How Many Work Days in a Year (2025)

A traditional 5-day workweek usually amounts to around 249-251 working days per year.

But how many days per year do you actually work? 

Before you calculate your business days in a year, factor in things that may affect the actual number. These things may include the number of holidays, your workweek schedule, vacation days, and other factors.

Knowing how many weekdays in a year there are might help you plan your vacation, stay on top of your work — and overall, maintain a healthy work-life balance.

For that purpose, this article will help you:

• Calculate the number of working days in 2025 (with and without vacation days),
• Understand which factors influence the calculation of annual working days,
• Plan your work schedule for 2025 (or help you improve your existing plan), and
• Find answers to the most common questions regarding determining work days per year.

How many working days are there in 2025?

There are 261 work days (not including vacation days and holidays) in 2025.

The formula to calculate how many work days in a year there are is very straightforward:

Bear in mind that we didn’t deduct federal holidays and vacation days in this calculation. Also, don’t forget to include any other days off you receive from your employer. What’s more, some workers may have to work on federal holidays, so factor in all of the things we mentioned before starting your calculation.

Finally, the exact number of business days varies, but we’ll help you go through the entire calculation process step by step.

How to calculate your working days in 2025?

Now, to be able to calculate the exact number of your working days for 2025, you need to deduct all the weekends, federal holidays, and vacation days from the total number of days in a calendar year.

This is the formula to calculate the number of working days in a year, minus holidays and vacation days:

Total number of work days = Total number of days in a year – Weekends – Federal holidays – Vacation days

Let’s start the calculation.

Step #1: Deduct weekends in 2025

To calculate the number of working days in 2025, you’ll first need to determine the number of weekends. 

In 2025, there are 52 Saturdays and 52 Sundays — which amounts to 104 weekend days.

You’ll have to deduct this number from 365 later on when doing the calculation.

Step #2: Deduct federal holidays in 2025

Then, let’s list the federal holidays for 2025 to be able to deduct them later on.

Here is a list of federal holidays in the US and the dates when they are observed for the current 2025: 

1. New Year’s Day — Wednesday, January 1st,
2. Martin Luther King Jr. Day — Monday, January 20th,
3. Inauguration Day — Monday, January 20th (every 4 years, only for federal employees in Washington, DC),
4. Presidents’ Day (or Washington’s Birthday) — Monday, February 17th,
5. Memorial Day — Monday, May 26th,
6. Juneteenth National Independence Day — Thursday, June 19th,
7. Independence Day — Friday, July 4th,
8. Labor Day — Monday, September 1st,
9. Columbus Day — Monday, October 13th,
10. Veterans Day — Tuesday, November 11th,
11. Thanksgiving Day — Thursday, November 27th, and
12. Christmas Day — Thursday, December 25th.

For reference, if a holiday falls on a Saturday, it will be observed on the Friday immediately before. Also, if a holiday falls on a Sunday, it will be observed on the following Monday. This applies to a standard workweek from Monday to Friday, for which a non-working day is either Saturday or Sunday.

Whether you’ll be paid during federal holidays depends on the type of employee you are. Federal employees are entitled to paid time off for federal holidays, while private-sector employers are not required to offer their employees paid holidays (or time off during holidays). 

One way or another, you’ll have to deduct 11 days for federal holidays (or 12 days every 4 years if you live in Washington, DC) from the total number of days in a calendar year to determine the number of working days per year.

Step #3: Deduct vacation days

Keep in mind that US employers are not required to pay for hours not worked. 

This further implies that any leave, including vacation, is a benefit given to employees based on an employer-employee agreement (or company’s policy for that matter). 

Still, employers are encouraged to provide their employees with time off to maintain a healthy work-life balance, so the average American gets 11 days of vacation leave annually.

Therefore, to determine the number of working days per year, you’ll need to deduct the specific number of vacation days you receive from your employer per year.

How many work days in 2025: Final calculation 

Finally, let’s take in all the numbers we got in the previous section and determine the number of your working days in 2025, with and without vacation days.

First, let’s calculate the number of working days (with an average number of vacation days in the US):

Next, let’s calculate the number of working days formula (without vacation days):

Note: If you are entitled to any other type of PTO, either by law or employer-employee agreement, include it in the calculation.

How many work hours are there in 2025?

Now, if you are curious about knowing how many work hours you have in 2025, look at the calculations below. We’ll help you determine working hours for 2025 — with and without vacation days.

Number of working hours for 2025 (with vacation days)

Take a look at the following formula that shows how to get the annual number of your working hours in 2025, including vacation days: 

Note: We took the average vacation days number in the US, which is 11 days per year.

Number of working hours for 2025 (without vacation days)

Up next is the formula that you can use to determine the total number of your working hours in 2025, but without incorporating vacation days into your calculation: 

How to plan for your work schedule in 2025?

Regardless of whether you work a traditional 5-day work week or some alternative work schedule (such as a 4-day work week), make sure you have a well-thought-out plan for tackling tasks.  

So, we’re giving you some hands-on tips on how to successfully organize your work schedule.

Tip #1: Set your goals

Setting your goals — whether as an individual or a company — helps you have a better grasp of your priorities, your progress, or areas for improvement. 

Still, setting your goals is easier said than done, so here are some goal frameworks that you may consider using:

• The SMART goals framework — helps you set specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound goals.
• The Objectives and Key Results method (OKR) — used by some of the world’s leading companies such as Google, this effective method is focused on making your objectives more transparent and easily achievable.
• The Key Performance Indicators (KPI) method — aims to measure how well you perform based on the objectives and goals you’ve previously set for yourself.

Choose a framework that aligns with your needs and preferences and set achievable goals that will help you plan a perfect work schedule for you (and your team members). 

Tip #2: Determine a planning method

When you have your annual goals set, either as an individual or a team manager, you get a better idea of the tasks that need to be done.

Now, the choice of planning methods is vastly different — you can use to-do lists, Kanban boards, and various apps — but here, we recommend you try a scheduling method by using Clockify.

Thanks to the Clockify’s scheduling functionality, you can:

• See your team’s assignments,
• Create new assignments for your team members,
• Define periods for each assigned task (or change them in the meantime),
• Add additional notes and milestones, and much more.

As you can see in the screenshot above, Clockify uses colored blocks to showcase different tasks assigned to team members together with tasks’ preset deadlines (which you can also edit to your needs and preferences).

This way, you get to stay organized, meet deadlines, and most importantly — maintain a healthy work-life balance no matter the work environment you work in, either online or physical.

Tip #3: Break down tasks

While we’re discussing assignments, don’t forget that they’re more easily managed if you break them down into smaller chunks. This will help you stay on top of your tasks in terms of their priority, estimated time for completion, progress, and more. 

Things to remember when breaking down tasks:

• Identify your tasks clearly (e.g., “enter my work hours every Friday”),
• Prioritize your tasks (this ensures you don’t procrastinate or waste time on unimportant tasks), and 
• Set milestones (helps you stay on top of your deadlines and bring attention to important dates or potential bottlenecks).  

Tip #4: Retain a healthy work-life balance

Last but not least — leave some time for vacation or personal time off when planning out your work schedule.

When you do this, take into account the time that you’ll use to rest and recharge. Early vacation planning will encourage you and your team members to perform well, increase team morale, and make you feel more content. 

As a matter of fact, a study by the Institute for Applied Positive Research discovered that 97% of the surveyed people feel happier when they have their vacation plans booked in advance.

How many working days in a year — FAQs

If you haven’t found the answer you’re looking for in the above section, here are some of the most common questions regarding working days in 2025.

How many work days in a year minus holidays?

For state employees and most private companies, this number is clear — the number of working days in a year minus holidays equals 250 working days in 2025.

Note: The number of holidays in the calculation is 11 and doesn’t include vacation days. If you work in Washington, D.C., you get an additional holiday Inauguration Day every 4 years. Also, if you work in a private company, check your company’s policy regarding the number of holidays you are entitled to.

How many work days in a year plus holidays?

If your employer requires you to work during federal holidays (this may happen in private sectors only), then the total number of working days in 2025 plus holidays is 261.

Still, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 81% of private-sector workers had the right to paid holidays in 2024.

How can I calculate the number of working days in 2025 for my specific state?

The number of working days per year depends on:

• The number of weekends per year,
• The federal holidays you are entitled to, and
• The number of vacation days you receive from your employer.

The exact number doesn’t have anything to do with the state you work in, as all federal employees are entitled to federal holidays. On the other hand, private sector employees receive time off during holidays as a matter of employer-employee agreement. 

The only thing that’s state-wise is the number of federal holidays in Washington, where employees have 12 federal holidays every 4 years.

Will there be more or fewer working days in 2025 compared to previous years?

The total number of working days in 2025 (minus federal holidays) amounts to 250, which means that 2024 had 1 extra work day, i.e. 251, because 2024 was a leap year.

Take a look at the number of working days in the 4 previous years:

• 2024 had 251 work days,
• 2023 had 249 work days,
• 2022 had 249 work days, and
• 2021 had 250 work days.

Will there be more or fewer working days in 2026 compared to 2025?

As for 2026, there will be the same number of working days as in 2025 — more specifically, the total number of working days in 2026 will be 250. 

How many paid days off do I get a year?

Federal employees are entitled to paid time off for federal holidays, so they get 11 paid days off per year. 

On the other hand, private employees are entitled to the number of paid days off as stated in the employer-employee agreement.  

According to the FLSA, employers aren’t bound by law to pay for their employees’ non-working hours, whether for vacation, personal time off, or sick leave. This applies to maternity leave, too.

How many business days a year has on average?

The average number of business days in a year is usually between 249 and 251, minus holidays, depending on the number of weekend days — and whether a year is leap.

Does Sunday count as a working day?

As for whether Sunday counts as a work day — the answer may depend on the industry you work in, company policy, and other factors. Even though a standard work week is from Monday to Friday, with 2 rest days (known as the weekend), some industries still operate on Saturday and Sunday.

These may be supermarkets, restaurants, retail stores and shopping malls, healthcare institutions, gyms, bars, and many others. 

Bear in mind that federal law does not require employers to pay their employees extra pay for weekend work. Still, if an employee works more than 40 hours per week, such an employee is entitled to overtime pay, 1.5 times the regular wage.

Why is it important to know how many working days there are in a year?

The reasons are various and might depend on different needs, but here we list some of the most common reasons for knowing the number of work days per year:

• Improving your work-life balance — scheduling personal time off and recharging your batteries guarantees peak performance at work, feeling content, and keeps you from overworking. 
• Being aware of your earnings — Knowing the number of your working days a year helps you determine your annual income, hourly or freelance rates, be in control of your spending, or build a personal financial plan.
• Making better career decisions — if you are planning to change your job, bear in mind that knowing about your annual working days may help you get more insight into the job offer itself, such as the workload, offered PTO, and more. 
• Allocating workload efficiently — when you are aware of the number of both your work days and days off, you can manage your workload and organize your priorities better.

Keep track of your work days by using Clockify

If you’re looking for a reliable tool to stay informed on your employees’ work and non-work days and manage leaves or holidays — Clockify will make sure you don’t miss any. 

With Clockify, you’ll be able to:

• See who’s away and when,
• Create PTO policies for your employees,
• Approve time off requests (employees can request time off, too),
• Export time off and get all balances either in CSV or Excel, and more.

As you can see from the screenshot below, the time off section in Clockify allows you to see the color-coded timeline with employee PTOs. 

Simply hover over the colored area, and you’ll be able to see the timeframe when your employees took time off, while each type of PTO is colored differently (you can change this in the settings).

At the same time, your employees can quite effortlessly request time off within the app, simply:

• Choose a time off policy,
• Select the time frame, 
• Add a note, and
• Click submit.

Clockify can be your ally in making sure your employees take time off without a hitch, while you keep a cool head that all time off requests are managed safely.