Date planning
Working days calculator: count weekdays in a year, month, or date range
Learn how to count working days between dates and estimate weekdays in a year or month, excluding weekends and holidays.
Updated August 27, 2026 · 4 min read
Decide whether the range is inclusive
An inclusive count considers both the start and end date. For example, a Monday-to-Friday range contains five calendar days and five working days when neither date is a holiday.
Some policies begin counting on the day after an event or exclude the final day. This calculator uses an inclusive range, so adjust the dates when your written rule uses a different method.
Choose the weekend that matches your schedule
Saturday and Sunday are common weekend days, but they are not universal. Some workplaces count Saturday as a normal working day, while others use Friday and Saturday as the weekend.
Select the relevant pattern before using the result for a delivery plan, notice period, project schedule, or leave estimate.
Remove holidays only when they fall on weekdays
Holiday calendars vary by country, state, organisation, and year. Count the holidays inside your range that would otherwise be working weekdays and enter that number as additional excluded days.
A holiday that already falls on the selected weekend should not be removed again. For legal, contractual, or employment deadlines, confirm the official definition of a business day before relying on the estimate.
How many working days are in a year or month?
A Monday-to-Friday year has about 260 weekdays before public holidays. A month often has around 20 to 23 weekdays, depending on its length and the day on which it begins.
These are planning estimates, not universal totals. Use the exact dates, weekend pattern, and weekday holidays for a specific country, year, or workplace schedule.
Put this guide into practice
Use the related calculators
Put the steps in this guide into practice with a focused calculator, then return here to check an assumption or compare another scenario.