US Business Days Calculator — 2026 & 2027 Federal Holidays
Count working days between two dates, or add or subtract business days from a start date, while excluding weekends and US federal holidays for 2026 and 2027. Every date is sourced from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s official schedule, including observed dates when a holiday falls on a weekend.
How Many Business Days Are in 2026 and 2027?
2026 has 250 weekdays after excluding the 11 OPM-observed federal holidays. 2027 has 249 working days for a full federal-employee calendar when the December 31, 2027 observed holiday for New Year’s Day 2028 is included — or 250 if you count only the 11 named 2027 holidays. See the full explanation below.
Built-in federal holiday data currently covers 2026–2027 only. Dates outside those years are calculated using your selected weekend rule and any custom holidays you add, with no federal holidays applied automatically.
What Counts as a Business Day in This Calculator?
For this calculator, a business day means Monday through Friday, excluding whichever US federal holidays you have checked below. There is no single legal definition of “business day” that applies to every bank, court, contract, or employer — private companies, state governments, and courts can all use different calendars. If a deadline has legal or financial consequences, confirm the applicable rule with the relevant institution rather than relying on this or any calculator alone.
Pick a start date, then either an end date, a number of days to add, or a number of days to subtract. The calculator steps through the calendar day by day, skipping Saturdays, Sundays, and every checked federal holiday, and gives you a precise business-day count or target date under the weekend and holiday rules you select, along with a full breakdown.
The holiday checklists below cover both 2026 and 2027, since a calculation can span the boundary between the two years — uncheck any holiday your organization doesn’t observe, or add your own dates in the Custom Holidays field for company shutdowns or state-specific closures.
Typical Calendar-Time Estimates
Rough estimates assuming a Monday–Friday workweek with no holidays. Use the calculator above for an exact date under your selected rules.
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How Business Days Are Calculated
This calculator checks each calendar day against two conditions before counting it: is it a Saturday or Sunday (skipped if “Exclude weekends” is checked), and does it match a checked federal or custom holiday (skipped either way)? Everything else counts as a business day.
- Count the total calendar days between the start and end date.
- Remove Saturdays and Sundays.
- Remove any checked federal holiday, using the OPM-observed date, not always the calendar date (e.g., Independence Day 2026 removes Friday, July 3, not Saturday, July 4).
- Remove any custom dates you’ve added.
A standard 30-day month typically contains 20 to 22 business days once weekends alone are removed; federal holidays remove one or two more in most months.
2026 Federal Holidays
| Holiday | 2026 Date |
|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | Thursday, January 1 |
| Martin Luther King, Jr. Day | Monday, January 19 |
| Washington’s Birthday | Monday, February 16 |
| Memorial Day | Monday, May 25 |
| Juneteenth | Friday, June 19 |
| Independence Day | Saturday, July 4 — observed Friday, July 3 |
| Labor Day | Monday, September 7 |
| Columbus Day | Monday, October 12 |
| Veterans Day | Wednesday, November 11 |
| Thanksgiving Day | Thursday, November 26 |
| Christmas Day | Friday, December 25 |
2027 Federal Holidays
| Holiday | 2027 Date |
|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | Friday, January 1 |
| Martin Luther King, Jr. Day | Monday, January 18 |
| Washington’s Birthday | Monday, February 15 |
| Memorial Day | Monday, May 31 |
| Juneteenth | Saturday, June 19 — observed Friday, June 18 |
| Independence Day | Sunday, July 4 — observed Monday, July 5 |
| Labor Day | Monday, September 6 |
| Columbus Day | Monday, October 11 |
| Veterans Day | Thursday, November 11 |
| Thanksgiving Day | Thursday, November 25 |
| Christmas Day | Saturday, December 25 — observed Friday, December 24 |
| New Year’s Day 2028 | Saturday, January 1, 2028 — observed Friday, December 31, 2027 |
Why Some Sites Say 249 Business Days in 2027, Others Say 250
2027 has 261 weekdays (Monday–Friday). If you subtract only the 11 federal holidays that belong to calendar year 2027, the result is 250 weekdays.
For federal employees working a Monday–Friday schedule, there is a 12th observed closure inside the 2027 calendar year: Friday, December 31, 2027, the OPM-observed date for New Year’s Day 2028, because January 1, 2028 falls on a Saturday. Including that date produces 249 working days for a full federal-employee calendar year. This calculator includes December 31, 2027 by default, so a full January 1 – December 31, 2027 calculation here returns 249; uncheck that date above if you want the 250-day count that only includes the 11 named 2027 holidays.
Federal Holidays vs. Private-Employer Calendars
OPM’s schedule governs federal employees and is widely used as a reference by banks, courts, and private businesses, but none of them are legally required to follow it exactly. The Federal Reserve, USPS, and stock exchanges (NYSE, Nasdaq) each publish their own holiday calendars, and they don’t always match OPM’s — for example, USPS has stayed open on some days OPM observes, and NYSE closes for Good Friday even though it isn’t a federal holiday. If your deadline depends on a specific institution’s calendar, check that institution’s published schedule directly.
Adding or Subtracting Business Days
Use “Add Business Days” to forecast forward — for example, a 10-business-day shipping window from a ship date. Use “Subtract Business Days” to work backward — for example, finding the latest date you could have started a 5-business-day process to finish by today. In this calculator, Add starts counting on the next calendar day, and Subtract starts on the previous calendar day. Deadline and contract rules can use different counting conventions, so verify the applicable rule when a calculation has legal or contractual consequences.
Business Days vs. Calendar Days
A calendar day is any of the 7 days in a week. A business day excludes weekends and the holidays you’ve selected. “10 business days” starting on a Friday typically spans about 14–16 calendar days once weekends are factored in — noticeably longer than 10 calendar days, which is why the distinction matters for deadlines.
Using Custom Holidays
The Custom Holidays field accepts dates in MM/DD/YYYY or YYYY-MM-DD format, separated by commas — useful for state-specific holidays (like Patriots’ Day in Massachusetts or Cesar Chavez Day in California) or company-specific shutdown days that aren’t on the federal list.
Calculating Business Days in Excel
Excel’s built-in NETWORKDAYS function does the same core calculation: =NETWORKDAYS(Start_Date, End_Date, [Holidays]). You’ll need to maintain your own holiday range for the third argument, which this calculator handles automatically with pre-loaded federal dates.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you calculate US business days?
Count the calendar days between two dates, subtract Saturdays and Sundays, then subtract any federal or custom holidays that fall in that range, using the observed date when a holiday shifts for a weekend.
Is Saturday a business day?
For this calculator, Saturdays are excluded by default. Whether Saturday counts as a business day depends on the employer, contract, court rule, bank, carrier, or other calendar that applies to your situation.
Does this calculator handle observed holidays?
Yes — for example, Independence Day 2026 falls on a Saturday, so the calculator excludes Friday, July 3 rather than the 4th itself.
Does this include state-specific holidays?
No — it uses the 11 federal holidays plus the observed New Year’s Day 2028 date that falls in December 2027. Add state or company-specific dates using the Custom Holidays field.
Why is the end date inclusive when counting between dates?
Both the start and end dates are included in this calculator when they qualify as business days — that’s this tool’s counting convention. Specific contracts, payroll systems, and legal rules may use different conventions. “Add” and “Subtract” modes count from the day after or before the start date instead.
Methodology of US Business Days Calculator 2026
Federal holiday dates for 2026 and 2027, including observed shifts, are sourced from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management under 5 U.S.C. § 6103, cross-checked against federal court and payroll-reference publications current as of this update. This tool does not include state-specific holidays, company closures, or half-day closures by default — use the Custom Holidays field to add any that apply to your situation.