A business days calculator adds or subtracts working days from a date, or counts the business days between two dates, by skipping weekends and holidays. Pick a start date and a number, and the answer appears with the steps. Weekends can be Saturday and Sunday, Friday and Saturday, or Sunday only.
It also works as a working days calculator for contracts, shipping and deadlines. Built-in holiday lists for the US (federal and Federal Reserve) and the UK, plus a box for your own days off, make it a business days calculator excluding holidays with no spreadsheet.
Quick answer: To add business days, move forward one calendar day at a time and count only weekdays that are not holidays. Example: 10 business days after Thursday, October 8, 2026 is Fri, Oct 23, 2026 in the US, because Columbus Day (Monday, October 12) is skipped. Without holidays it is Thu, Oct 22, 2026.
How to use the business days calculator
Fill in the dates and the answer of the business days calculator updates at once; nothing is sent anywhere.
- Pick Add business days, Subtract business days or Count business days between dates.
- Enter the start date and the number of business days, or the two dates for a count.
- Choose your weekend: Saturday and Sunday, Friday and Saturday, or Sunday only.
- Choose a holiday list (none, US federal, US Federal Reserve, or UK bank holidays) and add any extra days off, one per line.
- Read the answer, the weekend and holiday days skipped, and the holidays that mattered. Open How it works for the steps.
| Input | What it means | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Start date and number | The day you count from (not counted) and how many days to move | The date that many business days later or earlier |
| From and To dates | The first and last day of the range | The number of business days in the range |
| Count the first date as day one | On: both dates count (Excel NETWORKDAYS) | A count that matches your spreadsheet |
| Weekend days | The days that are never business days | Weekend days skipped |
| Holidays and extra days off | A built-in list plus your own dates (2026-12-24 or 12/24 for every year) | Holidays skipped, listed in a table |
Add business days to a date: the formula and the steps
Adding business days has no single formula, because holidays fall on irregular dates. The method is a loop. Start from the given date, which is not counted. Move forward one calendar day. If that day is a weekend day or a holiday, do not count it; otherwise add one to the count. Stop when the count equals the number of business days you asked for.
To subtract business days, move backward instead. To count business days between two dates, use: business days = calendar days in the range – weekend days – holidays that fall on weekdays. The tool shows each term, so you can check the arithmetic by hand.
Worked example 1: business days calculator, 10 days after December 18, 2026
Start on Friday, December 18, 2026. Weekdays follow on December 21, 22, 23 and 24 (count 4). Friday, December 25 is Christmas Day, so it is skipped. December 28, 29, 30 and 31 bring the count to 8. Friday, January 1 is New Year’s Day, skipped. Monday, January 4 is 9 and Tuesday, January 5 is 10.
The answer is Tue, Jan 5, 2027. That is 18 calendar days later, with 6 weekend days and 2 holidays skipped, exactly what the business days calculator shows.
Worked example 2: business days between two dates in October 2026
October 2026 has 31 days. Nine of them are weekend days (October 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25 and 31), which leaves 22 weekdays. Columbus Day falls on Monday, October 12, so the US federal count is 22 – 1 = 21 business days. With no holidays selected the answer is 22.
Worked example 3: subtract business days across a holiday
What is 5 business days before Monday, January 4, 2027? Go back through December 31, 30, 29 and 28 (4 days). Friday, December 25 is Christmas Day, so Thursday, December 24 is the fifth: Thu, Dec 24, 2026.
Business days from today: what 1 to 90 business days looks like
People often ask for business days from today, such as 7 to 10 business days for delivery. This table counts from Thursday, October 8, 2026 (the day this page was reviewed) with a Saturday and Sunday weekend. The last column also skips US federal holidays. Open the business days calculator and set today’s date to get the same table for any other day.
| Business days | Weekends only | Weekends and US holidays | Calendar days (with holidays) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fri, Oct 9, 2026 | Fri, Oct 9, 2026 | 1 |
| 2 | Mon, Oct 12, 2026 | Tue, Oct 13, 2026 | 5 |
| 5 | Thu, Oct 15, 2026 | Fri, Oct 16, 2026 | 8 |
| 7 | Mon, Oct 19, 2026 | Tue, Oct 20, 2026 | 12 |
| 10 | Thu, Oct 22, 2026 | Fri, Oct 23, 2026 | 15 |
| 15 | Thu, Oct 29, 2026 | Fri, Oct 30, 2026 | 22 |
| 20 | Thu, Nov 5, 2026 | Fri, Nov 6, 2026 | 29 |
| 30 | Thu, Nov 19, 2026 | Mon, Nov 23, 2026 | 46 |
| 60 | Thu, Dec 31, 2026 | Thu, Jan 7, 2027 | 91 |
Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year fall inside the longer counts, so 60 business days end a week later with holidays.
Calendar days to business days: a quick conversion
Five business days is one calendar week and 10 business days is two. The exact number of calendar days depends on the weekday you start from, so the chart gives the range, with no holidays.
For example, 7 business days always take between 9 and 11 calendar days, which is why a “7 to 10 business days” delivery window can run from nine to fourteen calendar days.
Business days calculator excluding holidays: US and UK lists
The holiday setting changes the answer more than most people expect. Turn on a list and every holiday that falls on a weekday is skipped and shown in a table, so you can see why the date moved.
United States: federal holidays and the Federal Reserve
The US federal list follows the Office of Personnel Management: when a holiday falls on a Saturday it is observed on the preceding Friday, and when it falls on a Sunday it is observed on the following Monday. The Federal Reserve differs. For a holiday on a Saturday, the Reserve Banks stay open on the Friday, so banks, wires and settlement can run on a day federal employees have off. Choose the bank list when the contract is about payments.
| Federal holiday | Observed in 2026 | Observed in 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | Thu, Jan 1, 2026 | Fri, Jan 1, 2027 |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Day | Mon, Jan 19, 2026 | Mon, Jan 18, 2027 |
| Washington’s Birthday | Mon, Feb 16, 2026 | Mon, Feb 15, 2027 |
| Memorial Day | Mon, May 25, 2026 | Mon, May 31, 2027 |
| Juneteenth | Fri, Jun 19, 2026 | Fri, Jun 18, 2027 |
| Independence Day | Fri, Jul 3, 2026 | Mon, Jul 5, 2027 |
| Labor Day | Mon, Sep 7, 2026 | Mon, Sep 6, 2027 |
| Columbus Day | Mon, Oct 12, 2026 | Mon, Oct 11, 2027 |
| Veterans Day | Wed, Nov 11, 2026 | Thu, Nov 11, 2027 |
| Thanksgiving Day | Thu, Nov 26, 2026 | Thu, Nov 25, 2027 |
| Christmas Day | Fri, Dec 25, 2026 | Fri, Dec 24, 2027 |
Inauguration Day (January 20 every four years) is a holiday only in the Washington, DC area, so it is not in the list; add it as an extra day off if it applies to you. The next New Year’s Day to fall on a Saturday, in 2028, is observed on Friday, December 31, 2027 for federal staff.
United Kingdom: bank holidays
The UK list is the England and Wales bank holiday calendar, checked against GOV.UK. Scotland and Northern Ireland have different days, such as St Andrew’s Day, so add those as extra days off. When Christmas Day or Boxing Day falls on a weekend, a substitute weekday is taken.
The 2026 dates are: Jan 1 (New Year’s Day); Apr 3 (Good Friday); Apr 6 (Easter Monday); May 4 (Early May bank holiday); May 25 (Spring bank holiday); Aug 31 (Summer bank holiday); Dec 25 (Christmas Day); Dec 28 (Boxing Day).
How many business days in a year?
A normal year has 52 weeks and one or two extra days, which gives 260 or 261 weekdays. Subtract the US federal holidays that land on weekdays and a typical year has 249 or 250 business days. The table is computed for a Monday to Friday week.
| Year | Weekdays (Mon to Fri) | US federal holidays on weekdays | US business days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 261 | 11 | 250 |
| 2027 | 261 | 11 | 249 |
| 2028 | 260 | 10 | 250 |
| 2029 | 261 | 11 | 250 |
The yearly count is why payroll tools often use 260 working days and 2,080 hours (260 x 8). The chart shows 2026 month by month.
Business days between two dates: Excel and Google Sheets
In a spreadsheet, the same results come from three functions. NETWORKDAYS(start, end, holidays) counts business days with both dates included, which is the default of this calculator. WORKDAY(start, days, holidays) adds business days and does not count the start date. NETWORKDAYS.INTL and WORKDAY.INTL add a weekend code, such as 7 for Friday and Saturday or 11 for Sunday only.
Microsoft documents both functions: see NETWORKDAYS and WORKDAY. If the spreadsheet and the calculator disagree, check three things: whether the first date is counted, which weekend is set, and whether the holiday range includes the observed date rather than the nominal one.
Business days around the world
Canada. Statutory holidays are set by each province and territory, plus a federal list, so Family Day or Victoria Day may not apply where you are. Add your province’s dates as extra days off. Australia and New Zealand. Public holidays are declared state by state in Australia, and New Zealand adds regional anniversary days, so the extra-days box is the right tool there.
Europe. Public holidays differ by country and often by region, such as Bavaria in Germany. The Middle East. Some countries work Sunday to Thursday with a Friday and Saturday weekend, including Egypt, Israel and Saudi Arabia, according to the Wikipedia article on the workweek. Choose Fri and Sat for those cases.
For any legal or financial deadline, treat the result as a check and confirm the rule in your contract or with the authority involved. A business day is defined by agreement, and some contracts exclude Saturdays and some include them.
Working days calculator: common uses
| Use of the business days calculator | What to enter | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Shipping and delivery | Order date + 7 to 10 business days | 10 business days from Oct 8 is Oct 23 |
| Bank transfers and refunds | Use the Federal Reserve list | 5 business days from Oct 8 is Oct 16, 2026 |
| Project deadlines | Start date + days of work | 20 business days from Oct 8 is Nov 6, 2026 |
Common mistakes with business days
- Counting the start date. “10 business days from Monday” means Tuesday is day one. Count the start date only when your rule says so.
- Forgetting observed holidays. When July 4 is a Saturday, federal staff are off on Friday, July 3 (as in 2026).
- Assuming Saturday is a business day. Some businesses ship on Saturday. Use Sun only as the weekend if yours do.
- Mixing business days and calendar days. “Within 30 days” and “within 30 business days” differ by about six weeks.
How many business days until a date, and what counts as a business day?
To count the business days until a date, set the first date to today and the second to the target. For holidays and events, the days until calculator shows the days, weeks and weekdays left at once. If you also need the plain number of days, use the days between dates calculator.
A calendar day is any day. A business day is normally a weekday that is not a public holiday, and a working day usually means the same. In contracts, the definition in the document wins.
Frequently asked questions
9 quick answers
What is a business days calculator?
A business days calculator adds or subtracts working days from a date, or counts them between two dates, skipping weekends and holidays.
How do I calculate business days between two dates?
Count the calendar days, subtract weekend days, then subtract holidays on weekdays. For October 1 to 31, 2026 that is 31 – 9 = 22 weekdays, or 21 once Columbus Day is skipped.
How do I add business days to a date?
Move forward one day at a time and count only weekdays that are not holidays. Ten business days after October 8, 2026 is October 22, or October 23 when Columbus Day is skipped.
Is Saturday a business day?
Not in most definitions. A business day is normally Monday to Friday. If your business works Saturdays, choose Sunday only as the weekend.
How long is 7 to 10 business days?
Seven to 10 business days is usually 9 to 14 calendar days, depending on the weekday you start and the holidays inside the window.
How many business days are in a year?
A year has 260 or 261 weekdays. After the 10 or 11 US federal holidays on weekdays, that leaves 249 or 250 business days; 2026 has 250.
Do business days include holidays?
No. A business day is a working day, so public holidays are excluded. Turn on the US or UK holiday list, or enter your own days off, to leave them out.
How do I count business days in Excel?
Use NETWORKDAYS(start, end, holidays) to count them and WORKDAY(start, days, holidays) to add them. Use the INTL versions to change the weekend, for example code 7 for Friday and Saturday.
Does the business days calculator work for other countries?
Yes. Pick the weekend that fits your country, choose the UK list or no list, and type your local holidays as extra days off, one per line. The count then follows your own calendar.
Related calculators to use with the business days calculator
- Days between dates calculator for the plain calendar day count.
- Date calculator to add or subtract years, months and days.
- Days until calculator for countdowns to holidays and events.
- Work hours calculator to turn shifts into hours and pay.
- Time calculator to add and subtract hours and minutes.
- Printable calendars to mark business days and deadlines on paper.
- All calculators
Sources and further reading
- US Office of Personnel Management: federal holidays for the 2026 to 2028 dates and the Saturday and Sunday rules.
- Federal Reserve: holidays observed by the Federal Reserve System for the bank holiday list.
- GOV.UK: UK bank holidays for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
- Wikipedia: workweek and weekend for weekend patterns by country.
Last updated: October 2026.