How to use the business days calculator
Enter two dates in either order. Then decide whether the earlier and later dates count. Many deadline rules skip the day something happens and start counting the next day, so check which convention your situation uses.
Pick a workweek and add the dates your organization is closed. The calculator doesn't load holidays for you, because bank, court, school and company calendars all differ. Enter the observed date if a holiday moves off a weekend.
- Enter the first and second dates.
- Choose whether to include or exclude the earlier date and the later date.
- Pick Monday to Friday, Sunday to Thursday, Monday to Saturday, or set your own closed weekdays.
- Add holiday and closure dates in YYYY-MM-DD format, separated by commas, spaces or new lines.
- Read the business-day total, the closures it removed, and the first, last, previous and next business dates.
Business days between dates: 2026 examples
These counts use a Monday to Friday week, include both end dates, and remove the 2026 federal holidays published by OPM. Your own count will differ if your employer or bank closes on other days.
| Range | Weekdays | Federal holidays on weekdays | Business days |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 1 to July 31 | 23 | 1 (July 3) | 22 |
| October 1 to October 31 | 22 | 1 (October 12) | 21 |
| November 1 to November 30 | 21 | 2 (November 11, 26) | 19 |
| December 1 to December 31 | 23 | 1 (December 25) | 22 |
| October 5 to December 31 | 64 | 4 | 60 |
| Full year 2026 | 261 | 11 | 250 |
How the working days calculator counts
First it sets the range using your endpoint choices. Then it counts open weekdays, using whole weeks for speed on long ranges. Finally it removes each closure date once, and only if that date is inside the range and falls on an open day.
Scheduled workdays = full weeks x open days per week + open days in the leftover datesBusiness days = scheduled workdays - closure dates that land on open days in the rangeEquivalent workweeks = business days / open days per week
Does the count include the start and end dates?
You decide. From a Monday to the Friday of the same week, counting both ends gives 5 business days. Leaving out one end gives 4, and leaving out both gives 3. That two-day swing is the most common reason two people get different answers for the same range.
Spreadsheet NETWORKDAYS counts both ends, so match it by including both dates and entering the same holidays.
| Earlier date | Later date | Dates counted | Business days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Included | Included | Monday to Friday | 5 |
| Included | Excluded | Monday to Thursday | 4 |
| Excluded | Included | Tuesday to Friday | 4 |
| Excluded | Excluded | Tuesday to Thursday | 3 |
Holidays, observed days and other workweeks
When a holiday falls on a weekend, many employers close on a nearby weekday instead. For most federal employees, a Saturday holiday is observed the Friday before and a Sunday holiday the Monday after. That's why July 3, 2026 is a federal holiday. Enter the observed date, since the calculator won't move holidays for you.
If you enter a date that's already a weekend under your schedule, it's listed as an overlap and isn't subtracted twice. Duplicates count once, and dates outside the range are listed but ignored. For a Friday and Saturday weekend, choose Sunday to Thursday. July 2026 has 22 workdays on that schedule before any closures.
Adding business days to a date
To find the date that's 10 business days after a start date, step forward one weekday at a time and skip holidays. From Monday, November 16, 2026, ten business days later is Tuesday, December 1. Thanksgiving on November 26 pushes it back a day from Monday, November 30.
This calculator counts days between two dates rather than adding them, so use it to check a deadline you've worked out. Enter the day after your start date and the deadline you expect, include both ends, add the holidays, and confirm the count matches.
When to double-check a deadline
Courts, contracts, government agencies, banks and carriers each define business days in their own way. Some exclude the trigger day, some move a deadline that lands on a holiday, and some have cutoff times. Find the rule that controls your deadline before relying on any count.
The calculator works with whole dates only. It doesn't handle half days, opening hours, time zones or rotating shift patterns.
Sources
These references cover the 2026 federal holiday dates, observed-day rules, date format and spreadsheet business-day counting.