Monday–Friday count

Weekdays in Year Calculator

How many weekdays a year contains, plus weekend remainder.

Weekdays in a year

Enter a year. Leap years add one weekday or weekend day depending on January 1.

Years With Same Calendar Find other Gregorian years that share this year’s weekday layout Months With Same Calendar Find months that share a month grid (same length and starting weekday) Calendar Cycle Calculator 28-year Gregorian cycle and the next years that match a layout Calendar Reuse Calculator Whether last year’s printed calendar can be reused this year 52 or 53 Weeks Calculator Whether a year has 52 or 53 ISO weeks, plus the extra week’s dates Next Leap Day Calculator Next February 29 on or after a date, plus weekday

This calculator counts how many Monday–Friday dates a year contains, and it typically also states the weekend remainder. The total is 261 or 262 in a common year and 262 or 263 in a leap year, depending on which weekdays January 1 and (in leap years) February 29 occupy. It is a five-day-week total, not a count of a single weekday such as Mondays only.

Monday through Friday as one bucket

Office-capacity models often need “how many weekdays,” not “how many Mondays.” This page sums all five. A year with 52 weeks plus leftover days assigns the leftovers to whichever weekdays sit at the edges. Leap day adds one more civil date to that assignment.

The sibling weekday occurrences page counts one chosen weekday (for example how many Mondays). Use that when the question is Mondays; use this page when the question is all workweek dates combined. The date on weekday finder lists the dates instead of totaling them.

How the leftover days work

365 = 52×7 + 1, so a common year has one extra weekday (or weekend day) beyond 52 of each weekday. 366 = 52×7 + 2, so a leap year has two extras. Those extras are not evenly spread across Monday–Friday. A common year always has 261 weekdays if the extra day is Saturday or Sunday, and 262 if the extra day is a weekday. Leap years similarly land on 262 or 263 weekdays.

Do not memorize a single number for every year. Enter 2026 (or any year) and read the computed total. Leap centuries that skip February 29 behave as common years for this count.

Federal holidays are not subtracted

The count is civil Monday–Friday dates. US federal observed holidays that fall on weekdays are still included. Subtract them using 2026 holidays if you need “office-open weekdays.” The workday calendar can highlight weekdays and optionally skip federal observed dates visually.

School instructional day totals subtract many more closures than federal holidays. Do not use this weekday total as a K–12 180-day plan without the school calendar tool and the district list.

Worked examples

A call-center forecast for 2026 uses the weekday total as the number of staffing days before holiday skip. Finance then subtracts observed federal weekdays. The raw 261/262/263 figure stays in the model as a line item named civil weekdays.

A civics lesson compares a leap year that starts on Saturday (leap day Sunday) with a leap year that starts on Monday to show why 263 weekdays is possible. Students enter both years rather than taking a textbook’s single figure.

Weekends as the remainder

Total days minus weekdays equals weekend days (Saturdays plus Sundays), which is not identical to the count of Saturday–Sunday pairs when a weekend splits across years. For pair inventory use weekends in a year. This page’s remainder is a day count, not a pair count.

ISO 52 vs 53 weeks is yet another remainder system. A 53-week ISO year is not the same statement as 263 weekdays. Keep ISO on weeks-in-year.

Leap day on a weekday

If February 29 is Monday–Friday, it increments the weekday total relative to a common year with the same January 1 weekday by one extra weekday (and the common year already had its own leftover). The interaction is easier to trust from the calculator than from mental math at year end.

If February 29 is Saturday or Sunday, the weekday total may match a nearby common year’s weekday total even though the year is longer by one weekend day.

Limits

No part-time FTE conversion, no 4-day workweek option, no Saturday as a workday. Those policy choices belong in a staffing model after you take this civil total.

For a year grid of highlighted weekdays, use the workday calendar. This URL is the number.

FTE and contractor burn

A one-FTE weekday model multiplies hours per day by this weekday total, then subtracts federal observed weekdays and company shutdowns. Skipping the subtraction overstates delivery. Skipping the raw total and jumping straight to “about 260” hides leap-year movement between 261 and 263.

Contractors who bill weekdays only should state whether holidays are billable. This count includes holiday weekdays. If they are not billable, subtract them. The calculator will not know the contract.

Compared with weekend day counts

Weekday total plus weekend-day remainder equals 365 or 366. If a spreadsheet’s two lines do not add to the year’s day count, a filter is wrong. Pair counts from the weekends tool will not add in the same way because of split weekends. Use day remainders here, pairs there.

261 versus 262 in common years

If January 1 is Saturday, the leftover day of a common year is a weekend day and the weekday total is 261. If January 1 is a Wednesday, the leftover is a weekday and the total is 262. Leap years add a second leftover that may or may not be a weekday. Enter the year; do not average 261.5 in a model and call it precision.

Frequently asked questions

What Monday–Friday total does weekdays in a year count?

It counts civil Monday–Friday dates in the year. Common years have 261 or 262 weekdays; leap years have 262 or 263, depending on January 1 and where leap day falls. Weekend days are the remainder. Federal holidays that land on weekdays are still included in the raw total.

How is this different from counting only Mondays?

Counting one weekday is the job of the weekday occurrences calculator, where you pick Monday or Friday and get that day’s total. This page always sums all five workweek days. Use occurrences for Mondays; use this total for office-day capacity before holiday subtraction.

Why is there no single weekday total for every year?

A common year has one leftover day after 52 weeks; a leap year has two. Those leftovers may be weekdays or weekend days depending on January 1. Leap centuries that skip February 29 behave like common years. Enter the year instead of reusing last year’s 261 or 262.

When should federal observed holidays be subtracted from weekdays?

Subtract them when you need office-open weekdays rather than civil Monday–Friday dates. Use the holidays list for observed dates. The workday calendar can skip federal observed holidays visually. This calculator’s headline number does not remove those closures, and state holidays are not in that federal list.

How does the weekend remainder relate to weekend pairs?

The remainder is Saturday count plus Sunday count, a day total. Weekend pairs are Saturday–Sunday blocks and can split across New Year. A day remainder of 104 is not always 52 pairs inside the year. Use weekends in a year when the artifact should be pairs.

Is 53 ISO weeks the same as 263 weekdays?

No. ISO 53-week years follow the Thursday and leap-Wednesday rule. Weekday totals follow leftover civil days after 52×7. A year can be 52 ISO weeks and still have 262 weekdays, or other combinations. Keep ISO counts on the weeks-in-year page.

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