Ever wondered how many business days you have to work with in a year? It's an important number to know for planning projects, setting deadlines, and managing workflow expectations.

In a standard year, there are approximately 260 working days. This number comes from calculating all weekdays (Monday through Friday) and subtracting federal holidays. For leap years like 2024, there may be 261 working days due to the extra day.

We often need this information when scheduling projects or calculating business metrics. Understanding the actual number of available work days helps businesses make realistic plans and set achievable goals. Having this concrete number allows for more accurate forecasting and resource allocation.

Short Answer

A standard business year typically has 260 working days in the US and UK, assuming a 5-day workweek and excluding weekends and public holidays.

Understanding Business Days

Business days form the backbone of professional scheduling and project timelines. They help organizations plan operations, set deadlines, and manage expectations with clients and stakeholders.

Definition of Business Days

Business days are weekdays when normal business operations take place. Typically, these include Monday through Friday in most countries following the Gregorian calendar.

Most companies, government offices, and financial institutions operate during these five days. Business days exclude weekends (Saturday and Sunday) and public holidays when offices are officially closed.

The concept of business days is crucial for contracts, shipping timelines, and payment processing. When a company promises delivery "within 5 business days," they're specifically referring to weekdays excluding holidays.

Different industries might have variations in what constitutes a business day. For example, some retail businesses operate seven days a week but still use the standard five-day business week for administrative functions.

Business Days vs. Calendar Days

Calendar days include all days in a calendar year - all 365 days (or 366 in leap years). This count includes weekdays, weekends, and holidays without exception.

Business days, in contrast, only count the days when typical business operations occur. This distinction is vital in contracts and agreements, as "10 calendar days" will always be shorter than "10 business days."

Let's compare the difference:

10 calendar days = 10 consecutive days regardless of weekends/holidays

10 business days = Approximately 14 calendar days (including weekends)

This difference can significantly impact project timelines and deliverables. Many legal documents specify whether deadlines apply to business or calendar days to avoid confusion.

Weekdays and Weekends

In most countries following the Western business model, weekdays consist of Monday through Friday. These five days typically form the standard business week.

Weekends—Saturday and Sunday—are traditionally non-working days for most office-based businesses. However, many service industries, retail, hospitality, and healthcare operate during weekends.

The standard distribution in a year is:

Weekdays: About 260-262 days (52 weeks × 5 days)

Weekend days: About 104-105 days (52 weeks × 2 days)

Some countries and cultures have different weekend structures. For example, in some Middle Eastern countries, the weekend falls on Friday and Saturday, making Sunday a business day.

Impact of Public Holidays

Public holidays significantly reduce the total number of business days in a year. These holidays vary by country, region, and sometimes even by state or province.

In the United States, federal holidays like New Year's Day, Independence Day, and Christmas reduce business days by about 10 days annually. When these holidays fall on weekends, they're often observed on the nearest weekday.

Some important considerations about holidays:

Fixed-date holidays (like December 25) can fall on any day of the week

Floating holidays (like Thanksgiving) always occur on specific weekdays

Regional holidays may create differences in business days across locations

For international businesses, coordinating across different holiday calendars can be challenging and requires careful planning.

Leap Years and Their Effect

Leap years occur every four years, adding February 29 to the calendar. This additional day impacts the total count of business days when it falls on a weekday.

In 2024, for example, February 29 falls on a Thursday, adding one extra business day compared to a non-leap year. However, in 2028, February 29 will fall on a Tuesday, also adding an extra business day.

The impact of leap years on business days depends on:

Whether February 29 falls on a weekday (adding a business day)

Whether February 29 falls on a weekend (no effect on business days)

The total distribution of weekdays vs. weekends in that specific year

Accounting for these extra business days in leap years ensures more accurate planning when calculating long-term projects or financial forecasts.

Calculating Business Days

Businesses need accurate day counts for deadlines, payroll, and project timelines. The process requires understanding which days count as workdays and which don't in your organization's calendar.

Counting Days Between Two Dates

To find business days between dates, split the process into a few steps:

Identify your start date and end date

Count the total days between the two dates, including the end date

Determine how many complete weeks are in the range, then multiply that number by 5 (the standard business days per week)

Add any remaining days, excluding any weekend days

For example, between March 10 and March 21, 2025, there are 12 calendar days but only 10 business days because we exclude the weekends (March 15-16).

Excluding Weekends and Holidays

Standard business days exclude weekends (Saturday and Sunday). However, we must also account for holidays.

When excluding holidays, follow these steps:

1. Start with the total weekdays between your start and end dates

2. Identify all holidays that fall within your date range

3. Subtract any holidays that fall on weekdays from your total count

Most countries have 10-12 public holidays annually. In the US, this typically reduces business days by 8-10 days per year, as some holidays occasionally fall on weekends.

Using Calendar Tools and Calculators

Online business day calculators make this process simpler. Tools like Time and Date's Business Days Calculator or the Working Days Calculator let you:

Enter a start and end date

Automatically exclude weekends

Select specific holidays to exclude

Calculate days before deadlines

These calculators handle complexity like leap years and regional holiday variations. Some also offer APIs for integrating with your own applications or workflows.

Many project management tools have built-in business day calculations for task deadlines and timelines. These save time and reduce errors in scheduling.

Working With Excel and Date Functions

Excel offers powerful functions for business day calculations:

NETWORKDAYS: Counts workdays between two dates, excluding weekends and optionally holidays

WORKDAY: Adds a specified number of workdays to a date

WORKDAY.INTL: Allows customization of which days are weekends

Here's a basic NETWORKDAYS formula:

=NETWORKDAYS(start_date, end_date, [holidays]

For example, =NETWORKDAYS("3/10/2025","3/21/2025") returns 10. This is correct because it excludes weekends.

To add business days to a date, use =WORKDAY(start_date, days_to_add, [holidays]). This is useful for calculating delivery dates or project milestones.

These functions make complex date calculations manageable and accurate for business planning.