifty-star arrangement was designed in 1958 by Robert G. Heft, a seventeen-year-old Ohio student, as a school project that initially earned a B minus; his teacher agreed to raise the grade if Congress adopted it, and did.

## Related pages

- [When did a country last join the United Nations?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/un-member/)
- [When was the US Constitution last amended?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/constitutional-amendment/)
- [When did Britain last change its currency system?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/decimal-currency-uk/)
- [When was a US state last admitted?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/us-state/)
- [When did a European country last change calendar?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/calendar-change/)
- [When did the size of the US Supreme Court last change?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/us-supreme-court-size/)
- [When did the prime meridian last move?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/prime-meridian/)
- [When was the metre last redefined?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/metre-redefined/)
- [When did a human last walk on the Moon?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/human-on-the-moon/)
- [When did Britain last change its currency system?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/decimal-currency-uk/)
- [When was a US state last admitted?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/us-state/)
- [When did the Olympics last award medals for art?](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/olympic-art/)
- [Everything, most recent first](https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/)

## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]