Work days
2026 has 250 work days
261 weekdays, minus the 11 federal holidays, is 250 days — 2,000 hours at 8 a day. Change the year, the workweek or the dates and the count follows.
Work days
2,000 hours at 8 a day
- Days in the period
- 365
- Working weekdays
- 261
- Days off the weekly pattern
- 104
- Federal holidays taken out
- −11
- Days you actually work
- 250
| Month | Work days | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| January | 20 | 160 |
| February | 19 | 152 |
| March | 22 | 176 |
| April | 22 | 176 |
| May | 20 | 160 |
| June | 21 | 168 |
| July | 22 | 176 |
| August | 21 | 168 |
| September | 21 | 168 |
| October | 21 | 168 |
| November | 19 | 152 |
| December | 22 | 176 |
Months are shown after holidays and before any days off you entered — a day off is not pinned to a month here.
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The two answers
260 is a convention. The calendar is the number
Payroll turns a salary into an hourly rate by dividing by 2,080 — 52 weeks of five eight-hour days. It is tidy and it is never quite the year. A year is 52 weeks plus a day, or two in a leap year, so the weekday count lands on 261 or 262 far more often than on 260.
Where the holidays fall matters too, and not in the way people expect: a holiday on a Saturday does not cost anyone a working day, which is why some years lose eleven days to the federal calendar and others lose nine or ten. Both 2026 and 2027 lose the full eleven, because every observed date lands on a weekday.
2026
250 work days
- Weekdays
- 261
- Federal holidays on a weekday
- −11
- Hours at 8 a day
- 2,000
2027
250 work days
- Weekdays
- 261
- Federal holidays on a weekday
- −11
- Hours at 8 a day
- 2,000
Month by month
No month has a standard number of work days
| Month | Work days | Hours | Holiday in it |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20 | 160 | 2 |
| February | 19 | 152 | 1 |
| March | 22 | 176 | — |
| April | 22 | 176 | — |
| May | 20 | 160 | 1 |
| June | 21 | 168 | 1 |
| July | 22 | 176 | 1 |
| August | 21 | 168 | — |
| September | 21 | 168 | 1 |
| October | 21 | 168 | 1 |
| November | 19 | 152 | 2 |
| December | 22 | 176 | 1 |
2026 federal holidays
The observed dates, not the statutory ones
- New Year's Day Thursday, January 1
- Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. Monday, January 19
- Washington's Birthday Monday, February 16
- Memorial Day Monday, May 25
- Juneteenth National Independence Day Friday, June 19
- Independence Day Friday, July 3 4 July 2026 is a Saturday, so the Friday before is the observed holiday.
- Labor Day Monday, September 7
- Columbus Day Monday, October 12
- Veterans Day Wednesday, November 11
- Thanksgiving Day Thursday, November 26
- Christmas Day Friday, December 25
These are the days federal offices close. A private employer is free to close on all of them, some of them or none — no federal law requires paid holidays — and most states add their own, which this page does not count.
Questions
How many work days are in 2026?
250. 2026 has 365 days, of which 261 are weekdays and 104 fall on a weekend. Take out the 11 federal holidays — all of them land on a weekday in 2026 — and 250 working days are left, or 2,000 hours at 8 hours a day.
Why do people say 260 days, or 2,080 hours?
Because 52 weeks × 5 days = 260, and × 8 hours = 2,080. It is the convention payroll uses to turn a salary into an hourly rate, and it is not the same as counting the calendar: a year is 52 weeks and one or two days, so most years have 261 or 262 weekdays before holidays. 2026 has 261. Both numbers are "right" — one is a convention, the other is the year.
Are federal holidays paid days off?
For federal employees, yes. For everyone else it is up to the employer: no federal law requires a private employer to close on a federal holiday or to pay you for it. That is why the holiday toggle above exists — the eleven federal days are the usual starting point, but plenty of workplaces close on fewer, and retail and healthcare on almost none.
Why is Independence Day on 3 July here?
Because that is when it is observed. The statute fixes the holiday on 4 July, but when 4 July is a Saturday most federal employees get the preceding Friday instead — and in 2026 that is Friday, 3 July. This page uses the observed dates OPM publishes, because those are the days an office is actually shut.
How many work days are in a month?
Between 19 and 22 in 2026. There is no fixed number: a month has 20, 21 or 22 working weekdays depending on where the weekends fall and whether a holiday lands in it. The month-by-month table is under the calculator.
Does this change my hourly rate?
It changes what you compare it against. A salary divided by 2,080 hours is the payroll convention; the same salary divided by 2,000 actual hours in 2026 is slightly higher, because the holidays you are paid for are hours you did not work. If you are paid hourly and unpaid on holidays, the working figure is the one that matters — it is your gross for the year.
Where these dates come from
Holiday dates last checked 2026-08-28. The day count itself is arithmetic on the calendar, done in UTC so the answer does not change with the visitor's time zone. State and local holidays, and any shutdown your employer adds, are not included.