A typical year has between 260 and 262 business days before accounting for holidays. Most years land on 261 weekdays, which drops to about 250 working days once you subtract the 11 federal holidays. The exact count shifts slightly from year to year depending on how the calendar falls.
Why the Number Changes Each Year
A quick assumption is that every year has exactly 260 weekdays: 52 weeks times 5 days. But a calendar year is 365 days, not 364, so there’s always one extra day. In a leap year, there are two extra days. Those extra days sometimes land on weekdays, sometimes on weekends.
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management studied this pattern over a 28-year cycle (the time it takes for the calendar to fully repeat) and found a clear distribution. Out of every 28 years, 17 have 261 weekdays, 7 have 260 weekdays, and 4 have 262 weekdays. The year 2025, for example, has 261 weekdays.
Weekdays vs. Working Days
Business days and weekdays aren’t quite the same thing. “Business days” typically means weekdays minus holidays. The standard baseline is the 11 federal holidays observed by banks, government offices, and the Federal Reserve: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
Subtracting those 11 holidays from a typical 261-weekday year gives you 250 business days. In a 260-weekday year, you’d get 249. In a 262-weekday year, 251. Your actual count may differ if your employer observes fewer holidays, adds floating holidays, or skips Columbus Day and Veterans Day (as many private companies do).
How This Affects Pay Calculations
If you’re salaried, the number of working days in a year matters more than you might think. Your employer divides your annual salary across pay periods, and because years don’t divide evenly into identical chunks, small differences appear.
The federal government uses 2,087 hours as the standard annual work-hour figure for converting salaries to hourly rates. That number comes from averaging the hours across the full 28-year calendar cycle: the 262-day years produce 2,096 hours, the 261-day years produce 2,088 hours, and the 260-day years produce 2,080 hours. Averaged together, you get 2,087. Before 1984, the government used an even 2,080, but that slightly undercounted actual work hours in most years.
One practical consequence: if you’re paid biweekly (every two weeks), you’ll usually receive 26 paychecks per year. But every few years, the calendar lines up so you receive 27 paychecks instead. That extra paycheck doesn’t mean extra annual pay. It means each check is slightly smaller, or your employer adjusts the final check to stay on target.
Counting Business Days in a Spreadsheet
When you need the exact number of business days between two dates, or within a specific year, spreadsheet software makes it simple. In Excel or Google Sheets, the NETWORKDAYS function does the math for you. The formula takes a start date, an end date, and an optional list of holidays to exclude.
For a full-year count, you’d enter something like =NETWORKDAYS(DATE(2025,1,1), DATE(2025,12,31)) to get the total weekdays. To subtract holidays, add a reference to a list of holiday dates as the third argument. Without the holiday list, the function returns weekdays only, not true business days. One thing to watch: enter dates using the DATE function rather than typing them as text, which can cause errors.
Quick Reference by Year Type
- 260-weekday year: 249 business days after 11 federal holidays (occurs about 7 out of every 28 years)
- 261-weekday year: 250 business days after 11 federal holidays (occurs about 17 out of every 28 years)
- 262-weekday year: 251 business days after 11 federal holidays (occurs about 4 out of every 28 years)
For most planning purposes, using 250 business days as a round number is a reliable estimate. If you need precision for payroll, project timelines, or contract terms, check where weekends and holidays fall in your specific year and count accordingly.