December Zodiac Signs: Sagittarius and Capricorn

December: Sagittarius until the Sun enters Capricorn. In US Eastern Time the change fell on December 21 in 57 years, December 22 in 30 years (birth years 1940-2026, JPL Horizons); on those days the sign depends on the year and time of birth.

December at a glance

• Signs: Sagittarius → Capricorn
• Change days (ET): see the table below
• Elements: Fire (Sagittarius) → Earth (Capricorn)
• Modalities: Mutable (Sagittarius) → Cardinal (Capricorn)
• Rulers: Jupiter and Saturn

Scan down to the birth date. For 29 of December's 31 days that date by itself gives the December zodiac sign: December 1–20 belongs to Sagittarius and December 23–31 to Capricorn in all 87 birth years from 1940 to 2026, whether the clock was read in New York or in Los Angeles.

The second column runs on New York clocks. Any switch between midnight and 1 a.m. Eastern falls on the previous date for anyone in Chicago, Denver or Los Angeles, while one after 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time has UTC on the following date.

The Sun moved into Sagittarius in late November (between the 21st and the 23rd, Eastern Time), so December gets the tail end of the sign: December 1–20 in every birth year 1940–2026, in either time zone, plus any hours of December 21 or 22 that came before the switch.

Fire is the element of Sagittarius, with hot, dry and ardent as its traditional descriptors, and the sign shares its triplicity with Aries and Leo. The Mutable label comes from where Sagittarius stands in the year: autumn north of the equator, and spring south of it, ends with this sign.

Jupiter is the sign's ruling planet. What the tradition reads into Jupiter for Sagittarius, along with the sign's symbol and dates, is set out under Sagittarius zodiac sign.

Capricorn starts at the December solstice and runs into January, until the Sun crosses into Aquarius around January 19–21 Eastern Time. December holds only its beginning: the rest of the day once the switch has happened, and every December day after that.

Capricorn is an Earth sign, alongside Taurus and Virgo, and the classical description of Earth is heavy, cold and dry. Because winter in the Northern Hemisphere, or summer in the Southern, begins with Capricorn, the sign carries the Cardinal label, which astrology links with action. So the switch at the solstice moves the Sun out of northern autumn and into winter, out of Fire into Earth, and from a Mutable sign under Jupiter to a Cardinal sign under Saturn.

The Saturn note that follows is astrology's reading, and astrology is an interpretive tradition, not a scientifically validated method. Saturn, Capricorn's ruler, is tied in the tradition to precision and to endurance when times are hard. Symbol, dates and the sign's full reading are under Capricorn zodiac sign.

Many people know December 21 and 22 as "cusp" birthdays. It is a popular label, yet the Sun does not straddle two signs: whenever a birth happens, the Sun is in Sagittarius or in Capricorn.

The switch has also been settling on December 21. On Eastern clocks, births from 1940 to 1983 saw it on December 21 in 21 years and on December 22 in 23. Over 1984–2026 the count was 36 to 7, and the last December 22 switch came in 2011.

Pacific clocks lean even more toward December 21. A switch before 3 a.m. Eastern on December 22 is still the night of December 21 in California, which happened in 10 birth years from 1940 to 2026. By Pacific Time the change therefore fell on December 21 in 67 years and on December 22 in 20, most recently in 1995. Central Time does not always move with the West Coast: in 1999 the Sun entered Capricorn at 2:44 a.m. Eastern on December 22, which was 1:44 a.m. in Chicago, still December 22, but 11:44 p.m. on December 21 in Seattle. The December 21 zodiac sign and December 22 zodiac sign pages list each birth year's switch on both Eastern and Pacific clocks.

For a birthday on either date, three details settle the sign: the year, the clock time and the place of birth. Type them in to check with your birth time; the chart costs nothing and asks for no sign-up. With the time missing, it is calculated for 12:00 noon and marked as such.

Instead of relying on a single noon position, the calculator checks for any sign changes across your entire local birth date. If the Sun, the Moon, or another planet changes sign during that local day, the result shows each possible sign for that day rather than guessing a single one.

One month back: November zodiac signs. Into the new year: January zodiac signs. The full calendar: birthday zodiac signs.

FAQ

What zodiac sign is December? Two signs share it. In all birth years 1940–2026, on New York or California time, December 1–20 is Sagittarius and December 23–31 is Capricorn. December 21 and 22 belong to either sign, and the birth year and hour settle which.

Is December 22 Sagittarius or Capricorn? Usually Capricorn for the whole day. Less often the Sun entered Capricorn during December 22 itself, and then a birth earlier than that moment is Sagittarius, a later one Capricorn. On Eastern clocks that last happened in 2011.

What is a December Capricorn? Someone born after the Sun entered Capricorn in December: on December 23–31, or after the switch on December 21 or 22. It is the same sign as a January Capricorn; December simply holds the first days of it.

How this page was made

Prepared by the Astrolivo editorial team. The December change days and the minute of each switch were computed from NASA JPL Horizons ephemeris data, and the element, modality and ruler notes rely on the Wikipedia articles "Astrological sign," "Triplicity," "Astrology and the classical elements," "Planets in astrology," "Zodiac" and "Astrology and science"; the text was fact-checked against both. Sign readings follow the Western astrological tradition.