Paydays and work days · rules read October 11, 2026
Semimonthly versus biweekly pay
Compare the two most common pay frequencies on one salary or one hourly rate, with the real paydays of the year.
Written by Radif Partners · How the hours are counted · Editorial policy
Pay periods in 2026, biweekly
27
Fri, Jan 2, 2026 to Thu, Dec 31, 2026
| Weekly paydays in 2026 | 52 |
| Biweekly paydays in 2026 | 26 |
| Semimonthly paydays in 2026 | 24 |
| Monthly paydays in 2026 | 12 |
Weekly and biweekly counts depend on the weekday and the first payday; the line above assumes Friday paydays starting January 2. How this is calculated.
Semimonthly pay means 24 checks a year, on the 15th and the last day of each month; biweekly pay means 26 checks, one every 14 days, and 27 in some years. On a full-time schedule of 2,080 hours a year, each semimonthly check covers 86.67 hours on average and each biweekly check exactly 80. A $58,000 salary therefore pays $2,416.67 twice a month or $2,230.77 every other Friday, the same year either way. The frequencies differ in rhythm, not in total. Biweekly checks always land on the same weekday and bring two months with a third check; semimonthly checks land on fixed dates, which move to the previous business day 8 times in 2026 because the 15th or the month end falls on a weekend. Overtime does not follow either period: under the FLSA it is counted in each fixed workweek of 168 hours, even when that week is cut in two by the 15th.
Semimonthly or biweekly check for one salary
Semimonthly check
$2,416.67
| Biweekly check | $2,230.77 |
| Gap per check | $185.90 |
| Full-time hours behind each check | 86.67 h vs 80.00 h |
The same year cut two ways
A semimonthly payroll ties checks to the date: the 15th and the last day of the month. A biweekly payroll ties them to a weekday, usually Friday, every fourteenth day. That single choice explains every other difference. Twenty-four fixed dates divide the year evenly into halves of months that are not equal, from 10 to 12 weekdays each in 2026. Fourteen-day blocks are perfectly equal, ten weekdays apiece, but they do not divide the year evenly, so 26 of them leave a day or two over, and every so often a 27th payday appears.
| Month | Weekdays, 1st to 15th | Weekdays, 16th to end | Hours at 8 a day |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 11 | 11 | 88 / 88 |
| February | 10 | 10 | 80 / 80 |
| March | 10 | 12 | 80 / 96 |
| April | 11 | 11 | 88 / 88 |
| May | 11 | 10 | 88 / 80 |
| June | 11 | 11 | 88 / 88 |
| July | 11 | 12 | 88 / 96 |
| August | 10 | 11 | 80 / 88 |
| September | 11 | 11 | 88 / 88 |
| October | 11 | 11 | 88 / 88 |
| November | 10 | 11 | 80 / 88 |
| December | 11 | 12 | 88 / 96 |
For a salaried employee the table changes nothing: the check is $2,416.67 whether the half-month holds 10 weekdays or 12. For an hourly worker at $22 it matters a great deal, since a 12-weekday half pays $2,112 of straight time and a 10-weekday half $1,760. On a biweekly payroll the same worker would see $1,760 on every regular check. The pay periods page counts the checks of each frequency, and the biweekly schedule lists the Friday dates.
Overtime ignores the 15th
Neither frequency changes the federal overtime rule. The Department of Labor measures overtime in a workweek, a fixed period of 168 consecutive hours, and does not allow two weeks to be averaged. On a biweekly payroll that is easy, because each period is usually two whole workweeks. A semimonthly period starts and stops on dates, so most of them begin or end in the middle of a workweek.
Take the week starting Monday June 15, 2026. Monday the 15th closes the first half of June, while Tuesday to Friday belong to the second, so payroll has to look across the line. Ten, ten, nine, nine and eight hours make 46, of which 6 are overtime at $33.00 an hour, $1,078.00 gross for the week. The hours are paid in the period where they were worked, and the overtime is added once the workweek is complete. The two-week timesheet keeps each workweek separate so this never gets lost.
Semimonthly paydays moved in 2026
Fixed dates collide with weekends. In 2026, 8 semimonthly paydays move to the business day before: January 31 to Friday the 30th, February 15 to Friday the 13th, February 28 to Friday the 27th, March 15 to Friday the 13th, May 31 to Friday the 29th, August 15 to Friday the 14th, October 31 to Friday the 30th and November 15 to Friday the 13th. None of the 24 dates lands on a weekday holiday in 2026; observed holidays come from the OPM list. Biweekly Friday paydays move less often, only when a Friday is a holiday.
Some employers pick semimonthly pay for salaried staff, because the check is identical every time and lines up with monthly benefit premiums, and biweekly for hourly staff, because every check covers two complete workweeks. Some run both. When you change from one to the other, the transition check is the one to read closely, since it can cover a stub period that is shorter or longer than usual.