Working Days Calculator

Count the working (business) days between two dates. Choose a weekend pattern and optionally exclude holidays to get an accurate business-day total.

Quick Facts

Formula
Working days = Calendar days − Weekend days − Holidays
The standard business calendar excludes Saturday and Sunday, giving 5 working days per 7-day week (about 260 per year before holidays).

Your Results

Calculated
Working days
-
Business days, weekends & holidays excluded
Calendar days
-
Start to end date, inclusive
Weekend days
-
Excluded per weekend pattern
Weeks spanned
-
Full weeks + remaining days

Ready

Choose a start date, end date, and weekend pattern, then press Calculate.

Understanding the Working Days Calculator

This tool counts the number of working (business) days between a start date and an end date. It excludes weekend days using the pattern you choose, then subtracts any holidays you tell it about, following the same convention used by scheduling, payroll, and project-management software.

The formula

Three quantities make up the result, and only one of them (the holiday count) needs to come from you:

  • Calendar days: every day from the start date to the end date, counting both endpoints — an inclusive count.
  • Weekend days: every day in that range that falls on your chosen weekend pattern (Saturday & Sunday by default).
  • Working days: Calendar days − Weekend days − Holidays.

For example, a Monday-to-Friday span (5 calendar days) has zero weekend days, so all 5 are working days. A Monday-to-the-following-Monday span (8 calendar days) crosses one Saturday and one Sunday, so it has 6 working days. Any 7-day block with a standard weekend always contributes exactly 5 working days and 2 weekend days, which is the shortcut behind the "weeks spanned" figure below.

Weekend conventions

Most Western business calendars treat Saturday and Sunday as the weekend, giving a five-day work week. Several countries in the Middle East and North Africa instead treat Friday and Saturday as the weekend. Some six-day work-week contexts only exclude Sunday. Pick the pattern that matches your situation from the Weekend days dropdown — the underlying formula does not change, only which days count as "weekend."

Working with holidays

The calculator does not know any country's specific holiday calendar. Instead, count the holidays that fall within your date range and on what would otherwise be a working day, then enter that number in "Holidays to exclude." A 5-day work week produces roughly 260 working days a year (52 weeks × 5 days) before holidays; most countries observe somewhere between 8 and 12 public holidays, which typically brings the practical annual figure down to around 250 working days — but check your own jurisdiction's calendar for the exact count.

Frequently Asked Questions

How are working days calculated?
Working days equal the total calendar days between the start and end date (counting both endpoints) minus the weekend days in that range minus any holidays you specify. By default Saturday and Sunday are treated as the weekend, which is the standard Western business-day convention.
Does the count include both the start and end date?
Yes. This calculator counts the range inclusively, so both the start date and the end date are included in the calendar-days and working-days totals. That matches how most scheduling, payroll, and project-management tools count a date range.
How do I account for public holidays?
Enter the number of holidays that fall on what would otherwise be a working day within your range into the Holidays to exclude field. The calculator subtracts that count from the raw working-day total. It does not look up holiday calendars automatically, so check a local or company calendar first.
Can I use a different weekend pattern?
Yes. Choose Friday and Saturday for countries where that is the weekend, Sunday only for a six-day work week, or No weekends to count every calendar day as a working day. The formula stays the same; only which days are excluded changes.

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