Working Days Between Two Dates

Excel Formulas › Date & Time

All versionsNETWORKDAYSHolidays

To count business days between two dates — skipping weekends and, optionally, holidays — use NETWORKDAYS. It is the right tool for SLAs, project durations, and “days to ship” calculations where Saturdays and Sundays shouldn’t count.

Quick formula: for a start date in B2 and end date in C2:
=NETWORKDAYS(B2, C2)
Counts every weekday from start to end inclusive. Add a holiday range as the third argument to skip those too.

Functions used (tap for the full reference guide):

NETWORKDAYSNETWORKDAYS.INTL

The example

Working days from start to end (weekends excluded).

ABCD
1TaskStartEndWork days
2Build6/1/20266/12/202610
3Review6/15/20266/19/20265

The formula

Working days in D2:

=NETWORKDAYS(B2, C2) // Jun 1–12, 2026 = 10 working days

How it works

NETWORKDAYS walks the calendar between the two dates:

  1. It counts each day from B2 to C2, including both ends.
  2. Saturdays and Sundays are automatically excluded.
  3. Jun 1 (Mon) to Jun 12 (Fri) 2026 spans two work weeks — 10 business days.
  4. Add a third argument — a range or list of holiday dates — and those are skipped as well.

Try it: interactive demo

Live demo

Pick a start and end date; see the working-day count (weekends excluded).

Working days:

Variations

Skip holidays too

List public holidays in a range (e.g. F2:F6) and pass it as the third argument:

=NETWORKDAYS(B2, C2, F2:F6)

Custom weekend (e.g. Fri–Sat)

NETWORKDAYS.INTL lets you choose which days are the weekend (7 = Friday+Saturday):

=NETWORKDAYS.INTL(B2, C2, 7, F2:F6)

Add N working days to a date

The companion WORKDAY function jumps forward by business days — a due date 10 working days out:

=WORKDAY(B2, 10, F2:F6)

Pitfalls & errors

Both ends are counted. NETWORKDAYS is inclusive, so a Monday-to-Monday span counts both Mondays. Subtract 1 if you want elapsed working days rather than the count.

Dates stored as text. If the dates are left-aligned text, NETWORKDAYS returns #VALUE!. Convert with Text to Columns or DATEVALUE.

Holidays must be real dates. The holiday list has to contain genuine date values (not text) for them to be skipped.

Practice workbook

📊
Download the free Working Days Between Two Dates practice workbook
Tasks with live NETWORKDAYS, a holiday-aware version, NETWORKDAYS.INTL, and WORKDAY, plus 4 challenges with answers. No sign-up required.

Frequently asked questions

How do I count working days between two dates in Excel?
Use =NETWORKDAYS(start, end). It counts all weekdays from start to end inclusive and excludes Saturdays and Sundays. Add a holiday range as the third argument to skip holidays.
How do I exclude holidays from the count?
List the holidays in a range and pass it as the third argument: =NETWORKDAYS(B2, C2, F2:F6). Those dates are then skipped along with weekends.
How do I use a weekend other than Saturday/Sunday?
Use NETWORKDAYS.INTL with a weekend code, e.g. =NETWORKDAYS.INTL(B2, C2, 7, holidays) treats Friday and Saturday as the weekend.

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Function references: NETWORKDAYS · NETWORKDAYS.INTL