Nth Weekday of a Month (e.g. 3rd Thursday)

All versionsDATEWEEKDAY

Meetings on the “3rd Thursday,” pay dates on the “2nd Friday,” US holidays like Thanksgiving (4th Thursday of November) — all need the nth weekday of a month. One DATE + WEEKDAY formula finds it for any month and year.

Quick formula: for year Y, month M, weekday DOW (1=Sun…7=Sat), and instance N:

=DATE(Y,M,1) + MOD(DOW - WEEKDAY(DATE(Y,M,1)), 7) + (N-1)*7

Start at the 1st, jump forward to the first matching weekday, then add whole weeks for the nth one.

Functions used (tap for the full reference guide):

DATE WEEKDAY

The example

The 3rd Thursday of June 2026.

	A	B
1	Target	Date
2	3rd Thursday, Jun 2026	6/18/2026
3	1st Monday, Jun 2026	6/1/2026
4	4th Thu, Nov 2026 (Thanksgiving)	11/26/2026

The formula

The 3rd Thursday (DOW 5) of June (M 6) 2026:

=DATE(2026,6,1) + MOD(5 - WEEKDAY(DATE(2026,6,1)), 7) + (3-1)*7 // → June 18, 2026

How it works

The formula builds the date in three moves:

DATE(2026,6,1) is the 1st of the month — the starting point.
MOD(DOW - WEEKDAY(firstOfMonth), 7) counts how many days forward to the first occurrence of the target weekday.
Adding (N-1)*7 jumps ahead the right number of whole weeks for the nth occurrence.
For the 3rd Thursday: first Thursday is June 4, plus 2 weeks = June 18.

Last weekday of the month? Work backward from the month end: =EOMONTH(date,0) - MOD(WEEKDAY(EOMONTH(date,0)) - DOW, 7) finds the last Friday, last Monday, etc.

Try it: interactive demo

Live demo

Pick which occurrence, weekday, and month of 2026.

Instance

Weekday

Month

Date:

Variations

Last weekday of the month

Count back from the month end:

=EOMONTH(B1,0) - MOD(WEEKDAY(EOMONTH(B1,0)) - DOW, 7)

US Thanksgiving (4th Thu of Nov)

Plug in the values:

=DATE(Y,11,1) + MOD(5 - WEEKDAY(DATE(Y,11,1)), 7) + 21

From inputs in cells

Reference Y/M/DOW/N cells:

=DATE($B$1,$B$2,1)+MOD($B$3-WEEKDAY(DATE($B$1,$B$2,1)),7)+($B$4-1)*7

Pitfalls & errors

A “5th” that doesn’t exist. Not every month has a 5th Thursday; the formula rolls into the next month. Guard with a check that MONTH(result)=M.

Weekday numbering. The default WEEKDAY has Sunday = 1. Keep your DOW input on the same scale (Sun=1…Sat=7).

Format the result as a date. The formula returns a serial number; set the cell to a Date format.

Practice workbook

📊

Download the free Nth Weekday of a Month (e.g. 3rd Thursday) practice workbook

Live nth-weekday calculator with the last-weekday and Thanksgiving variants, plus 4 challenges with answers. No sign-up required.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find the nth weekday of a month in Excel?

Use =DATE(Y,M,1) + MOD(DOW - WEEKDAY(DATE(Y,M,1)), 7) + (N-1)*7, where DOW is the weekday number (Sun=1) and N is the occurrence. It returns dates like the 3rd Thursday.

How do I get the last Friday (or other weekday) of a month?

Work backward from the month end: =EOMONTH(date,0) - MOD(WEEKDAY(EOMONTH(date,0)) - DOW, 7).

How do I calculate Thanksgiving (4th Thursday of November)?

Use the nth-weekday formula with month 11, weekday 5, instance 4: =DATE(Y,11,1)+MOD(5-WEEKDAY(DATE(Y,11,1)),7)+21.

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Function references: DATE · WEEKDAY