Time & dates
Business days between two dates
Enter a start and an end date, subtract any public holidays in that range, and get the number of working days and hours.
Only count holidays that fall on a Monday to Friday; one that lands on a weekend is already excluded.
How working days are counted
The calculator walks through every date from the start to the end, including both, and keeps the ones that fall Monday to Friday. It then subtracts the number of public holidays you enter, and multiplies the result by your hours per day to get working hours. Work weeks are the working days divided by five.
Worked example: January 2026 runs from Thursday the 1st to Saturday the 31st. Thursday, Friday and Saturday each occur five times that month, Monday to Wednesday four times, so there are 22 weekdays and 9 weekend days. In the United States, New Year's Day (1 January) and Martin Luther King Jr. Day (19 January) are federal holidays, so you would enter 2 and get 20 working days, or 160 hours at 8 hours a day.
| Month (2026) | Weekdays | Month (2026) | Weekdays |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22 | July | 23 |
| February | 20 | August | 21 |
| March | 22 | September | 22 |
| April | 22 | October | 22 |
| May | 21 | November | 21 |
| June | 22 | December | 23 |
Across all of 2026 there are 261 weekdays before holidays. A common year has 261 weekdays if it starts on a weekday and 260 if it starts on a weekend; a leap year starting Monday to Thursday has 262.
Using the count for planning and pay
The most frequent source of disagreement is whether the end date is included. This tool counts it, which matches how most people read a range such as Monday to Friday (five days). If your contract or project plan counts only the days after the start, subtract one when the start date is itself a weekday.
Holidays are entered as a number rather than detected because they change by country, state and employer. Check your official calendar for the range, count only those that fall on weekdays, and remember that some regions add a substitute day off when a holiday lands on a Sunday. For salary proration, divide the monthly pay by the working days in that month rather than by 30, since a month can hold anywhere from 20 to 23 weekdays. For staffing or leave planning, multiply working days by contracted hours, not by 8, if your team works shorter or longer days.
Frequently asked questions
How many working days are there in a year?
Usually 260 or 261 weekdays, before public holidays. With 10 national holidays on weekdays that leaves about 250 working days, before personal vacation.
Are the start and end dates included?
Yes, both are counted when they fall on a weekday. From Monday to the following Friday gives 5 working days, not 4.
How do I count working days without holidays?
Leave the holidays field at 0. The result then counts every Monday to Friday in the range and removes only Saturdays and Sundays.