A common year has 260 or 261 weekdays and 104 or 105 weekend days. A leap year can have 260, 261, or 262 weekdays, depending on which days of the week the two extra days fall on. A weekday means Monday through Friday, the standard US workweek, and the number varies only because 365 and 366 are not exact multiples of seven.
What Counts as a Weekday?
A weekday is any day from Monday through Friday. Saturday and Sunday are the weekend. This Monday-to-Friday definition matches the standard US workweek used by employers, schools, and government offices.
The count is based on calendar days only. It does not subtract holidays, vacations, or personal days off. Later in this guide, we will show how federal holidays reduce the number of actual workdays in a US year.
Why the Answer Is Not a Single Number
A year is built from 52 full weeks plus leftover days. There are weeks in a year totaling 52, which covers 364 days, leaving 1 extra day in a common year and 2 extra days in a leap year. Those leftover days decide the final weekday count.
Fifty-two full weeks always contain exactly 260 weekdays: 52 Mondays through 52 Fridays. The extra day (or days) then adds between zero and two more weekdays, depending on which days of the week they happen to be.
- Common year (365 days): 260 weekdays from the full weeks, plus the 1 leftover day.
- Leap year (366 days): 260 weekdays from the full weeks, plus the 2 leftover days.
The leftover day is simply the weekday that January 1 falls on, since the extra days of a year always land at the very start of the calendar.
How Many Weekdays Are in a Common Year?
A common year has either 260 or 261 weekdays. The difference depends on one thing: whether the year’s extra day is a weekday or a weekend day.
| January 1 falls on | Weekdays | Weekend days | Example years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday | 261 | 104 | 2026 (Thursday), 2027 (Friday) |
| Saturday or Sunday | 260 | 105 | 2022 (Saturday), 2023 (Sunday) |
Take 2026 as a worked example. January 1, 2026 is a Thursday, so the year has 53 Thursdays and 52 of every other day. The extra Thursday is a weekday, giving 260 + 1 = 261 weekdays and 104 weekend days.
How Many Weekdays Are in a Leap Year?
A leap year has two leftover days, so the answer can be 260, 261, or 262 weekdays. The two extra days are always consecutive calendar days at the start of the year.
- 262 weekdays: both extra days are weekdays (for example, Thursday and Friday).
- 261 weekdays: one extra day is a weekday and one is a weekend day (for example, Friday and Saturday).
- 260 weekdays: both extra days fall on the weekend (Saturday and Sunday).
The next leap year, 2028, starts on a Saturday, so its extra days are Saturday and Sunday. That makes 2028 a 260-weekday year with 106 weekend days. The following leap year, 2032, starts on a Thursday, giving it 262 weekdays, the maximum possible.
Weekday Counts for Recent and Upcoming Years
| Year | Type | Jan 1 weekday | Weekdays | Weekend days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Leap year | Monday | 262 | 104 |
| 2025 | Common year | Wednesday | 261 | 104 |
| 2026 | Common year | Thursday | 261 | 104 |
| 2027 | Common year | Friday | 261 | 104 |
| 2028 | Leap year | Saturday | 260 | 106 |
| 2029 | Common year | Monday | 261 | 104 |
| 2030 | Common year | Tuesday | 261 | 104 |
Every calendar date used in this table was checked against an authoritative date calculation, including the day of the week for January 1 of each year.
How Federal Holidays Change the Number in the US
So far we have counted raw calendar weekdays. For US employees, the number of actual workdays is lower because of the 11 federal holidays. In 2026, all 11 federal holidays fall on weekdays, as verified below:
| Holiday | 2026 date | Day of week |
|---|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | January 1 | Thursday |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Day | January 19 | Monday |
| Presidents Day | February 16 | Monday |
| Memorial Day | May 25 | Monday |
| Juneteenth | June 19 | Friday |
| Independence Day (observed) | July 3 | Friday |
| Labor Day | September 7 | Monday |
| Columbus Day | October 12 | Monday |
| Veterans Day | November 11 | Wednesday |
| Thanksgiving Day | November 26 | Thursday |
| Christmas Day | December 25 | Friday |
Subtracting these 11 weekday holidays from the 261 raw weekdays gives 250 actual federal workdays in 2026. When a holiday lands on a Saturday or Sunday, federal employees typically observe it on the nearest weekday, which still removes one workday. Only holidays that collide with an already scheduled weekday holiday reduce the count by zero, which is rare.
How to Count Weekdays in Any Year
You can count the weekdays in any year with three simple steps:
- Start with 260. Every year contains 52 full weeks, and each week contributes 5 weekdays.
- Find the weekday of January 1. In a common year, this one day is the only extra day. In a leap year, take January 1 and January 2.
- Add 1 for each extra day that is a weekday. Skip extra days that fall on Saturday or Sunday.
Example: 2028 is a leap year, and January 1 and 2 are Saturday and Sunday. Neither is a weekday, so the answer is 260 + 0 = 260 weekdays.
Why Weekday Counts Matter
Weekday counts are the foundation of several everyday calculations in the United States:
- Payroll and benefits: salaried employees are typically paid for roughly 260 workdays a year, and daily-rate math often uses 260 as the denominator.
- Paid time off: knowing there are 261 weekdays in 2026 helps workers plan PTO around the 11 federal holidays for maximum time off.
- Business deadlines: contracts measured in “business days” skip weekends, so the raw weekday count is the starting point for scheduling.
- School calendars: a typical US school year spans about 180 instructional days, carved out of the year’s weekdays.
If you are planning in larger chunks of time, you may also want to know how many weeks are in a quarter, which breaks the year’s 52 weeks into four business-friendly segments. You can read more about our methods on the about us page.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many weekdays are in 2026?
There are 261 weekdays in 2026. It is a common year starting on a Thursday, so the one extra day is a weekday.
How many weekdays are in a leap year?
A leap year has 260, 261, or 262 weekdays. The count depends on the weekdays of January 1 and 2: add one weekday for each of those two days that falls on Monday through Friday.
Are there 260 or 261 weekdays in a year?
Most years have 261 weekdays. Only years where every extra day falls on a weekend have 260, such as the leap year 2028 (Saturday and Sunday) or common years starting on Saturday or Sunday.
How many working days are in a year in the US?
In 2026, there are 250 working days for federal employees: 261 weekdays minus 11 federal holidays. Most private employers observe fewer holidays, so their count is slightly higher.
Do holidays count as weekdays?
Yes, holidays that fall on Monday through Friday are technically weekdays, but they are not workdays. The raw count of 261 weekdays in 2026 includes all 11 federal holidays.
How many weekends are in a year?
Most years have 104 weekend days, meaning 52 Saturdays and 52 Sundays. Years with 260 weekdays instead have 105 or 106 weekend days, like 2028 with 106.
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