Paydays and work days · rules read October 11, 2026
Working days calculator
Pick the year and whether federal holidays come off; the calculator gives the working days and hours of every month.
Written by Radif Partners · How the hours are counted · Editorial policy
Working days in 2026
250
261 weekdays, 11 federal holidays off · 2,000 hours at 8 a day
| Month | Work days | Holidays | Hours (8/day) |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20 | 2 | 160 |
| February | 19 | 1 | 152 |
| March | 22 | 0 | 176 |
| April | 22 | 0 | 176 |
| May | 20 | 1 | 160 |
| June | 21 | 1 | 168 |
| July | 22 | 1 | 176 |
| August | 21 | 0 | 168 |
| September | 21 | 1 | 168 |
| October | 21 | 1 | 168 |
| November | 19 | 2 | 152 |
| December | 22 | 1 | 176 |
Monday to Friday minus the observed federal holidays. Private employers choose their own holidays; state holidays are not removed. How this is calculated.
There are 250 working days in 2026 in the United States on the federal calendar: the year has 365 days, of which 104 fall on a Saturday or Sunday, which leaves 261 weekdays, and the 11 federal holidays listed by the Office of Personnel Management all land on a weekday this year once observed. At 8 hours a day those 250 days hold 2,000 hours of work, while the 261 weekdays hold 2,088, the figure a full-time salary pays when holidays are paid. Months range from 19 working days (February and November) to 22 (March, April, July and December). Independence Day falls on a Saturday, so the day off is July 3, 2026. Private employers choose their own holiday list, so a company closed on fewer of these days has more working days than the federal count shown here.
Working days in a month of 2026
July 2026
22 days
| Weekdays | 23 |
| Federal holidays on weekdays | 1 |
| Hours at 8 a day | 176 |
Working days in each month of 2026
The table counts Monday to Friday in each month and removes the federal holidays on the dates they are observed, as published by the Office of Personnel Management. Hours use a 8-hour day; the second mini calculator further down takes your own day length.
| Month | Weekdays | Federal holidays | Working days | Hours at 8 h |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22 | 2 | 20 | 160 |
| February | 20 | 1 | 19 | 152 |
| March | 22 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| April | 22 | 0 | 22 | 176 |
| May | 21 | 1 | 20 | 160 |
| June | 22 | 1 | 21 | 168 |
| July | 23 | 1 | 22 | 176 |
| August | 21 | 0 | 21 | 168 |
| September | 22 | 1 | 21 | 168 |
| October | 22 | 1 | 21 | 168 |
| November | 21 | 2 | 19 | 152 |
| December | 23 | 1 | 22 | 176 |
| Year | 261 | 11 | 250 | 2,000 |
By quarter, the year splits into 61, 63, 64 and 62 working days. The first quarter is the shortest because February has only 20 weekdays and January carries two holidays, New Year's Day and the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. The third quarter is the longest even with Independence Day and Labor Day in it.
Why 261 weekdays and not 260
Fifty-two weeks make 260 weekdays, yet 2026 has 261. A common year is 52 weeks and one day, and that day is the weekday the year starts on: 2026 starts on a Thursday, so it holds one extra Thursday and one extra weekday. A leap year that starts on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday carries two. The OPM 2,087-hour divisor exists for that reason: federal hourly rates average the years with 2,080, 2,088 and 2,096 weekday hours over a 28-year cycle, instead of dividing by 2,080 every time.
For a salaried employee the extra weekday is invisible: the salary is the same for 261 weekdays as for 260. For an hourly worker on a five-day schedule it is one more day of pay. For an employer pricing a contract by the year, it is 8 more hours per person. The mini calculator below turns the year into the days you personally work once vacation is out.
Your working year in 2026
Days actually worked
240
| Hours worked in the year | 1,920.00 |
| Weekdays in 2026 | 261 |
| Observed federal holidays on weekdays | 11 |
Four-day weeks and other schedules
The federal count assumes Monday to Friday. A crew on four 10-hour days from Monday to Thursday has a different year: 2026 holds 209 of those weekdays, and 8 of the observed holidays land on them, so 201 days are worked, 2,010 hours in all. Holidays that fall on a Friday, such as July 3, 2026 and Christmas, cost that crew nothing. The calculator above assumes the standard Monday to Friday week; for a Tuesday to Saturday retail schedule or fixed part-time days, count the weekdays you work and take out only the holidays that land on them.
Using working days for leave and deadlines
Leave policies are often written in working days, and 15 days of vacation at 8 hours a day is 120 hours, about 6.0% of the 250 working days. The PTO calculator converts days to hours and values them at your rate. For a deadline that runs a set number of business days from a starting date, the business days calculator moves forward or back and shows each skipped date, and the federal holidays page lists the observed dates of 2026 and 2027.
Holidays also leave the federal overtime line where it was. Fact Sheet #23 says the FLSA does not require overtime pay for work on holidays as such: hours on a holiday count toward the 40 hours of the workweek like any other hours, and premium holiday pay exists only when an employer policy or a contract grants it.