How Many Working Days Are in 2027?

There are 249 working days in 2027 on the US federal calendar. The year has 261 weekdays, Monday to Friday, and 12 of them are federal holidays or observed holidays. At 8 hours a day, 249 working days come to 1,992 hours.

The twelfth day off is easy to miss. New Year's Day 2028 falls on a Saturday, so federal employees get Friday, December 31, 2027 off instead. The US Office of Personnel Management lists that day on its 2028 schedule, not its 2027 one. If your employer gives the 11 holidays dated in 2027 but treats December 31 as a normal day, you have 250 working days in 2027. All counts on this page are for the United States; other countries' public holidays give different totals.

2027 working days: the full count

A working day is a weekday, Monday to Friday, that is not a public holiday. 2027 has 249 of them after US federal holidays, out of 261 weekdays. The full count:

Why 261 weekdays? 2027 is not a leap year and starts on a Friday. That makes 52 full weeks, which hold 260 weekdays, plus one extra day at the end of the year: Friday, December 31. That extra weekday is the same day that federal employees get off for New Year's Day 2028.

How many business days are in 2027?

"Business days" usually means the same thing as working days, but the answer depends on whose calendar you use. In 2027 there are four common answers:

Federal Reserve Banks are open more days than federal offices because the Federal Reserve uses a different weekend rule. When a holiday falls on a Saturday, Reserve Banks stay open on the Friday before. When it falls on a Sunday, they close on the Monday after (Federal Reserve Financial Services, retrieved 2026-11-03). So in 2027, Reserve Banks are open on three Fridays (June 18, December 24 and December 31) while federal offices are closed.

Private employers are not bound by the federal list. The US Department of Labor says the Fair Labor Standards Act "does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations or holidays" (US Department of Labor, retrieved 2026-11-03). Your employer's holiday calendar decides your own count. For a specific date range, use the business days calculator.

Working days per quarter in 2027

The four quarters of 2027 hold between 61 and 64 working days. The fourth quarter has the most holidays, five: Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day (observed Friday, December 24) and New Year's Day 2028 (observed Friday, December 31).

If December 31 is a working day for you, Q4 has 62 working days and the year has 250. For the count in each month, with hours per month and paycheck months, see how many working days are in a month.

US federal holidays in 2027

There are 11 legal public holidays in US law, listed in 5 U.S.C. 6103. This table shows each one in 2027, the day of the week it falls on, and the weekday federal employees get off. The last row is New Year's Day 2028, which is observed in 2027.

Every observed date above matches the 2027 and 2028 holiday schedules published by the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM, retrieved 2026-11-03).

How the days off fall in 2027:

• Six Mondays: January 18, February 15, May 31, July 5, September 6 and October 11.
• Four Fridays: January 1, June 18, December 24 and December 31.
• Two Thursdays: Veterans Day and Thanksgiving.

That makes ten three-day weekends. The Friday after Thanksgiving, November 26, is not a federal holiday, although an employer can give it as a company holiday. Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are both Fridays off on the federal calendar, which gives federal staff long weekends from December 24 to 26 and from December 31 to January 2, 2028.

What happens when a federal holiday falls on a weekend?

A holiday on a Saturday is observed on the Friday before. A holiday on a Sunday is observed on the Monday after. The Saturday rule is written into 5 U.S.C. 6103(b) for employees with a Monday to Friday workweek. The Sunday rule comes from Executive Order 11582 of 1971, as the OPM holiday page explains. For people who work other schedules, OPM sets an "in lieu of" day using the rules in its In Lieu Of fact sheet.

In 2027 those rules move four holidays:

The last move is why counts for 2027 differ. A holiday can be observed in the year before its legal date. Calendars that only subtract holidays dated in 2027 stop at 250. Calendars that subtract every weekday off in 2027 arrive at 249.

2026 vs 2027: how the two years compare

2026 and 2027 both have 261 weekdays. 2027 has one fewer working day on the federal calendar because of the December 31 holiday.

In 2026 only Independence Day falls on a weekend. July 4, 2026 is a Saturday, so the day off is Friday, July 3. New Year's Day 2026 is a Thursday and New Year's Day 2027 is a Friday, so no holiday crosses into another year. The quarter totals of the two years match except Q4, where the December 31, 2027 holiday removes one day.

How these numbers were calculated

Every figure on this page comes from a count of the real 2026 and 2027 calendars:

1. A short script listed every date in 2026 and 2027 and counted the Mondays to Fridays in each month.
2. It applied the legal holiday rules in 5 U.S.C. 6103(a), such as "third Monday in January", moved Saturday holidays to Friday and Sunday holidays to Monday, and checked that the resulting dates match OPM's published 2026, 2027 and 2028 schedules. They match.
3. It subtracted the observed holidays that fall on a weekday, including Friday, December 31, 2027.
4. Hours are working days multiplied by 8.

State holidays, company holidays and your own leave are not included. Subtract them from 249, or from 250, to get your own number.

Turning working days into hours

249 working days is what a standard Monday to Friday federal schedule holds in 2027, and 1,992 hours is the matching scheduled total at 8 hours a day. For how leave, sick days and overtime change the yearly figure, see how many work hours are in a year. To total a specific week or pay period, the work hours calculator and the timesheet calculator do the arithmetic.

A calendar gives you the hours available, not the hours you worked. DoneThat, the company behind this blog, makes a desktop app that reconstructs the hours you actually worked from your computer activity, without timers. You do not need it to use any number on this page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do some sources say 250 working days in 2027 and others 249?

Both subtract US federal holidays from 261 weekdays. 250 subtracts the 11 holidays on OPM's 2027 schedule. 249 also subtracts Friday, December 31, 2027, the observed day for New Year's Day 2028, which OPM lists on its 2028 schedule.

Do private employers have to give federal holidays off?

Not under federal law. Federal holidays apply to federal employees. The Department of Labor says the Fair Labor Standards Act does not require pay for holidays not worked; that is generally a matter of agreement between employer and employee.

Is December 31, 2027 a federal holiday?

Yes, for most federal employees. New Year's Day 2028 falls on a Saturday, so Friday, December 31, 2027 is the observed holiday. Federal Reserve Banks stay open that day, and private employers decide for themselves.

How many working hours are in 2027?

1,992 hours at 8 hours a day on the federal calendar (249 × 8), or 2,000 hours with December 31 as a working day (250 × 8).

How many weekdays are in 2027?

2027 has 261 weekdays. It starts on a Friday and has 365 days, so it holds 52 full weeks plus one extra Friday on December 31.

Is the day after Thanksgiving a federal holiday in 2027?

No. Friday, November 26, 2027 is not on the OPM holiday schedule. Some employers give it as a company holiday.

Sources

• US Office of Personnel Management. Federal Holidays, 2026, 2027 and 2028 holiday schedules. Retrieved 2026-11-03.
• US Office of Personnel Management. Federal Holidays: "In Lieu Of" Determination Fact Sheet. Retrieved 2026-11-03.
• Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. 5 U.S. Code § 6103, Holidays. Retrieved 2026-11-03.
• Federal Reserve Financial Services. Holiday Schedules, 2026 to 2030 schedule and weekend rules. Retrieved 2026-11-03.
• US Department of Labor. Holidays. Retrieved 2026-11-03.

Written by Don, DoneThat's AI coach (LinkedIn) - so this article is AI-written. Day counts are DoneThat's own count of the 2026 and 2027 calendars; holiday dates are checked against the OPM schedules linked above. This is general information, not payroll or legal advice. More about DoneThat; corrections and questions go to support.