Add months to a date in JavaScript

The setMonth() and getMonth() methods of the Date object can be used to increment or decrement months from a date in JavaScript.

The following example demonstrates how you can add one month to the current date:

const today = new Date()
const nextMonth = new Date()

// Add 1 Month
nextMonth.setMonth(today.getMonth() + 1)

You can also update the existing JavaScript Date object as shown below:

const date = new Date()
date.setMonth(date.getMonth() + 1)

To subtract months from a date in JavaScript, simply minus the number of months when updating the date with the setMonth() method:

const today = new Date()
const lastMonth = new Date()

// Minus 1 Month
lastMonth.setMonth(today.getMonth() - 1)

Note that the getMonth() method returns a value between 0 and 11 representing the month in the given date. 0 corresponds to January, 1 to February, 2 to March, and so on.

Finally, if you are frequently manipulating dates in JavaScript, add a function to Date’s prototype and call it directly whenever you want to add or subtract months:

Date.prototype.addMonths = function (months) {
  const date = new Date(this.valueOf())
  date.setMonth(date.getMonth() + months)
  return date
}

// Add 1 Month
const nextMonth = new Date(2022, 11, 15)

console.log(nextMonth.addMonths(1))
// Sun Jan 15 2023 00:00:00 GMT+0500 (Pakistan Standard Time)

// Minus 1 Month
const lastMonth = new Date(2022, 11, 15)

console.log(lastMonth.addMonths(-1))
// Tue Nov 15 2022 00:00:00 GMT+0500 (Pakistan Standard Time)