A year has 260, 261 or 262 weekdays depending on which day it starts on, and public holidays take 8 to 10 of them away. That leaves 250 to 252 business days in the United States and 252 to 254 working days in England and Wales. Open a year to see every month counted, the quarters, the holidays that fall on a weekday, and how many business days are left from today.
Step by step
01Pick the year
Each year from 2025 to 2028 has its own page. The table above gives the totals for the years either side.
02Read the month you are planning
The month table gives weekdays, US business days and UK working days side by side, with the holidays that make the difference named in the same row.
03Check the holidays that moved
A holiday on a Saturday or Sunday is taken on a nearby weekday. The year page lists each one, because that is where hand counts go wrong.
04Count a range of your own
For dates that are not whole months, the business days calculator counts any span with the same holiday calendars.
Why the number changes
52 weeks plus one or two days
A 365-day year is 52 weeks and one day, so it has 261 weekdays unless that extra day is a Saturday or Sunday, which leaves 260. A leap year has two extra days and can reach 262, as 2024 did by starting on a Monday.
Holidays on weekdays, not holidays in total
Only a holiday that removes a weekday changes the count. When one falls at a weekend and is moved to the Friday or Monday, it still removes a working day; when the observed day lands in the previous year, as New Year’s Day 2028 does in the US, that year loses one fewer.
The US and UK calendars are different lengths
The US calendar here has ten holidays and leaves out Columbus Day, which most private employers work. England and Wales have eight bank holidays. That is why the UK usually has two or three more working days than the US in the same year.
Your employer’s calendar is the real one
Company shutdowns, regional holidays and one-off days such as a coronation or a state funeral are not in a fixed calendar. Treat these totals as the most a year can have; your real number is the same or lower.
Reference
FAQ
A year has 260 to 262 weekdays. After public holidays that leaves 250 to 252 business days in the United States and 252 to 254 working days in England and Wales; 2026 has 251 US business days and 253 UK working days.
2026 has 251 business days in the United States and 253 working days in England and Wales: 261 weekdays minus 10 US holidays or 8 UK bank holidays, all of which fall on or are moved to a weekday.
A month has 18 to 23 business days. Most months have 20 to 22; a month with two holidays, such as November in the US with Veterans Day and Thanksgiving, can drop to 18, while a 31-day month with 23 weekdays and no holiday reaches 23.
A leap year has 366 days, which is 52 weeks and two days. When those two extra days are both weekdays, as in 2024, which started on a Monday, the year has 262 weekdays instead of the usual 261.
Excluding only Saturdays and Sundays, a year has 260, 261 or 262 business days. 2025, 2026 and 2027 each have 261, and 2028 has 260 because it starts on a Saturday.
Every total on these pages is computed from the same holiday rules the calculators use. Nothing about you is sent anywhere.
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