When you measure working days for US payroll periods, federal filing deadlines, or service-level agreements, you must remove not just weekends but the 11 federal holidays — and apply the observed-date rule, because a holiday on a weekend shifts the day federal offices actually close. This tool does both: it counts the weekdays in your range and subtracts each federal holiday on its correctly computed observed date.
The 11 US Federal Holidays
| Holiday | Date rule |
|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | January 1 (observed if weekend) |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Day | Third Monday in January |
| Washington’s Birthday (Presidents’ Day) | Third Monday in February |
| Memorial Day | Last Monday in May |
| Juneteenth National Independence Day | June 19 (observed if weekend) |
| Independence Day | July 4 (observed if weekend) |
| Labor Day | First Monday in September |
| Columbus Day | Second Monday in October |
| Veterans Day | November 11 (observed if weekend) |
| Thanksgiving Day | Fourth Thursday in November |
| Christmas Day | December 25 (observed if weekend) |
Floating holidays (MLK Day, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Thanksgiving) are computed by weekday position for the exact year in question. Fixed-date holidays shift when they fall on a weekend.
How the observed-date rule works
When a fixed-date holiday lands on a Saturday, the preceding Friday is the observed holiday. When it lands on a Sunday, the following Monday is observed. Federal offices close on the observed date, not the calendar date.
For example, if Independence Day (July 4) falls on a Saturday, the government observes it on Friday July 3. July 4 itself is a regular Saturday (already a non-working day), so only the Friday is removed — the holiday is never double-counted.
How the tool counts
- Walk every calendar day in your inclusive date range.
- Skip Saturdays and Sundays.
- For each year covered, generate the 11 observed holiday dates using the rules above.
- Skip any weekday that matches an observed holiday.
- The remaining days are working days.
Practical uses
Federal contract deadlines — government agencies use the observed-date schedule. If a response is due “within 30 working days” of a notice issued on a given date, this tool gives the exact count.
Payroll periods — bi-weekly payrolls often need the working-day count in each period for attendance and accrual calculations.
SLA calculations — if a vendor contract specifies “business days excluding US federal holidays,” this count maps directly to that definition.
Project planning — sprint timelines and release schedules benefit from knowing how many holidays fall inside each quarter.
Limitations
This counter applies the federal set only. States observe additional holidays (for example, various states observe Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and some observe state-specific holidays like César Chávez Day in California or Patriots’ Day in Massachusetts). Many private employers also follow their own calendars that add or remove days. For binding deadline calculations, confirm against the specific calendar that governs your contract or regulation.
Why the observed-date rule prevents double-counting
The observed-date logic matters most for fixed-date holidays. Because weekends are already removed before holidays are subtracted, a holiday that falls on a weekend must be deducted on its observed weekday only — never on the calendar date, which was already a non-working day. Two representative cases:
| Calendar date | Falls on | Observed (federal offices closed) | Working day removed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Independence Day, Jul 4 | Saturday | Friday, Jul 3 | Jul 3 only |
| Christmas, Dec 25 | Sunday | Monday, Dec 26 | Dec 26 only |
| New Year’s Day, Jan 1 | Wednesday | Jan 1 | Jan 1 |
Getting this wrong is the classic off-by-one in home-grown business-day counters — they either miss the shifted weekday or deduct both the Saturday and the Friday.
A note on Juneteenth
Juneteenth National Independence Day (June 19) is the newest federal holiday, added in 2021. Any working-day count that predates that addition — or a library that has not been updated — will over-count working days in periods spanning June 19. This tool includes all 11 current holidays.
One planning subtlety: holidays are not uniform business closures
Federal holidays bind federal offices, but private employers are free to set their own calendars — many observe only six to eight of the eleven, and stock markets follow their own schedule (NYSE closes on Good Friday, which is not a federal holiday, and stays open on Columbus Day and Veterans Day, which are). When counting working days for a contract or SLA, state explicitly whose holiday calendar governs; “business days” without that definition is a recurring source of missed-deadline disputes.
Sources
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management — Federal Holidays — the 11 holidays, date rules, and observed-date policy.
- 5 U.S.C. § 6103 — Holidays — the statutory list and the in-lieu-of (observed) rule.