Working days calculator
A working days calculator counts dates that match your working week, then removes selected holidays and time off. The answer depends on the date range, region and whether the end date is included. Choose those settings below to see the count, the excluded dates and an optional estimate of working hours.
Your week
Any set of working weekdays
UK and US calendars
Official sources, bundled for 2026 onward
Every deduction shown
A ledger of the dates that were removed
Use the working days calculator
Choose the dates and whether each end is included, set your working week, then pick a holiday calendar and any time off. The count and the excluded dates appear beside the form.
Working days
Choose a start and end date, or use a year preset, to count the working days.
This count is out of date. Fix the highlighted field to update it.
- Working days
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- Calendar days in range
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- Scheduled weekdays
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- Holidays deducted
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- Time off deducted
- —
- Capacity hours
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Working days × hours per day. Not automatically billable.
Excluded dates
| Date | Weekday | Excluded as | Label |
|---|
Assumptions
Calendar estimate
Not an employment entitlement or payroll determination. Bank holidays do not automatically establish a right to paid leave, and the US federal calendar applies to its specified context.
Calculated in your browser. Dates and time off are not sent to a server or written to the page address. Consented analytics record only that a count was made and which calendar was used, never the dates.
Business days calculator
Weekdays versus working days
Weekdays are Monday to Friday. Working days are the dates on your own schedule that are not holidays or time off. The two differ whenever you work a compressed week, weekends, or a shift pattern, and again whenever a public holiday lands on a scheduled day.
Whether the end date is included changes the answer by one. A Monday-to-Monday range with both ends included is six working days; excluding the end makes it five. The calculator states the rule it used in the result and in the exported ledger so someone else can reproduce the count.
Working days in a year
How many working days are in a year?
Calendar-only count
A year has 365 or 366 days and 52 weeks plus one or two days, so a Monday-to-Friday schedule gives 260, 261 or 262 weekdays depending on which weekdays the spare days fall on. The counts below are computed from the calendar, not typed in.
Holidays and leave
Each calendar removes only the holidays that land on a scheduled weekday. Your own leave comes off after that, and a date is never deducted twice. Use the "This year" and "Next year" presets above to reproduce these figures or change the schedule.
| Year | Mon–Fri weekdays | England and Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland | US federal holidays |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 261 | 253 (8 holidays) | 251 (10 holidays) | 251 (10 holidays) | 250 (11 holidays) |
| 2027 | 261 | 253 (8 holidays) | 252 (9 holidays) | 251 (10 holidays) | 249 (12 holidays) |
Sources
UK and US holiday assumptions
UK bank holidays come from the officialGOV.UK bank holidaysdata, kept separate for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with substitute days as their own dates. US federal holidays follow the statutory rules published by theUS Office of Personnel Management, observed on the Friday or Monday when the legal date is a weekend, and they are labelled federal, not universal.
Calendars are bundled during a reviewed update, never fetched from your browser. Outside the bundled years the tool offers a calendar-only count instead of presenting an incomplete holiday-adjusted total.
- England and Wales bank holidays: 2026 to 2028 (retrieved 2026-09-22)
- Scotland bank holidays: 2026 to 2028 (retrieved 2026-09-22)
- Northern Ireland bank holidays: 2026 to 2028 (retrieved 2026-09-22)
- US federal holidays (observed): 2026 to 2028 (retrieved 2026-09-22)
Capacity
From available hours to billable capacity
Working days multiplied by hours per day gives available hours. That is capacity, not billable time: administration, proposals and internal work sit inside it. The freelance rate calculator applies a billable share to turn available hours into a rate; capacity planning in Keito compares the plan with tracked time.
A calendar week contains 168 hours. Scheduled working hours are the smaller number you decide on, and the count above only covers the days.
Frequently asked questions
Working days questions
Are working days the same as weekdays?
Not always. Weekdays usually mean Monday to Friday, while your working schedule may differ. Holidays and leave can further reduce the dates available for work.
Does the count include the end date?
It includes the end date only when that option is selected. The result summary repeats the selected rule so that you can reproduce the calculation.
Which UK holiday calendar should I choose?
Choose England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland as applicable, then review your actual workplace schedule. A regional bank-holiday calendar is not a guarantee of paid leave.
Are US federal holidays mandatory days off for everyone?
No. The federal calendar is a selectable planning reference, not a statement that every private employer closes on those days.
What if leave overlaps a holiday or weekend?
An excluded calendar date is counted only once. A leave date that was not a scheduled workday does not reduce the workday total again.
How many work hours are in a week?
Multiply your scheduled daily hours by the working days, or use a per-day schedule. A calendar week contains 168 hours, but that does not mean 168 working hours.
Can I calculate outside the supported holiday years?
Yes for a calendar-only count. If holiday data is unavailable, the tool warns you and does not present an incomplete holiday-adjusted total as complete.
Related tools
More free tools for time and billing
Next step
Plan billable capacity in Keito
A day count tells you what is available. Tracking time against projects tells you how much of it becomes billable, and the same data feeds your rate and your invoices.