Business Days Calculator

Counting only the working days between two dates means stripping out weekends and holidays: this tool counts the calendar days from a Start Date to an End Date, removes every Saturday and Sunday, and then removes an estimate of the holidays in that span. For project planning, contract deadlines, and finance work where weekends simply do not count, that distinction is the whole point.

Calendar days run from the Start Date to the End Date: with Include Start Day set to Yes both ends count, with No the start day is left out. The tool walks that range one day at a time and counts each Saturday and Sunday. It does not check dates against a holiday calendar; instead it prorates the Holidays Per Year figure you enter, estimating holidays as round(holidays per year × calendar days ÷ 365). Business days are calendar days minus weekend days minus that estimate.

One caveat worth internalizing: the proration spreads holidays evenly, while real ones are uneven. The 11 federal holidays in 5 U.S.C. 6103 include none in March, April, or August and two in November, so over a few weeks the estimate can be a day or more off. For a short range, enter 0 in Holidays Per Year and subtract the holidays that actually fall inside it. In 2026 the federal holidays are observed on January 1, January 19, February 16, May 25, June 19, July 3 (July 4 falls on a Saturday), September 7, October 12, November 11, November 26, and December 25; states and employers often follow a different list.