How Many Working Days Are in 2026?
2026 has 250 working days in the United States — that's every weekday minus the 11 federal holidays that land on a weekday. It also has 104 weekend days. At a standard 8-hour day, 250 working days is about 2000 working hours.
This count is the one payroll teams, project planners and anyone budgeting vacation days actually needs. Below is the breakdown by quarter and by month, plus how the number is calculated.
Working Days by Quarter, 2026
| Quarter | Range | Total Days | Working Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Jan 1 – Mar 31 | 90 | 61 |
| Q2 | Apr 1 – Jun 30 | 91 | 63 |
| Q3 | Jul 1 – Sep 30 | 92 | 64 |
| Q4 | Oct 1 – Dec 31 | 92 | 62 |
Working Days by Month, 2026
| Month | Working Days | Weekend Days | Holidays Off |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20 | 9 | New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day |
| February | 19 | 8 | Presidents' Day |
| March | 22 | 9 | — |
| April | 22 | 8 | — |
| May | 20 | 10 | Memorial Day |
| June | 21 | 8 | Juneteenth |
| July | 22 | 8 | Independence Day |
| August | 21 | 10 | — |
| September | 21 | 8 | Labor Day |
| October | 21 | 9 | Columbus Day |
| November | 19 | 9 | Veterans Day, Thanksgiving |
| December | 22 | 8 | Christmas Day |
How Working Days Are Calculated
The math is simple once you know what counts. Start with all 365 days in 2026, then remove:
- Every Saturday and Sunday — that's 104 weekend days.
- Every federal holiday that falls on a weekday — holidays on a weekend are already counted as weekend days, so they aren't subtracted twice.
What's left is 250 working days. Keep in mind this uses the federal holiday calendar; your own employer may observe more or fewer days off, so check your company's list against our 2026 holidays page.
Planning tip: 2026 has 8 federal holidays on or observed on a Monday or Friday, so you can turn each into a three-day weekend. Mark your days off on a printable 2026 calendar so nothing sneaks up on you.
Working days vs. business days vs. weekdays
These terms overlap but aren't identical. Weekdays are simply Monday through Friday. Business days usually means the same thing for banking and shipping. Working days goes one step further and also removes public holidays, which is why it's the smaller number and the one that matters for pay periods and deadlines. To count the gap between two specific dates, use our days between dates calculator.