Is 13 a Lucky Number?
It depends on where you ask. Thirteen is the most feared number in much of the Western world, but it means a big win in Italy and turns up all over the founding symbols of the United States. Here is where the luck, good and bad, comes from.
By the BdayChecker team · Published October 21, 2026 · Updated October 21, 2026 · 5 min read
Short answer: 13 is neither lucky nor unlucky in itself. In the US and much of Europe it is seen as unlucky, mainly because of the 13 people at the Last Supper. In Italy it is lucky, and in Jewish tradition 13 is the age a boy becomes a bar mitzvah.
Why 13 is seen as unlucky
The fear of 13 is old enough to have a name, triskaidekaphobia. History.com traces it to a few roots:
- The Last Supper. Jesus and his 12 apostles made 13 at the table, and Judas betrayed him. This gave rise to the superstition that 13 guests at a table courted death.
- It comes after 12. Western cultures long treated 12 as a complete number: 12 months, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 tribes of Israel. Thirteen is one too many.
- A missing law. The ancient Code of Hammurabi is said to skip a 13th law. It was probably a clerical error, but superstitious people still point to it.
The fear still shapes buildings. Scripps News reports that, according to Otis Elevator Company, up to 85% of its elevator panels leave out the number 13, so the 13th floor is labeled 14 or something like 12A.
Where Friday the 13th comes from
Friday has bad associations of its own in Christian tradition as the day of the crucifixion. Put it together with 13 and you get the most famous unlucky day in the calendar.
Its fame is fairly modern. A 1907 novel by Thomas William Lawson, Friday, the Thirteenth, told of a stockbroker who played on the superstition to cause chaos on Wall Street. The 1980 horror film Friday the 13th spread it around the world. An older story links it to Friday, October 13, 1307, when officers of King Philip IV of France arrested hundreds of Knights Templar, though historians are unsure the date is the real origin.
Not everyone went along with it. In the late 1800s, Captain William Fowler founded the Thirteen Club in New York to mock the fear. Members dined on the 13th of the month in room 13, ate 13 courses and walked under a ladder on the way in. Five presidents were made honorary members: Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt.
Where 13 is a lucky number
- Italy. The Italian dictionary Treccani defines "fare tredici", to make thirteen, as winning the top prize in the Totocalcio football pools by predicting all 13 match results. It came to mean any great stroke of luck, like landing a dream job.
- Jewish tradition. At 13 a boy becomes a bar mitzvah and takes on the commandments as an adult, as Chabad.org explains. It is a day of celebration, not of bad luck.
- The United States. The country began as 13 colonies, and the number runs through its symbols. On the Great Seal, 13 stands for the 13 original states: 13 arrows, 13 stripes on the shield and 13 stars, according to the National Museum of American Diplomacy.
Friday the 13th by the numbers
We counted every 13th in the Gregorian calendar, which repeats every 400 years. Over those 4,800 months, the 13th lands on a Friday 688 times, a little more often than on any other day of the week.
| Day of the week | 13ths in 400 years |
|---|---|
| Friday | 688 |
| Wednesday | 687 |
| Sunday | 687 |
| Monday | 685 |
| Tuesday | 685 |
| Thursday | 684 |
| Saturday | 684 |
Every year has at least one Friday the 13th and at most three. 2026 has three: February 13, March 13 and November 13. 2027 has just one, on August 13.
Are fewer babies born on the 13th?
Yes, a little. We looked at every US birth from 1994 to 2014 in CDC and Social Security data, the same data behind How Rare Is My Birthday.
- On an average 13th of the month, about 2.8% fewer babies were born than on the 6th or the 20th.
- On Friday the 13th, the gap was bigger: about 6.4% fewer births than on Fridays that fell on the 6th or the 20th.
The data cannot say why. One likely reason is planning: some births are booked ahead, and a planned date can easily be moved off the 13th, above all off a Friday.
What numerology says about 13
Numerology works with single digits, so it adds the digits of a larger number together: 1 + 3 = 4. A 13 is read as a 4, which numerology links with builders, patience and hard work, not with bad luck.
You can find your own number from your birth date with the Life Path Number Calculator, or get a set of lucky numbers with the Lucky Number Calculator. Like all numerology, they are for entertainment.
Conclusion
So, is 13 a lucky number? In much of the US and Europe it carries a bad reputation, from the Last Supper to Friday the 13th. In Italy it means winning big, in Jewish tradition it marks growing up, and the founders of the United States put it all over the Great Seal. Its luck depends on where you stand, and if you were born on the 13th, you share a birthday with fewer people than most.