diff --git a/.github/actions/setup-default-test-properties/test-properties.json b/.github/actions/setup-default-test-properties/test-properties.json
index 91e264f483aa..bbdaffbbd7fe 100644
--- a/.github/actions/setup-default-test-properties/test-properties.json
+++ b/.github/actions/setup-default-test-properties/test-properties.json
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
     "SPARK_VERSIONS": ["3"]
   },
   "GoTestProperties": {
-    "SUPPORTED_VERSIONS": ["1.25"]
+    "SUPPORTED_VERSIONS": [
+      "1.26"
+    ]
   }
 }
diff --git a/.github/actions/setup-environment-action/action.yml b/.github/actions/setup-environment-action/action.yml
index f4e17cd80d35..9c17bcce624b 100644
--- a/.github/actions/setup-environment-action/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/setup-environment-action/action.yml
@@ -84,5 +84,5 @@ runs:
       if: ${{ inputs.go-version != '' }}
       uses: actions/setup-go@v6
       with:
-        go-version: ${{ inputs.go-version == 'default' && '1.25' || inputs.go-version }} # never set patch, to get latest patch releases.
+        go-version: ${{ inputs.go-version == 'default' && '1.26' || inputs.go-version }} # never set patch, to get latest patch releases.
         cache-dependency-path: $${{ inputs.disable-cache && '' || 'sdks/go.sum' }}
diff --git a/.github/gh-actions-self-hosted-runners/arc/images/Dockerfile b/.github/gh-actions-self-hosted-runners/arc/images/Dockerfile
index 8f4a42080c22..3e0f8a4c63ab 100644
--- a/.github/gh-actions-self-hosted-runners/arc/images/Dockerfile
+++ b/.github/gh-actions-self-hosted-runners/arc/images/Dockerfile
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ RUN curl -OL https://nodejs.org/dist/v22.14.0/node-v22.14.0-linux-x64.tar.xz &&
     mv /usr/local/node-v22.14.0-linux-x64 /usr/local/node
 ENV PATH="${PATH}:/usr/local/node/bin"
 #Install Go
-ARG go_version=1.25.2
+ARG go_version=1.26.1
 RUN curl -OL https://go.dev/dl/go${go_version}.linux-amd64.tar.gz && \
     tar -C /usr/local -xzf go${go_version}.linux-amd64.tar.gz && \
     rm go${go_version}.linux-amd64.tar.gz
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build_release_candidate.yml b/.github/workflows/build_release_candidate.yml
index 88f7e2207880..120cef1eb644 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build_release_candidate.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build_release_candidate.yml
@@ -451,7 +451,7 @@ jobs:
           fi
       - uses: actions/setup-go@v6
         with:
-          go-version: '1.25'
+          go-version: '1.26'
       - name: Import GPG key
         id: import_gpg
         uses: crazy-max/ghaction-import-gpg@e89d40939c28e39f97cf32126055eeae86ba74ec
diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index e7f7283b7ef7..e91da103c30e 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@
 
 * Added support for large pipeline options via a file (Python) ([#37370](https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/37370)).
 * Supported infer schema from dataclass (Python) ([#22085](https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/22085)). Default coder for typehint-ed (or set with_output_type) for non-frozen dataclasses changed to RowCoder. To preserve the old behavior (fast primitive coder), explicitly register the type with FastPrimitiveCoder.
+* Updates minimum Go version to 1.26.1 ([#37897](https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/37897)).
 
 ## Breaking Changes
 
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/apache/beam/gradle/BeamModulePlugin.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/apache/beam/gradle/BeamModulePlugin.groovy
index d2c8c3245478..b2b1f9e7d65f 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/apache/beam/gradle/BeamModulePlugin.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/apache/beam/gradle/BeamModulePlugin.groovy
@@ -2321,7 +2321,7 @@ class BeamModulePlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
 
       // This sets the whole project Go version.
       // The latest stable Go version can be checked at https://go.dev/dl/
-      project.ext.goVersion = "go1.26.0"
+      project.ext.goVersion = "go1.26.1"
 
       // Minor TODO: Figure out if we can pull out the GOCMD env variable after goPrepare script
       // completion, and avoid this GOBIN substitution.
diff --git a/dev-support/docker/Dockerfile b/dev-support/docker/Dockerfile
index af8a4afe0bb1..7abfc61789d7 100644
--- a/dev-support/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/dev-support/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ RUN pip3 install --break-system-packages distlib==0.3.9 yapf==0.43.0 pytest plug
 ###
 # Install Go
 ###
-ENV DOWNLOAD_GO_VERSION=1.25.2
+ENV DOWNLOAD_GO_VERSION=1.26.1
 RUN wget https://golang.org/dl/go${DOWNLOAD_GO_VERSION}.linux-amd64.tar.gz && \
     tar -C /usr/local -xzf go${DOWNLOAD_GO_VERSION}.linux-amd64.tar.gz
 ENV GOROOT /usr/local/go
diff --git a/playground/infrastructure/cloudbuild/playground_ci_examples.sh b/playground/infrastructure/cloudbuild/playground_ci_examples.sh
index aa5c94f7e452..d39e0a696c2a 100755
--- a/playground/infrastructure/cloudbuild/playground_ci_examples.sh
+++ b/playground/infrastructure/cloudbuild/playground_ci_examples.sh
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ export STEP=CI
 export SDK_CONFIG="$BEAM_ROOT_DIR/playground/sdks.yaml"
 export BEAM_EXAMPLE_CATEGORIES="$BEAM_ROOT_DIR/playground/categories.yaml"
 export GRADLE_VERSION=7.5.1
-export GO_VERSION=1.25
+export GO_VERSION=1.26
 
 LogOutput "Installing python java8 and dependencies"
 apt-get update > /dev/null
diff --git a/sdks/go.mod b/sdks/go.mod
index 3b255abdd32e..6f1b65e32a2d 100644
--- a/sdks/go.mod
+++ b/sdks/go.mod
@@ -20,9 +20,9 @@
 // directory.
 module github.com/apache/beam/sdks/v2
 
-go 1.25.0
+go 1.26.0
 
-toolchain go1.25.2
+toolchain go1.26.1
 
 require (
 	cloud.google.com/go/bigquery v1.72.0
diff --git a/sdks/go/pkg/beam/core/runtime/contextreg/contextreg_test.go b/sdks/go/pkg/beam/core/runtime/contextreg/contextreg_test.go
index dd0c5fb92c57..3bc23bf3e635 100644
--- a/sdks/go/pkg/beam/core/runtime/contextreg/contextreg_test.go
+++ b/sdks/go/pkg/beam/core/runtime/contextreg/contextreg_test.go
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ func TestPTransformExtractor(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("extracted annotation %q = %q, want %q", key, got, want)
 	}
 	if got, want := len(ptrans.Annotations), 2; got != want {
-		t.Errorf("extracted annotation %q = %q, want %q - have %v", key, got, want, ptrans)
+		t.Errorf("extracted annotation %v = %d, want %d - have %v", key, got, want, ptrans)
 	}
 }
 
@@ -103,6 +103,6 @@ func TestHintExtractor(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("extracted annotation %q = %q, want %q", key, got, want)
 	}
 	if got, want := len(env.ResourceHints), 1; got != want {
-		t.Errorf("extracted annotation %q = %q, want %q - have %v", key, got, want, env)
+		t.Errorf("extracted annotation %v = %d, want %d - have %v", key, got, want, env)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/sdks/go/pkg/beam/runners/dataflow/dataflow_test.go b/sdks/go/pkg/beam/runners/dataflow/dataflow_test.go
index 2e0f28f263d6..fa418ebbe6a0 100644
--- a/sdks/go/pkg/beam/runners/dataflow/dataflow_test.go
+++ b/sdks/go/pkg/beam/runners/dataflow/dataflow_test.go
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ func TestGetJobOptions(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("getJobOptions().Name = %q, want %q", got, want)
 	}
 	if got, want := len(opts.Experiments), 5; got != want {
-		t.Errorf("len(getJobOptions().Experiments) = %q, want %q", got, want)
+		t.Errorf("len(getJobOptions().Experiments) = %d, want %d", got, want)
 	} else {
 		sort.Strings(opts.Experiments)
 		expectedExperiments := []string{"beam_fn_api", "min_cpu_platform=testPlatform", "use_portable_job_submission", "use_runner_v2", "use_unified_worker"}
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ func TestGetJobOptions(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 	if got, want := len(opts.DataflowServiceOptions), 2; got != want {
-		t.Errorf("len(getJobOptions().DataflowServiceOptions) = %q, want %q", got, want)
+		t.Errorf("len(getJobOptions().DataflowServiceOptions) = %d, want %d", got, want)
 	} else {
 		sort.Strings(opts.DataflowServiceOptions)
 		expectedOptions := []string{"opt1", "opt2"}
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ func TestGetJobOptions(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("getJobOptions().Region = %q, want %q", got, want)
 	}
 	if got, want := len(opts.Labels), 2; got != want {
-		t.Errorf("len(getJobOptions().Labels) = %q, want %q", got, want)
+		t.Errorf("len(getJobOptions().Labels) = %d, want %d", got, want)
 	} else {
 		if got, want := opts.Labels["label1"], "val1"; got != want {
 			t.Errorf("getJobOptions().Labels[\"label1\"] = %q, want %q", got, want)
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ func TestGetJobOptions_Streaming(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("getJobOptions().Name = %q, want %q", got, want)
 	}
 	if got, want := len(opts.Experiments), 7; got != want {
-		t.Errorf("len(getJobOptions().Experiments) = %q, want %q", got, want)
+		t.Errorf("len(getJobOptions().Experiments) = %d, want %d", got, want)
 	} else {
 		sort.Strings(opts.Experiments)
 		expectedExperiments := []string{"beam_fn_api", "enable_streaming_engine", "enable_windmill_service", "min_cpu_platform=testPlatform", "use_portable_job_submission", "use_runner_v2", "use_unified_worker"}
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ func TestGetJobOptions_Streaming(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 	if got, want := len(opts.DataflowServiceOptions), 2; got != want {
-		t.Errorf("len(getJobOptions().DataflowServiceOptions) = %q, want %q", got, want)
+		t.Errorf("len(getJobOptions().DataflowServiceOptions) = %d, want %d", got, want)
 	} else {
 		sort.Strings(opts.DataflowServiceOptions)
 		expectedOptions := []string{"opt1", "opt2"}
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ func TestGetJobOptions_Streaming(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("getJobOptions().Region = %q, want %q", got, want)
 	}
 	if got, want := len(opts.Labels), 2; got != want {
-		t.Errorf("len(getJobOptions().Labels) = %q, want %q", got, want)
+		t.Errorf("len(getJobOptions().Labels) = %d, want %d", got, want)
 	} else {
 		if got, want := opts.Labels["label1"], "val1"; got != want {
 			t.Errorf("getJobOptions().Labels[\"label1\"] = %q, want %q", got, want)
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ func TestGetJobOptions_NoExperimentsSet(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("getJobOptions() returned error %q, want %q", err, "nil")
 	}
 	if got, want := len(opts.Experiments), 4; got != want {
-		t.Fatalf("len(getJobOptions().Experiments) = %q, want %q", got, want)
+		t.Fatalf("len(getJobOptions().Experiments) = %d, want %d", got, want)
 	}
 	sort.Strings(opts.Experiments)
 	expectedExperiments := []string{"beam_fn_api", "use_portable_job_submission", "use_unified_worker", "use_runner_v2"}
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ func TestGetJobOptions_NoExperimentsSetStreaming(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("getJobOptions() returned error %q, want %q", err, "nil")
 	}
 	if got, want := len(opts.Experiments), 6; got != want {
-		t.Fatalf("len(getJobOptions().Experiments) = %q, want %q", got, want)
+		t.Fatalf("len(getJobOptions().Experiments) = %d, want %d", got, want)
 	}
 	sort.Strings(opts.Experiments)
 	expectedExperiments := []string{"beam_fn_api", "enable_streaming_engine", "enable_windmill_service", "use_portable_job_submission", "use_unified_worker", "use_runner_v2"}
diff --git a/sdks/go/run_with_go_version.sh b/sdks/go/run_with_go_version.sh
index dfc8d228e257..26dbca822014 100755
--- a/sdks/go/run_with_go_version.sh
+++ b/sdks/go/run_with_go_version.sh
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ set -e
 #
 # This variable is also used as the execution command downscript.
 # The list of downloadable versions are at https://go.dev/dl/
-GOVERS=go1.25.2
+GOVERS=go1.26.1
 
 if ! command -v go &> /dev/null
 then