How Many Working Days Are in a Month?
A month has about 21.75 working days on average. That's 2026's 261 weekdays shared across 12 months. Take out the US federal holidays and it drops to about 20.8. A single month can have anywhere from 19 to 23, and at 40 hours a week the average month works out to 173.33 hours.
Working days in any month
Pick a month and a country. A holiday that falls on a weekend counts on the weekday that country actually takes off instead, and the hours assume every working day is the same length.
Working days in the next 12 months
Next year month by month, with weekends and US federal holidays taken out. The short one is November 2026, at 19 days, since both Veterans Day and Thanksgiving Day hit weekdays.
| Month | Weekdays | Federal holidays | Working days | Hours at 8 a day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2026 | 22 | Columbus Day | 21 | 168 |
| November 2026 | 21 | Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day | 19 | 152 |
| December 2026 | 23 | Christmas Day | 22 | 176 |
| January 2027 | 21 | New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day | 19 | 152 |
| February 2027 | 20 | Washington's Birthday | 19 | 152 |
| March 2027 | 23 | None | 23 | 184 |
| April 2027 | 22 | None | 22 | 176 |
| May 2027 | 21 | Memorial Day | 20 | 160 |
| June 2027 | 22 | Juneteenth | 21 | 168 |
| July 2027 | 22 | Independence Day | 21 | 168 |
| August 2027 | 22 | None | 22 | 176 |
| September 2027 | 22 | Labor Day | 21 | 168 |
Why some months have more working days than others
It all comes down to where the weekends fall. A 31-day month is four full weeks plus three spare days, so starting on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday gives it 23 weekdays, and any other start gives 21 or 22. A 30-day month ends up with 20 to 22. February gets exactly 20 unless it's a leap year. After that, holidays knock a day or two off, which is why November and December so often come up short.
Monthly hours for pay and salary
Payroll usually works with averages rather than real months. A 40-hour week is 2,080 hours a year, so a month averages 173.33 hours, and half a month 86.67. Divide a monthly salary by 173.33 and you get the hourly rate. The real count moves around, though: November 2026 has 152 working hours at 8 a day once the holidays are out, while March 2026 has 176.
Working days in a month outside the US
Public holidays shift the count from country to country. For November 2026 it's US 19, UK 21, Canada 20 and Australia 21. The calculator above has each country's holidays built in, and the working days in 2026 page has full-year tables.
Counting working days in Excel or Google Sheets
NETWORKDAYS does it. =NETWORKDAYS(DATE(2026,11,1),EOMONTH(DATE(2026,11,1),0)) counts the 21 weekdays in November 2026. Add a range of holiday dates as a third argument to take those out as well, and swap in NETWORKDAYS.INTL if your weekend isn't Saturday and Sunday.
Working days questions
How many working days are in a month on average?
Count weekends only and it's about 21.75 a month. With US federal holidays out as well, call it 20.8. Every month lands somewhere between 19 and 23.
How many work hours are in a month?
Most people use 173.33. That's what you get from a 40-hour week: 2,080 hours a year, divided by 12. On 37.5 hours a week it's 162.5 a month, and on 35 hours, 151.67. HR teams often use the same number to turn a monthly salary into an hourly rate.
How many working days are in November 2026?
19, if you're in the US. Veterans Day and Thanksgiving Day knock 2 off November's 21 weekdays, so an 8-hour-a-day job gets 152 hours.
How many days are in a year without weekends?
Both 2026 and 2027 have 261 weekdays, and that's typical: most years have 260 or 261. A leap year starting on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday squeezes in 262. Knock out the federal holidays and you're left with roughly 250 working days.
Related pages
Cite this page
APA: ClockTotals. (2026, October 29). How Many Working Days Are in a Month? https://clocktotals.com/working-days-in-a-month/
MLA: “How Many Working Days Are in a Month?” ClockTotals, 29 Oct. 2026, clocktotals.com/working-days-in-a-month/.
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