How to Count Working Days Between Two Dates (and Add Business Days)

What counts as a working day

A working day, or business day, is a day on which business is normally done. In most countries that means Monday to Friday, minus public holidays. But there is no single universal definition, and that is where mistakes start. A contract, a court rule or a company policy may define business days its own way, so use the definition written in the document that governs your deadline.

Three things change the answer: which days are your weekend, which holidays count, and whether the first and last date are included.

Counting by hand

1. Count the calendar days from the start date to the end date, deciding whether each end is included.
2. Subtract the weekend days. For a full week that is two days; for a partial week, count them off on a calendar.
3. Subtract the public holidays that fall on weekdays. A holiday on a weekend day changes nothing.

Example: Monday 19 to Friday 23 October 2026 is 5 calendar days with no weekend inside, so 5 working days. Monday 19 to Monday 26 is 8 calendar days including a weekend, giving 6 working days if both Mondays count, and 5 if the end date is left out.

In a spreadsheet, Excel’s NETWORKDAYS(start, end, holidays) counts both ends and takes a list of holiday dates, and WORKDAY(start, days, holidays) adds working days to a date. NETWORKDAYS.INTL and WORKDAY.INTL let you choose a different weekend. Google Sheets has the same functions.

Is the start date counted?

It depends on the question. “How many working days from Monday to Friday?” normally counts both, giving five. “What is the deadline 5 working days after Monday?” starts counting from the next working day, so it falls on the following Monday. When you add days, the start date is not one of them. State your convention in anything others will rely on.

Different weekends

The weekend is not Saturday and Sunday everywhere. Some countries observe Friday and Saturday, some work a six-day week with one day off, and some countries have changed their weekend in recent years, so confirm the current one. Changing the weekend changes the count even for the same dates:

The count differs by a day or so from year to year because 2026 has 365 days: 52 full weeks plus one extra day (a Thursday).

Public holidays: by rule and by announcement

Many holidays follow a rule you can calculate: a fixed date, a day such as the first Monday in May, or a date tied to Easter. Others are announced year by year. When a fixed-date holiday falls on a weekend, many countries move the day off to a weekday.

Taking those 11 days from the 261 weekdays leaves 250 working days in 2026. Independence Day falls on Saturday 4 July, so the day off is Friday 3 July. The statute, 5 U.S.C. § 6103, sets the Friday rule for Saturday holidays, and Executive Order 11582, reproduced in its notes, excuses employees whose workweek excludes Sunday on the next workday when a holiday falls on Sunday.

Boxing Day falls on Saturday 26 December in 2026, so the substitute day is Monday 28 December, as GOV.UK lists. Scotland and Northern Ireland have different bank holidays, and one-off holidays are announced separately.

In Pakistan and the Gulf, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, Ashura and similar days follow the Hijri calendar and are fixed by moon sighting, so the date can differ by a day from the calculated one and the government announces the actual days shortly before. The calculator gives a calculated date, lets you shift it by up to two days, and lets you add the announced days yourself.

Adding and subtracting working days

To add working days, move forward one day at a time, skipping weekends and holidays, and count only the working days you land on. One working day after Friday 23 October 2026 is 26 October 2026. Thirty working days after 1 October 2026, with no holidays, is 12 November 2026.

This is how payment terms such as “net 30 business days”, delivery promises, visa processing times and court deadlines are worked out. Note that “30 days” without the word “business” or “working” normally means calendar days.

Notice periods and deadlines

A notice period in a contract may be stated in calendar days, weeks, months or working days. Calendar days run straight through weekends and holidays; working days skip them. If a resignation says 30 days, check which one your contract means before you plan your last day. If the end falls on a non-working day, some contracts roll it to the next working day and some do not.

The tool gives a date from the rules you set. For a legal deadline, confirm the result with the document, the court rules or the authority concerned.

From days to hours worked

Multiply the working days by the hours in a day, less any unpaid break. Twenty-two working days at 8 hours is 176 hours. October 2026 has 22 working days, so 176 hours at 8 a day, and February 2026 has 20, or 160 hours.

This is the number of hours the calendar offers, not the number you worked. For real clock-in and clock-out times, breaks and overtime use the timesheet calculator, and for the pay on overtime hours the overtime calculator.

Common questions

Sources

Reviewed on 20 Oct 2026 against the published sources below. Laws and prices change, so check the current position before you rely on a figure.

• 5 U.S.C. § 6103: Holidays (the federal holidays and the Saturday observance rule)
• GOV.UK: UK bank holidays, England and Wales, 2026 and 2027

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