How many business days are in a year?
A calendar year has 365 or 366 days, but only the weekdays that aren't federal holidays count as business days. Pick a year below to see the exact number of business days, weekends and holidays — and turn it into total working hours for payroll or project planning.
Federal holidays in 1970
| Holiday | Observed |
|---|---|
| New Year's Day | Thu, Jan 1, 1970 |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Day | Mon, Jan 19, 1970 |
| Washington's Birthday (Presidents' Day) | Mon, Feb 16, 1970 |
| Memorial Day | Mon, May 25, 1970 |
| Juneteenth | Fri, Jun 19, 1970 |
| Independence Day | Fri, Jul 3, 1970 |
| Labor Day | Mon, Sep 7, 1970 |
| Columbus Day | Mon, Oct 12, 1970 |
| Veterans Day | Wed, Nov 11, 1970 |
| Thanksgiving Day | Thu, Nov 26, 1970 |
| Christmas Day | Fri, Dec 25, 1970 |
Business days exclude weekends and the 11 federal holidays that fall on a weekday in 1970. Your employer's paid holidays may differ from the federal calendar.
How business days are calculated
Start with the total days in the year, subtract every Saturday and Sunday to get the weekdays (Monday–Friday), then subtract the US federal holidays that land on a weekday. Holidays that fall on a weekend are observed on the nearest weekday, so they still reduce the business-day count. The result is the number of days most full-time, Monday-to-Friday employees actually work.
To estimate annual working hours, multiply business days by your hours per day. At 8 hours per day, a typical 250-business-day year works out to about 2,000 working hours.
Frequently asked questions
How many business days are in a year?
A typical year has about 250–262 business days. After removing weekends and federal holidays that fall on weekdays, 1970 has 250 business days.
How many working days were in 2024 and 2025?
2024 had 251 business days (it was a leap year) and 2025 has 250 business days, after excluding weekends and weekday federal holidays.
How do I turn business days into working hours?
Multiply the number of business days by your hours per day. At 8 hours a day, roughly 250 business days equals about 2,000 working hours a year — the calculator does this for any hours-per-day value.
Are federal holidays the same as my company's paid days off?
Not always. This guide uses the 11 US federal holidays as a baseline. Many employers add floating holidays or follow a different calendar, so confirm your actual schedule with HR.
Related tools
- Days between dates calculator — count calendar days between any two dates.
- Salary & take-home calculator — convert annual pay into hourly using your working hours.
- All date calculators