How to Add Years to a Date in JavaScript

# Add Year(s) to a Date in JavaScript

To add years to a date:

Use the getFullYear() method to get the year of the specific date.
Use the setFullYear() method to set the year for the date.
The setFullYear method takes a number representing the year as a parameter and sets the value for the date.

index.js

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function addYears(date, years) {
  date.setFullYear(date.getFullYear() + years);

  return date;
}

// ✅ Add years to the current date
const result1 = addYears(new Date(), 2);
console.log(result1); // 👉️ 2025-07-28T08:14:44.137Z

// ----------------------------------------------

// ✅ Add years to a different date
const date = new Date('2023-07-21T00:00:00.000Z');

const result2 = addYears(date, 5);
console.log(result2); // 👉️ 2028-07-21T00:00:00.000Z

add years to date

The addYears function takes a Date object and N as parameters and adds N years to the date.

If you need to add years to the current date, call the Date() constructor without passing it any arguments.

index.js

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function addYears(date, years) {
  date.setFullYear(date.getFullYear() + years);

  return date;
}

const currentDate = new Date();

// ✅ Add years to the current date
const result1 = addYears(currentDate, 2);
console.log(result1); // 👉️ 2025-07-28T08:15:47.592Z

add years to current date

We used the Date.getFullYear method to get the year of the date and added N years.

index.js

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// 👇️ 2024
console.log(new Date('2023-01-01').getFullYear() + 1);

// 👇️ 2025
console.log(new Date('2023-01-01').getFullYear() + 2);

// 👇️ 2026
console.log(new Date('2023-01-01').getFullYear() + 3);

The setFullYear method takes an integer that represents the year and sets the value on the date.

# Add Year(s) to a Date without mutation

The setFullYear method mutates the Date object it was called on.

If you need to add years to a date without mutating the original date, create a copy.

index.js

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function addYears(date, years) {
  const dateCopy = new Date(date);

  dateCopy.setFullYear(date.getFullYear() + years);

  return dateCopy;
}

const date = new Date('2023-07-21T00:00:00.000Z');

const result = addYears(date, 5);
console.log(result); // 👉️ 2028-07-21T00:00:00.000Z

console.log(date); // 👉️ 2023-07-21T00:00:00.000Z

add years to date without mutation

When a Date object is passed to the Date() constructor, it gets converted to a timestamp and can be used to create a copy of the date.

Mutating function parameters is a bad practice because calling the function with the same parameter multiple times returns different results.

Instead, pure functions like the one above return the same output when called with the same parameters.

# Add Year(s) to a Date using date-fns

You can also use date-fns module to add years to a date.

index.js

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import {addYears} from 'date-fns';

const date = new Date('2023-07-21T00:00:00.000Z');

// ✅ Add 1 year to date
const result1 = addYears(date, 1);
console.log(result1); // 👉️ 2024-07-21T00:00:00.000Z

// ✅ Add 2 years to date
const result2 = addYears(date, 2);
console.log(result2); // 👉️ 2025-07-21T00:00:00.000Z

console.log(date); // 👉️ 2023-07-21T00:00:00.000Z

add years to date using date fns

The addYears() function takes a date and the number of years to be added to the date as parameters.

The function doesn't mutate the original date as shown in the example.

If you don't have date-fns installed, you can install it by running the following command from your terminal.

shell

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# 👇️ create package.json if you don't have one
npm init -y

# ✅ install with NPM
npm install date-fns

# ✅ install with YARN
yarn add date-fns

# Add Year(s) to a Date using moment.js

You can also use the moment.js module to add years to a date.

index.js

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import moment from 'moment';

const date = new Date('2023-07-21T00:00:00.000Z');

// ✅ Add 1 year to date
const result1 = moment(date).add(1, 'years');
console.log(result1); // 👉️ 2024-07-21T00:00:00.000Z

// ✅ Add 2 years to date
const result2 = moment(date).add(2, 'years');
console.log(result2); // 👉️ 2025-07-21T00:00:00.000Z

console.log(date); // 👉️ 2023-07-21T00:00:00.000Z

add years to date using moment js

We used the moment().add() method to add years to a date.

The method can be used to add years, quarters, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds or milliseconds to a date.

If you don't have moment installed, you can install it by running the following command from your terminal.

shell

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# 👇️ create package.json if you don't have one
npm init -y

# ✅ install with NPM
npm install moment

# ✅ install with YARN
yarn add moment

The call to the add() method actually returns a moment object and not a native JavaScript date.

If you need to convert the value to a JavaScript date, use the toDate() method.

index.js

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import moment from 'moment';

const date = new Date('2023-07-21T00:00:00.000Z');

// ✅ Add 1 year to date
const result1 = moment(date).add(1, 'years').toDate();
console.log(result1); // 👉️ 2024-07-21T00:00:00.000Z

// ✅ Add 2 years to date
const result2 = moment(date).add(2, 'years').toDate();
console.log(result2); // 👉️ 2025-07-21T00:00:00.000Z

console.log(date); // 👉️ 2023-07-21T00:00:00.000Z

The toDate() method takes care of converting the moment object to a native JavaScript Date object.

# Additional Resources

You can learn more about the related topics by checking out the following tutorials:

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How to Add Years to a Date in JavaScript

# Add Year(s) to a Date in JavaScript

# Add Year(s) to a Date without mutation

# Add Year(s) to a Date using date-fns

# Add Year(s) to a Date using moment.js

# Additional Resources

Borislav Hadzhiev