Working days:
count weekdays between two dates

What counts as a working day?

A working day is a calendar day on which work normally happens. In most offices that means Monday to Friday. Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays are left out, which is why a 30-day deadline is rarely 30 working days.

The definition is not universal. Some shops, factories and schools work Monday to Saturday, and some offices give alternate Saturdays off. A contract, an offer letter or a service promise should say which pattern applies, because the answer changes by several days.

Working days are not the same thing as calendar days, and they are not always called by the same name. "Business days", "banking days" and "working days" are used loosely, so check the wording when money or a deadline depends on the count.

Working days formula

1. 1Count the calendar days in the range. Decide whether the first and last dates are included.
2. 2Divide by 7 to get full weeks and leftover days.
3. 3Multiply the full weeks by 5 (or 6).
4. 4Look at the weekdays of the leftover days and add the ones that are working days.
5. 5Subtract holidays that fall on working days.

Worked example: working days in December 2026

December 2026 begins on a Tuesday and has 31 days. Assume 25 December, a Friday, is a holiday for your workplace.

The leftover step matters. Had the 3 leftover days been Saturday, Sunday and Monday, they would add only 1 working day, and the month would total 21 before holidays. The same number of calendar days can give different working-day counts depending on where the range starts.

Another quick case: 16 March to 10 April 2026 is 26 days inclusive, which is 3 full weeks (15 working days) plus Monday to Friday from 6 to 10 April (5 more), a total of 20 working days.

Many rules count from the day after the task is given. If a task is assigned on Tuesday, 1 December 2026, counting starts on Wednesday, 2 December. That range is 30 days, which holds 22 weekdays, and removing the 25 December holiday leaves 21 working days, one fewer than the version that includes the first day.

Calendar days to working days chart

When you only need an estimate, a chart saves time. Because leftover days can fall on weekdays or weekends, the answer is a range, not a single number.

Whole multiples of 7 give exact answers: 14 days is always 10 working days on a five-day week. Anything else gives a range, and the exact figure depends on the weekday of the first date.

For a full calendar year, 2026 has 261 weekdays before any holiday is removed, because 365 days is 52 weeks plus 1 day and the extra day falls on a Thursday.

Holidays, half days and work patterns

Subtract a holiday only if it lands on a day you would otherwise work. A public holiday on a Sunday does not reduce a Monday-to-Friday count, and subtracting it anyway is a very common double deduction.

State-level and regional holidays differ, and so do company holidays and optional holidays. Build the list that applies to the people doing the work, not the national list by default. For multi-location teams, use the stricter list or count each location separately.

Half days are easier to handle as fractions. A half day on a Saturday in a 6-day week counts as 0.5, and the weekly total becomes 5.5. If a half-day holiday falls on a weekday, deduct 0.5.

Using working days for deadlines and payroll

Working days are the natural unit for delivery promises, approvals, notice periods and processing times. A "5 working day" delivery requested on Monday arrives by the following Monday if no holiday intervenes, not on Friday, because the count starts the day after the request.

For payroll, divide a monthly salary by the working days in that month to find a daily rate. A ₹60,000 salary over 22 working days is about ₹2,727 a day, while over 26 days (a 30-day month minus 4 Sundays) it is about ₹2,308. Policies differ, so the divisor should come from the company rule.

Cut-off times add one more twist. An order or request that arrives after the daily cut-off, say 5 pm, is usually treated as received on the next working day, so every later milestone moves by one day. A Friday evening request is treated as a Monday one.

Mistakes that throw off a working-days count

• Counting the start date and end date when the contract counts only days after the start.
• Subtracting a holiday that already falls on a Saturday or Sunday.
• Assuming every month has 22 working days. Months range from 20 to 23.
• Using the national holiday list for a team that follows a state or company list.
• Forgetting the cut-off time. A request after closing time starts the clock on the next working day, not today.
• Mixing calendar days and working days in the same sentence, such as a 30-day notice with a 20-working-day handover.

For the plain count of days between two dates, use the days between dates calculator on this page. The guides to business days between dates and to date differences explain how the same ranges look in other units.