Working Days Calculator
Count the business days between two dates, with the option to skip the 11 U.S. federal holidays and to include or exclude the end date.
What is a working days calculator?
This working days calculator counts the business days, Monday through Friday, between two dates. Enter a start date and an end date, choose whether the end date itself counts, and choose whether to skip U.S. federal holidays. The result shows Business days, the Calendar days counted, the Weekend days and, when holidays are excluded, the Federal holidays skipped (on weekdays). A final line, How the dates were counted, states exactly which days were included.
Use it to check a deadline written in business days, lay out a project schedule, count the workdays in a pay period or see how many days of leave a vacation will use. You can enter the dates in either order: if the end date comes first, the calculator swaps the two and says so.
The holiday list is the 11 federal holidays in the schedule the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) publishes for federal employees, moved to a Friday or a Monday when they fall on a weekend, as OPM does. State holidays, religious holidays, company closures and Inauguration Day are not included, and Saturday and Sunday are always the weekend. If your calendar is different, the FAQs below explain how to adjust the count.
Formula
The calculator walks through the range one date at a time and puts every date in exactly one group:
- Saturday or Sunday: a weekend day.
- A weekday that is a federal holiday, when holidays are excluded: a holiday skipped.
- Any other weekday: a business day.
Business days = Calendar days counted − Weekend days − Federal holidays skipped
The start date is always counted (if you enter the dates in reverse order, the calculator swaps them, so the earlier date is the one counted). The end date is counted only when Include end date is Yes, so the same date entered as start and end gives 1 calendar day with the end date included and 0 without it.
The 11 federal holidays and the observed-day rule
Federal law (5 U.S.C. 6103) sets these holidays for federal employees. When a holiday falls on a Saturday, the Friday before is treated as the holiday; when it falls on a Sunday, the Monday after is. The calculator skips that observed weekday. Its 2026 dates match OPM's published schedule:
| Holiday | Rule | Day off in 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | January 1 | Thursday, January 1 |
| Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. | Third Monday in January | Monday, January 19 |
| Washington's Birthday | Third Monday in February | Monday, February 16 |
| Memorial Day | Last Monday in May | Monday, May 25 |
| Juneteenth National Independence Day | June 19 | Friday, June 19 |
| Independence Day | July 4 | Friday, July 3 (July 4 is a Saturday) |
| Labor Day | First Monday in September | Monday, September 7 |
| Columbus Day | Second Monday in October | Monday, October 12 |
| Veterans Day | November 11 | Wednesday, November 11 |
| Thanksgiving Day | Fourth Thursday in November | Thursday, November 26 |
| Christmas Day | December 25 | Friday, December 25 |
OPM uses the names written in the law, such as Washington's Birthday, and notes that state and local governments and private businesses may use other names. A holiday is never counted twice: when it lands on a weekend, the weekend date stays a weekend day and the observed Friday or Monday becomes the holiday.
Worked example
Example 1: business days in November 2026
Start November 1, 2026, end November 30, 2026, end date included, federal holidays excluded.
- Calendar days counted: 30.
- Weekend days: November 1 is a Sunday, so the Sundays are the 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th and the Saturdays the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th: 9.
- Federal holidays skipped: Veterans Day (Wednesday, November 11) and Thanksgiving (Thursday, November 26): 2.
- Business days: 30 − 9 − 2 = 19.
Example 2: a holiday that falls on a Saturday
Start Monday, June 29, 2026, end Friday, July 10, 2026, holidays excluded. July 4, 2026 is a Saturday, so the observed holiday is Friday, July 3.
- End date included: 12 calendar days, 2 weekend days (July 4 and 5), 1 holiday skipped, so 12 − 2 − 1 = 9 business days. The note reads "Both the start and end dates are counted."
- End date excluded: July 10 drops out, leaving 11 calendar days and 8 business days. The note reads "The start date is counted; the end date is not."
- Holidays not excluded: July 3 counts as a working day, so the result is 10 business days and the holidays line shows a dash.
Example 3: the whole of 2026
From January 1 to December 31, 2026, end date included: 365 calendar days, of which 104 are weekend days, so there are 365 − 104 = 261 weekdays. With federal holidays excluded, all 11 observed holidays fall on weekdays, and 261 − 11 = 250 business days.
Example 4: across New Year, with the dates reversed
Enter December 31, 2026 as the start and December 1, 2026 as the end, with federal holidays excluded. The note begins "The end date was before the start date, so the two were swapped." December has 31 days, 8 weekend days and 1 holiday (Christmas, Friday, December 25), giving 22 business days. A range from December 21, 2026 to January 8, 2027 gives 19 calendar days, 4 weekend days and 2 holidays (Christmas and New Year's Day, Friday, January 1, 2027): 13 business days.
How to use this calculator
- Pick the Start date and the End date. Either order works.
- Set Include end date: Yes counts both dates, No counts the start date but not the end date.
- Set Exclude U.S. federal holidays to Yes for a federal-calendar count, or leave it on No for a plain Monday-to-Friday count.
- Read Business days, then check How the dates were counted to confirm which ends were included.
Choosing the settings
- Include end date: Yes when both days are working days you will use, such as a leave request from Monday to Friday (5 days).
- Include end date: No when you want the number of days from one date up to, but not including, another.
- Conventions for deadlines differ. Some agreements count from the day after an event, some count both ends, and some define business days with their own holidays. Follow the wording of your contract, policy or court rule; the calculator always counts the start date, so if the day of the event should not count, enter the next day as the start.
Common mistakes
- Leaving holidays on No when the deadline is on a federal schedule, which overcounts by any holidays in the range.
- Assuming your employer closes on all 11 federal holidays. Many calendars differ; subtract or add days to match yours.
- Counting a holiday twice when it falls on a weekend. The calculator moves it to the observed weekday instead.
For plain calendar days between two dates, use the date difference calculator; to move a date forward or back by a number of days, use the date add and subtract calculator. Month-by-month counts are explained in how many working days are in a month, quarter or year.
Sources
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management — Federal Holidays (holiday schedules and the Saturday and Sunday rules)
- GovInfo — Public Law 117-17, Juneteenth National Independence Day Act
Frequently asked questions
Is the start date counted?
Yes. If you enter the dates in reverse order, the calculator swaps them, and the earlier date is the one always counted. From Monday, October 19 to Friday, October 23, 2026, the calculator counts 5 business days with Include end date on Yes and 4 (Monday to Thursday) on No. The same date entered as start and end gives 1 day with the end date included and 0 without it. If your rule says counting starts the day after an event, enter that next day as the start date. For a plain count of calendar days until a date, the days until calculator is simpler.
Are state holidays, Good Friday or company closures included?
No. The calculator skips only the 11 federal holidays in the table above. Any other day off, such as a state holiday, a religious holiday or an office closure, is counted as a business day. Count how many of your extra days off fall on weekdays inside the range and subtract them from the Business days result.
What happens when a holiday falls on a weekend?
It follows OPM's rule for federal employees: a Saturday holiday is observed on the Friday before and a Sunday holiday on the Monday after. In 2026, Independence Day falls on a Saturday, so the calculator skips Friday, July 3, as in Example 2. The weekend date itself is counted as a weekend day.
How many working days are in each month of 2026?
With federal holidays excluded and both ends of each month included, the calculator gives:
| Month | Weekdays | Business days | Month | Weekdays | Business days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22 | 20 | July | 23 | 22 |
| February | 20 | 19 | August | 21 | 21 |
| March | 22 | 22 | September | 22 | 21 |
| April | 22 | 22 | October | 22 | 21 |
| May | 21 | 20 | November | 21 | 19 |
| June | 22 | 21 | December | 23 | 22 |
The months add up to 261 weekdays and 250 business days.
Does it handle New Year's Day falling on a Saturday?
Yes. January 1, 2028 is a Saturday, and OPM's 2028 schedule treats Friday, December 31, 2027 as the New Year's Day holiday. The calculator always looks one year past the end of your range for this case, so it skips that Friday even when the range ends in 2027: a full-year 2027 count with holidays excluded gives 249 business days, as the federal schedule does.
Does it work for past years?
Yes, with one change built in. Juneteenth became a legal public holiday when Public Law 117-17 was approved on June 17, 2021, so the calculator skips it only from 2021 on; in earlier years June 19 counts as a normal workday. The other 10 holidays are applied to every year as they are observed today, so a range from decades ago may differ slightly from the schedule of the time. Inauguration Day, a holiday for federal employees in the Washington, DC, area every fourth year, is never skipped.
What if my weekend is not Saturday and Sunday?
The calculator always treats Saturday and Sunday as the weekend, so its count does not fit a Sunday-to-Thursday week, rotating shifts or a six-day schedule. For those, use the Calendar days counted line as a starting point and count your own days off.
Can it find the date that is a number of business days away?
Not directly: it counts the days between two dates you choose. To find, for example, the date 10 business days after a start date, try an end date, read the Business days result and move the end date until the count is the number you need, with the end-date setting your deadline rule calls for.