A business day is normally a weekday that is not a holiday. Deadlines for shipping, contracts, bank transfers and HR processes all use business days, but each of them can define the term a little differently, so start by confirming the rule that applies to you.
Counting business days between two dates
- Decide whether the start date and end date are counted. Counting both is the style used by spreadsheet NETWORKDAYS-type functions.
- List the days in the range and cross out Saturdays and Sundays.
- Cross out holidays that fall on the remaining weekdays.
- Count what is left.
Example
October 12 to October 16, 2026 runs Monday to Friday, which is 5 weekdays. But October 12, 2026 is Columbus Day (Indigenous Peoples' Day), a federal holiday. Count both ends and skip the holiday: 4 business days.
Adding business days to a date
Move forward one day at a time, skipping weekends and holidays, and do not count the start date. 10 business days after Friday, December 18, 2026:
- Dec 21, 22, 23 and 24 are business days 1 to 4.
- Dec 25 (Christmas) is skipped. Dec 28, 29, 30 and 31 are days 5 to 8.
- Jan 1, 2027 (New Year's Day) is skipped. Jan 4 is day 9 and Jan 5 is day 10.
The answer is Tuesday, January 5, 2027. Without holidays it would be Friday, January 1.
How US federal holidays are observed
When a federal holiday falls on a Saturday, federal employees observe it on the Friday before. When it falls on a Sunday, they observe it on the Monday after. In 2026, July 4 is a Saturday, so the observed day is Friday, July 3. In 2027, Christmas is a Saturday, so Friday, December 24 is observed.
There are 11 federal holidays: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day (third Monday of January), Washington's Birthday (third Monday of February), Memorial Day (last Monday of May), Juneteenth (June 19), Independence Day (July 4), Labor Day (first Monday of September), Columbus Day (second Monday of October), Veterans Day (November 11), Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday of November) and Christmas (December 25).
Cases where the federal list is not the right list
- Banks and the Federal Reserve follow their own schedule, and a transfer may be unavailable on days that are not federal holidays for other employers.
- Courts and contracts may define how deadlines are counted, including whether weekends count. Read the rule or contract.
- Companies often add their own days off, such as the day after Thanksgiving. Enter them as extra days off in the calculator.
- Shipping carriers may deliver on Saturdays and count them differently.
For legal deadlines, do not rely on a general-purpose calculator alone. Confirm the counting rule that applies to your court, agreement or agency.