Published 1 January 2025 · 5 min read

How Many Business Days Are in a Month? (2025 & 2026)

The number of business days in a month typically ranges from 19 to 23, depending on the month length, which days fall on weekends, and how many public holidays occur. Here are the exact counts for the UK (England & Wales) for 2025 and 2026.

Business days per month — 2025 (England & Wales)

Month	Weekdays	Bank Holidays	Business Days
January	23	1	22
February	20	0	20
March	21	0	21
April	22	2	20
May	22	2	20
June	21	0	21
July	23	0	23
August	21	1	20
September	22	0	22
October	23	0	23
November	20	0	20
December	23	2	21

2025 total: 253 business days (England & Wales)

Business days per month — 2026 (England & Wales)

Month	Weekdays	Bank Holidays	Business Days
January	22	1	21
February	20	0	20
March	22	0	22
April	22	2	20
May	21	2	19
June	22	0	22
July	23	0	23
August	21	1	20
September	22	0	22
October	22	0	22
November	21	0	21
December	23	2	21

2026 total: 253 business days (England & Wales)

Why the count varies

Several factors affect how many business days fall in a given month:

• Month length — February has 28 or 29 days, while months like January and March have 31. Longer months generally have more weekdays.
• Weekend alignment — when the 1st falls on a Monday, you get more weekdays than when it falls on a Saturday.
• Public holidays — months with bank holidays (April, May, August, December) lose one or two business days.
• Region — Scotland and Northern Ireland have different bank holidays, which changes their monthly counts.

When this matters

Knowing the exact business day count per month is important for payroll calculations, project timelines, billing cycles, and capacity planning. If your team works fixed hours, the number of business days directly determines total available working hours.

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