How Many Working Days Are There in a Year?

With a Monday-to-Friday schedule, a year contains 260 to 262 weekdays — before public holidays are taken out. The exact number of working days depends on the year, your country and region, and the shape of your working week. In 2026, for example, the United States lands on 252 working days once federal holidays are deducted. For your own answer, jump to the calculator — it covers 45+ countries, regional calendars included.

If you run or manage a small business, this is a number worth knowing precisely rather than roughly: it flows into payroll, leave management, turnaround times promised to customers and the planning of every project.

The calculator

Pick your country and year, adjust the days you actually work, and optionally add your leave days. Everything is deducted correctly: holidays landing on a weekend don't count twice, substitute days are used where a country observes them, and regional holidays only apply if you select a region.

How do you calculate the number of working days in a year?

The calculation itself is short — the care is in the holiday data:

working days = calendar days − weekly days off − public holidays falling on a working day

1. Start from the days in the year: 365, or 366 in a leap year.
2. Remove the days that aren't part of the working week — for a Monday-to-Friday schedule that's every Saturday and Sunday, 104 or 105 of them depending on how the year starts.
3. Remove each public holiday that falls on one of the remaining days. This is where country, region and year matter: Easter moves, fixed dates drift across weekdays, and some countries shift weekend holidays to a Monday.

Calendar days, weekdays, working days — and days you actually work

Four numbers that often get mixed up, from largest to smallest:

• Calendar days — every day of the year: 365 or 366.
• Weekdays — the days belonging to the standard working week, before holidays. With Monday–Friday: 260–262.
• Working days (or business days) — weekdays minus the public holidays that fall on them. This is what delivery times and payment terms usually refer to.
• Days you actually work — working days minus your own annual leave and other absences. This is the figure that matters for personal capacity, daily rates and project planning.

The calculator shows the last two side by side, because mixing them up is the most common planning mistake: a company's calendar has the same working days for everyone, but nobody works all of them.

Leap years

A leap year adds one calendar day — but not automatically one working day. The extra day (February 29th) only increases the working-day count if it lands on a day of your working week, and the bigger effect of a leap year is subtler: it shifts every subsequent date by two weekdays instead of one, changing which holidays fall on weekends.

Public holidays: national, regional, substituted

Holidays are where identical-looking years diverge between countries:

• How many: federal holidays in the US are 11, England and Wales observe 8 bank holidays, Ireland 10 public holidays — before any regional additions.
• Where: US states, Canadian provinces, Australian states and Scottish local authorities all add or swap days. The same job in two states can have a different working year.
• Weekend collisions: in the US and UK a holiday falling on a weekend is usually observed on the closest weekday, so it still costs a working day. In many other countries it's simply lost that year.

Working days in 2026 by country

Computed for a Monday-to-Friday week with national (or federal) holidays only — regional holidays reduce these further. The numbers update automatically each year:

The United Kingdom is a family of calendars rather than one: England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each observe a slightly different set of bank holidays — pick the nation in the calculator's region selector for the accurate count.

Non-standard working weeks

• 4-day week — around 208 weekdays before holidays. Note that a holiday only counts if it falls on one of the four working days, so compressed weeks lose fewer days to holidays.
• 6-day week — common in retail and hospitality: around 313 weekdays before holidays, and more holidays land on working days.
• Weekends other than Saturday–Sunday — several countries and industries rest on Friday–Saturday or Sunday only; tick the days that apply to you and the whole calculation follows.
• Shift work — rotas don't map onto a weekly pattern; count scheduled shifts instead. The calculator's result is still useful as the employer-side calendar baseline.

What can you use this number for?

• Project planning — converting durations in working days into calendar dates that respect holidays.
• Daily rates — freelancers dividing a target income by days actually workable, not by 260.
• Payroll and payment terms — anything contractual expressed in business days.
• Team capacity — multiplying working days by people, then subtracting booked leave. That last step is the one spreadsheets get wrong — it's the problem Bueggio HR exists to solve.
• Leave planning — spotting the bridge days that turn one holiday into a long weekend.

Frequently asked questions

How many working days are there in 2026 in the United States?

In 2026 the US has 261 weekdays (Monday to Friday); after deducting the 9 federal holidays that fall on a weekday, 252 working days remain. States add their own holidays — use the calculator above with your state selected.

How many working hours are there in a year?

Multiply your working days by your daily hours. With 252 working days and an 8-hour day, that's 2016 hours in 2026 before personal leave. Enter your hours per day in the calculator for your own figure.

Do public holidays that fall on a weekend reduce working days?

Not by themselves: a holiday on a Saturday or Sunday doesn't remove a working day. Some countries (the US and UK among them) move the day off to the nearest weekday — the calculator uses those substitute dates where they exist.

What's the difference between working days and business days?

In everyday use they overlap. 'Business days' usually refers to the days banks and offices operate (typically Monday to Friday excluding public holidays) and is the term used in delivery and payment terms; 'working days' more often describes an individual's schedule, which may include Saturdays or exclude other days.

How many working days does a 4-day week have in a year?

Roughly 208 before holidays — four days for each of the 52 weeks, with the exact count depending on the year's layout. Untick a weekday in the calculator to see the precise number for 2026, holidays included.

Methodology and sources

The calculator counts the days of the selected year that belong to your working week, then deducts each public holiday falling on one of them. Every date is counted once, even when several holidays coincide; substitute days are used in countries that observe them; a holiday on a non-working day deducts nothing. Holiday data comes from public holiday calendars maintained per country — where a reliable calendar isn't available, the calculator says so instead of guessing. Table figures on this page are recomputed for 2026 on every visit. For legally sensitive calculations, always confirm against your country's official gazette.