Jimmy Connors defeated Björn Borg in the final, 6–4, 3–6, 7–6(11–9), 6–4 to win the men's singles tennis title at the 1976 US Open. It was his second US Open singles title and fourth major singles title overall. It was Borg's first runner-up finish at the US Open; despite making three more finals, he would never win the title.
Manuel Orantes was the defending champion, but lost in the quarterfinals to Borg.
The seeded players are listed below. Jimmy Connors is the champion; others show the round in which they were eliminated.
Jimmy Connors (champion)
Björn Borg (finalist)
Guillermo Vilas (semifinalist)
Adriano Panatta (second round).svg/1280px-Flag_of_Romania_(1965%E2%80%931989).svg.png){kind=small}
Ilie Năstase (semifinalist).svg/1280px-Flag_of_Spain_(1945%E2%80%931977).svg.png){kind=small}
Manuel Orantes (quarterfinalist) Arthur Ashe (second round)
Raúl Ramírez (second round) Eddie Dibbs (quarterfinalist) Harold Solomon (first round) Roscoe Tanner (fourth round) Stan Smith (fourth round) Corrado Barazzutti (second round)
Wojtek Fibak (first round) Brian Gottfried (fourth round) Vitas Gerulaitis (fourth round)