FREE BUSINESS DAYS CALCULATOR

What is a business days calculator?

A business days calculator counts the number of working days between two dates, automatically excluding weekends and public holidays. The standard formula iterates through each day in the range, skipping non-working days and holidays to produce an accurate count.

For example, counting from January 1 to January 31 in a standard 5-day work week gives you roughly 23 business days. Subtracting New Year's Day (if it falls on a weekday) reduces the count to 22. This tool handles all of that automatically — including observed holiday rules where holidays falling on weekends shift to the nearest weekday.

How to use this business days calculator

Enter two dates, select your preferences, and the working day count updates instantly. No submit button — the result recalculates in real time as you change any value.

1. Enter start and end dates — type or select your start date and end date. Check "Include End Date" if the end date itself should be counted.
2. Choose business day mode — select All Days, Exclude Weekends (Sat + Sun), or Exclude Sundays Only (for a 6-day work week).
3. Select your country — choose from US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, or France to automatically load public holidays. Your country is auto-detected from your browser locale.
4. Review public holidays — toggle individual holidays on or off. Use Select All or Deselect All to quickly adjust which holidays are excluded from the count.
5. Add custom holidays — enter any additional dates that should be excluded (company holidays, regional observances, etc.). You can add up to 50 custom dates.
6. Read the result — the total number of business days appears at the bottom, updating instantly.

Key features

Multi-country public holidays

Built-in holiday calendars for 6 countries: United States (11 federal holidays), United Kingdom (8 bank holidays), Canada, Australia, Germany, and France. All holidays are calculated dynamically for any year.

Automatic locale detection

Your country is auto-detected from your browser locale (e.g., en-US, en-GB, de-DE, fr-FR). Switch countries at any time with the dropdown.

Three business day modes

Count all calendar days, exclude weekends (Saturday and Sunday), or exclude only Sundays — supporting both 5-day and 6-day work week conventions.

Individual holiday control

Toggle any public holiday on or off. If your organization doesn't observe Columbus Day or a specific bank holiday, simply deselect it.

Custom holidays

Add up to 50 custom holiday dates for company-specific closures, regional observances, or any other non-working days your organization recognizes.

Observed holiday rules

When a fixed-date holiday falls on Saturday, it's observed on Friday. When it falls on Sunday, it's observed on Monday — matching the standard U.S. federal observed-date convention.

Include/exclude end date

Toggle whether the end date is included in the count to match different business counting conventions.

Local storage persistence

Your dates, country selection, holiday preferences, and mode save automatically in your browser. Return later without re-entering anything.

How many business days in a year?

A standard year has 365 days, of which 104 are weekend days (52 Saturdays + 52 Sundays), leaving approximately 261 weekdays. After subtracting public holidays, the actual business day count depends on your country:

Note: exact counts vary year to year depending on which holidays fall on weekends. Use this calculator with specific dates for an exact count.

Common use cases for business day calculations

• Project planning — calculate how many working days remain before a deadline to allocate resources and set milestones accurately.
• Contract deadlines — legal and financial contracts often specify timelines in "business days" rather than calendar days. Use this tool to determine exact dates.
• Payroll processing — count working days in a pay period to calculate hourly wages, verify timesheets, or estimate payroll costs.
• Shipping and delivery estimates — many carriers quote delivery times in business days. Convert between business days and calendar dates for accurate customer communication.
• Leave and PTO planning — determine how many working days a vacation covers to calculate PTO usage, taking holidays into account so employees don't waste leave days on non-working days.
• Financial settlements — stock trades, wire transfers, and insurance claims often use T+2 or T+3 business day settlement periods. Verify exact settlement dates.

U.S. federal holidays included

When you select the United States, the calculator automatically includes all 11 federal holidays with correct observed-date rules:

• New Year's Day (January 1)
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day (3rd Monday in January)
• Presidents' Day (3rd Monday in February)
• Memorial Day (Last Monday in May)
• Juneteenth (June 19, since 2021)
• Independence Day (July 4)
• Labor Day (1st Monday in September)
• Columbus Day (2nd Monday in October)
• Veterans Day (November 11)
• Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday in November)
• Christmas Day (December 25)

Fixed-date holidays that fall on Saturday are observed on Friday; those falling on Sunday are observed on Monday. You can toggle any holiday off if your organization doesn't observe it.

5-day vs 6-day work weeks

This calculator supports both common work week conventions:

• 5-day work week (Exclude Weekends) — counts Monday through Friday only. This is the standard in most Western countries and the default for contract, legal, and financial business day calculations.
• 6-day work week (Exclude Sundays Only) — counts Monday through Saturday. Common in parts of the Middle East, South Asia, and some industries where Saturday is a regular working day.
• All days — counts every calendar day including weekends. Useful when you need the total elapsed time rather than working days.

A typical month has 19–22 business days in a 5-day work week, or 24–27 days in a 6-day work week, depending on the month's structure and public holidays.

Who benefits from this calculator?

• Project managers — calculate working days remaining on a project timeline, accounting for holidays and weekends across multiple countries for international teams.
• HR and payroll teams — count working days per pay period, verify PTO calculations, and determine the correct number of billable days.
• Legal professionals — determine filing deadlines, response periods, and statute of limitations that are defined in business days.
• Finance and accounting — calculate settlement dates, invoice payment terms (Net 30 business days), and financial reporting periods.
• Operations and logistics — convert carrier-quoted business day delivery estimates to exact calendar dates for customer-facing communication.

Helpful resources

• U.S. Office of Personnel Management — Federal Holidays — the official list of U.S. federal holidays and their observed dates.
• UK Government — Bank Holidays — the official schedule of bank holidays in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
• BLS — Employed Persons by Hours of Work — data on work schedules, hours per week, and full-time vs part-time employment across U.S. industries.

Other free tools you might find useful

Track weekly work hours with the Time Card Calculator, compute overtime with the Overtime Timesheet Calculator, find shift end times with the 8-Hour Shift Calculator, or plan team schedules with the Weekly Schedule Planner.

Business days calculator FAQ