Working Days Calculator
Find the number of working days between any two dates, or calculate the date that falls a given number of business days from a start date. Choose your workweek pattern, enter the number of public or company holidays to exclude, and get an instant breakdown of calendar days, weekend days, holidays and net working days.
What are working days?
A working day (also called a business day) is any day on which normal business operations take place. In most countries that means Monday through Friday, excluding public holidays. In parts of the Middle East and North Africa the standard workweek runs Sunday to Thursday, with Friday and Saturday as the weekend. Some retail and hospitality roles treat Monday to Saturday as working days, with Sunday off. This calculator lets you choose the pattern that matches your situation.
How to count working days between two dates
The basic method is: count every calendar day from the start date to the end date (both inclusive), then subtract the number of those days that fall on a weekend, then subtract any public or company holidays that fall in the same period. The formula is: Working days = Calendar days - Weekend days - Holidays. For example, from Monday 1 July to Friday 31 July 2024 there are 31 calendar days, 8 weekend days (four Saturdays and four Sundays), and however many official holidays apply in your country. If there are 2 public holidays, the working-day count is 31 - 8 - 2 = 21.
How to add working days to a date
To find the date that falls N business days after a start date, step through the calendar day by day and count only the days that are not weekends or holidays until you reach N. For example, adding 5 working days to Wednesday 10 July gives Wednesday 17 July (Thursday and Friday are days 1 and 2, the weekend is skipped, then Monday through Wednesday are days 3, 4 and 5). This is the logic used by the WORKDAY function in Excel and Google Sheets. Enter a negative number in "Working days to add" to calculate a date in the past.
Holidays and jurisdiction differences
Working-day counts vary significantly by country because public holiday schedules differ. The United States has around 10 federal holidays, the United Kingdom observes 8 bank holidays in England and Wales, and many European countries have 10 to 14 public holidays each year. Companies also add their own days off (Christmas shutdown, founder's day, etc.). The "Public or company holidays" field lets you enter the total number of non-working holidays that fall within your chosen period, regardless of jurisdiction, giving you the correct net figure for your specific situation.
Typical working days per period
| Period | Calendar days | Working days (approx) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 week | 7 | 5 |
| 2 weeks | 14 | 10 |
| 1 month (avg) | 30 | 21-23 |
| 1 quarter | 91 | 65 |
| 6 months | 182 | 130 |
| 1 year | 365 | 260-262 |
Approximate working days assuming a standard Monday-to-Friday week with no holidays. Actual counts depend on the exact dates and the holidays in your jurisdiction.
Frequently asked questions
Does the calculator count the start date and the end date?
Yes. Both the start date and the end date are included in the count, which is the standard convention for working-day calculations. If you want to exclude one of them, simply add or subtract 1 from the result.
How do I count working days in a month that has public holidays?
Enter the first day of the month as your start date and the last day as your end date, then type the number of public holidays that fall in that month into the "Public or company holidays" field. The calculator subtracts them from the working-day count automatically.
How many working days are in a year?
A standard Monday-to-Friday year has 260 or 261 working days before holidays, depending on whether the year has 52 or 53 weeks (which varies by which day 1 January falls on). After subtracting typical public holiday counts - around 10 in the US, 8 in England, 11 in Canada - most countries end up with roughly 249 to 253 actual working days per year.
What is the difference between a working day and a business day?
The two terms mean the same thing in most contexts: any day on which normal commercial activity takes place, typically Monday through Friday excluding public holidays. "Business day" is more common in legal and financial documents; "working day" is more common in employment and project management contexts. Both exclude weekends and official holidays.
How do I add working days in Excel or Google Sheets?
Use the WORKDAY function: =WORKDAY(start_date, days, [holidays]). For example, =WORKDAY("2024-07-01", 10) returns the date 10 business days after 1 July 2024. To count working days between two dates, use =NETWORKDAYS(start_date, end_date, [holidays]), which includes both the start and end dates in the count, matching the convention used here.