Ever wonder how many work days in a year? Or how many work hours in a year? Seems like a simple question, right?
And if you don't need to be precise – it is. Generally, there are 52 weeks in each year and 40 hours per work week. This equates to:
- 260 Work Days in a Year
- 2080 Work Hours in a Year
Of course, there are a lot of different exceptions to these general rules. Not every year has the same number of weekdays. Not every year has the same number of days (2024 is a leap year).
In 2024, there are 53 Mondays, 53 Tuesdays, 52 Wednesdays, 52 Thursdays, and 52 Fridays. Assuming a typical work week of Monday through Friday, that's 262 potential work days and 2,096 work hours in 2024 for the average employee.
How to Quickly Count Work Days (Weekdays)
To quickly count the number of work days, you simply need to look at the first week of January and the last week of December. Take note of what day the year starts on and what day it ends on. The duplicates between those two weeks will have 53 days, the rest 52.
If you look at the calendar for 2024, you'll see that January starts on a Monday and December ends on a Tuesday. So Monday and Tuesday are in both the first and last weeks. Therefore, there are 53 Mondays and 53 Tuesdays, and the rest have 52.
Then simply add up the days — 53 + 53 + 52 + 52 + 52 = 262
This also works if you work weekends, assuming you have a set schedule. Any of your working days that are in both the first and last weeks of the year would have 53 and the rest 52.
What About Leap Year?
Leap years are interesting because they add a day at the end of February. Depending on the year, this could be an additional weekend day or a weekday. But that doesn't change the process of figuring out how many working days there are per year. The process above still works, but it's entirely possible that the extra day in February does mean an extra work day for the year. It does in 2024!
Using How Many Working Days To Calculate Your Income
If you work a corporate job, your company's human resources department considers your work schedule to have 52 weeks and 2080 hours. If you have two weeks of vacation, that's 2000 working hours and 80 hours of vacation or paid time off (PTO).
This can help you calculate your hourly rate if you know your salary. Or vice versa.
If you are paid a salary, you can divide your annual income by 262 to get your daily income. Then, divide that by eight for your hourly rate.
For example, if you make $50,000 a year, your hourly rate is $23.85 an hour before taxes. (50,000/262 = 190.83 per day. 190.8⅜ = 23.85 per hour)
If you are paid hourly, take your hourly rate and multiply it by 8 for your daily rate. Then, take that and multiply it by how many days you work. If you get paid vacation and holidays, then you would use the full 262 days per year. If you don't get paid if you aren't working, then you'll want to figure out how many days you actually work.
For example, if you earn $15 an hour, your annual income is $31,440. (15*8 = 120 per day. 120*262 = 31,440 per year.) That's if you get paid for vacation and holidays. If you don't get paid for those days, you'll need to change the number of working days.
Let's say you take two weeks of unpaid vacation and get five unpaid holidays. That would change the number of working days to 237 (262-15). So, in this case, you earn $28,440.
Federal Holidays
There are eleven Federal holidays (bank holidays), and if your employer offers those, you can further reduce the number of work days you have. In 2024 they are:
- New Year's Day – January 1st
- Martin Luther King Day – January 15th
- Washington's Birthday – February 19th
- Memorial Day – May 27th
- Juneteenth – June 19th
- Independence Day – July 4th
- Labor Day – September 2nd
- Columbus Day – October 14th
- Veterans Day – November 11th
- Thanksgiving Day – November 28th
- Christmas Day – December 25th
Which public holidays your company observes will depend on your employer, so you'll want to check with your HR department to figure out exactly which days your company gives employees the day off. Also, if the federal holiday falls on a weekend, it is often observed on the following Monday, but again, that depends on your specific employer.
There are other holidays that your employer may observe, such as New Year's Eve, or even the entire week between Christmas and New Year's Day. There are also state-specific holidays, such as Patriot's Day in Massachusetts.
Work Days And Hours In 2024 By Month
| Month | Number of Working Days | Number of Working Hours |
|---|---|---|
| January | 23 | 184 |
| February | 21 | 168 |
| March | 21 | 168 |
| April | 22 | 176 |
| May | 23 | 184 |
| June | 20 | 160 |
| July | 23 | 184 |
| August | 22 | 176 |
| September | 21 | 168 |
| October | 24 | 192 |
| November | 21 | 168 |
| December | 22 | 176 |
Of course, there are holidays in most months, so if you have those off, the actual number of work days and hours will be a bit less.
Work Days in Each Year
Using our “first week in January and last week in December” rule, we know that:
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 52 | 53 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 |
| Tuesday | 52 | 53 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 |
| Wednesday | 53 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 53 |
| Thursday | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 53 |
| Friday | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 53 | 52 |
| Total Work Days | 261 | 262 | 260 | 260 | 261 | 262 |
| Total Work Hours | 2088 | 2096 | 2080 | 2080 | 2088 | 2096 |
As it turns out, despite the rule of thumb being 52 weeks and 260 work days, the reality is that the average work hours is higher because there are more weekday days (5) than weekend days (2). The duplicate day is more likely to be a weekday than on a weekend!
If you work a 40-hour week all 52 weeks of the year, $20 an hour means you'll make $41,600.
If you take two weeks off, you'll make $40,000 year.
If you work a 40-hour week all 52 weeks of the year, $30 an hour means you'll make $62,400.
If you take two weeks off, you'll make $60,000 year.
If you work a 40-hour week all 52 weeks of the year, $40 an hour means you'll make $83,200.
If you take two weeks off, you'll make $50,000 year.
If you work a 40-hour week all 52 weeks of the year, $50 an hour means you'll make $104,000.
If you take two weeks off, you'll make $100,000 year.
If you work a 40-hour week all 52 weeks of the year, $30 an hour means you'll make $208,000.
If you take two weeks off, you'll make $200,000 year.
If you work a 40-hour week all 52 weeks of the year, $30 an hour means you'll make $62,400.
If you take two weeks off, you'll make $600,000 year.
Summary
Figuring out exactly how many work days are in a year isn't quite as simple as it first seems. Simple math says there are 260 working days and 2080 working hours. But as we've seen, that is never how it plays out in real life.
To get a precise number of work days you'll need to know how many vacation days and holidays you get and subtract those from the total number of potential working days.
