Federal holidays
Business days between two dates
Pick a start date and an end date. The start date is not counted and the end date is, which is how most deadlines are read; switch off holidays to count weekdays only.
Business days
39
| Calendar days | 58 |
| Saturdays and Sundays | 16 |
| Federal holidays on weekdays | Veterans Day (Wed, Nov 11), Thanksgiving Day (Thu, Nov 26), Christmas Day (Fri, Dec 25) |
3 holidays taken off the count.
A business day, in the ordinary US sense, is a day from Monday to Friday that is not a federal holiday. The counter above takes two dates, leaves out the start date, counts the end date, removes Saturdays and Sundays, then removes the federal holidays on the days they are observed, which in 2026 means Friday, July 3 rather than Saturday, July 4. It lists the holidays it skipped, so you can check the result or remove one your employer does not observe. Across a whole year the figures are stable: the 365 days of 2026 contain 261 weekdays and 250 business days once the eleven holidays are taken out, while the 365 days of 2027 contain 261 weekdays but only 249 business days, because the observed New Year's Day of 2028 falls on Friday, December 31, 2027. Courts read deadlines differently: under Rule 6 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure a period stated in days counts every calendar day, and only the last day moves off a weekend or holiday.
Business days between two dates
Business days
43
| Calendar days | 64 |
| Federal holidays skipped | 3 |
Dates computed and checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
Business days in 2026, 2027 and 2028
| Year | Calendar days | Weekdays | Federal holidays observed | Business days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 365 | 261 | 11 | 250 |
| 2027 | 365 | 261 | 12 | 249 |
| 2028 | 366 | 260 | 10 | 250 |
The number of weekdays in a year is 260, 261 or 262 depending on the weekday of January 1 and on leap years. The number of federal holidays observed inside the year is usually eleven, but it is twelve in 2027 and ten in 2028, because New Year's Day 2028 is a Saturday and its observed Friday falls on December 31, 2027. Payroll, leave accrual and service-level agreements that assume a fixed count will be one day off in those years.
What counts as a holiday
The counter uses the eleven holidays of 5 U.S.C. 6103 on the days OPM lists as observed. That is the right reference for federal agencies and, through Rule 6(a)(6), for federal court deadlines, which also treat as legal holidays any day declared a holiday by the President or Congress and, for deadlines running in a state, that state's own holidays. For a private contract, read its definition: many say "a day on which banks are open for business in New York", which follows the Federal Reserve schedule rather than OPM.
The difference shows on Fridays before a Saturday holiday. On Friday, July 3, 2026, federal offices close but the Reserve Banks open; a bank business day count includes it, a federal one does not. The mini-tool under the summary counts with or without holidays from any date, so you can see the effect directly.
Calendar days, court days and business days
US rules use three different units, and mixing them is the commonest counting error. Calendar days count every day. Rule 6 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure counts calendar days, including weekends and holidays in the middle, but extends the period when the last day is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday. Business days skip every weekend day and holiday, which is how most shipping times, bank transfers and consumer notices are expressed.
A worked example: a notice received on Wednesday, November 25, 2026 gives 10 calendar days to respond. Day ten is Saturday, December 5, so a court-style deadline moves to Monday, December 7. Had the notice said ten business days, the count would skip Thanksgiving, both weekends and land on Thursday, December 10.
Practical uses
Counting business days helps check a delivery promise, a refund window, a notice period in an employment contract or a project schedule. It also explains why year-end runs short: between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, two federal holidays and several weekends take out about a week of working days. To see how many are left before December 25 from today, use the Christmas countdown, which shows the business days next to the clock. The holiday calendars used here are on federal holidays 2027 and bank holidays 2027.