Working Days Calculator - Business Days between Dates
Use this Working Days Calculator to determine business days between dates. Select your region to automatically exclude US, UK, and other public holidays.
Working Days Calculator
Results
What is a Working Days Calculator?
A Working Days Calculator is a specialized digital tool designed to count the exact number of business days between two dates while automatically excluding weekends and public holidays.
- Calculating payroll for salaried or hourly employees who only work on business days.
- Determining project deadlines and lead times for business deliverables.
- Planning vacations and identifying how many PTO days are actually required for a trip.
- Tracking shipping timelines and estimating delivery dates for international orders.
To calculate general date differences, explore our Date Calculator to find any date range.
How the Calculation Works
The calculation works by determining the total calendar days between your start and end points, then sequentially subtracting non-working days. Specifically, it identifies and removes Saturdays and Sundays, followed by cross-referencing a database of national public holidays to ensure they are also excluded from the final count.
According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), federal holidays are established by law (5 U.S.C. 6103) for federal employees, and these dates are widely used across the private sector to determine non-working days.
To find exact days, weeks, or months, explore our Date Difference Calculator to measure specific time spans.
Key Business Day Concepts
Business Days
Standard days of the week when most commercial operations are active, typically Monday through Friday.
Lead Time
The total time from the start of a process to its conclusion, often measured in working days for logistics.
Bank Holidays
Official public holidays in the UK and other Commonwealth nations where financial institutions are closed.
Standard Workweek
The default five-day period (Mon-Fri) used as the baseline for most professional environments.
To track employee hours, explore our Time Card Calculator to manage work schedules.
How to Use the Calculator
Set Dates
Select your Start and End dates from the calendar pickers.
Define Workweek
Tick the days your business is active (default is Mon-Fri).
Select Region
Choose your country to apply the correct public holiday calendar.
Get Results
Click calculate to see the exact working day breakdown.
To add specific time units, explore our Time Calculator to manage durations.
Benefits of Business Day Tracking
- • Accuracy: Ensures high accuracy for payroll and billing without manual counting errors.
- • Planning: Provides confidence in project planning by accounting for global and local holidays.
- • Efficiency: Saves time for HR and project managers who otherwise calculate dates manually.
- • Clarity: Avoids confusion by clearly defining which days are counted and which are excluded.
To calculate total time pass, explore our Time Duration Calculator to measure elapsed time.
Factors Affecting the Count
Regional Holidays
Public holidays vary significantly between countries and even states, directly reducing the working day count.
Observed Holidays
When a holiday falls on a weekend, it is often 'observed' on the following Monday, affecting the count.
According to GOV.UK, bank holidays in the United Kingdom are holidays when banks and many other businesses are closed for the day, and they are subtracted from the total working day count for payroll and project planning.
To calculate employee net pay, explore our Payroll Tax Calculator to manage business taxes.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: How do I calculate the number of working days between two dates?
A: To calculate the number of working days between two dates, count the total calendar days between the start and end dates. From this total, subtract all weekend days (usually Saturdays and Sundays) and any public holidays that fall on a weekday during that period.
Q: Does 'business days' include weekends?
A: No, 'business days' traditionally do not include weekends. In most Western countries, business days are restricted to Monday through Friday. Saturdays and Sundays are considered non-working days for the purposes of most business, financial, and shipping transactions.
Q: How many working days are in a year?
A: In a standard year (365 days), there are typically 260 to 262 working days before subtracting public holidays. After accounting for the 11 standard US federal holidays, most American workers have approximately 249 to 251 working days per year.
Q: Are bank holidays considered working days?
A: Bank holidays are generally not considered working days. These are official public holidays where banks and most other commercial institutions are closed. When calculating timelines for shipping, finance, or payroll, these days should be subtracted from the total working day count.
Q: How do I count exactly X business days from today?
A: To count exactly X business days from today, you skip every weekend day and public holiday as you count forward. For example, to find 5 business days from a Friday, you would count Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of the following week.