How to Calculate How Many Days in a Year Without Weekends in Excel

When working with schedules, payroll, project timelines, or employee attendance, you often need to know how many workdays exist in a year—excluding weekends. Excel provides a simple way to calculate this using built-in functions, saving time and reducing manual errors. This guide shows you exactly how to count how many days in a year without weekends.

Key Takeaways

• Use the NETWORKDAYS function to count weekdays only (Monday to Friday).
• You can include holidays in the calculation using a holiday range.
• Leap years automatically adjust the total number of days.
• Excel handles start and end dates that are not aligned with the calendar year.
• You can automate this logic using VBA for more advanced scenarios.

What Is NETWORKDAYS in Excel?

The NETWORKDAYS function returns the number of working days between two dates. It excludes Saturdays and Sundays by default. You can also provide a list of holidays to exclude.

The NETWORKDAYS function in Excel is a powerful tool designed to simplify the calculation of the number of working days between two specified dates, automatically excluding weekends. This can be incredibly useful in various scenarios where understanding the exact number of working days is critical. Utilizing the INTERNATIONAL variant also allows customization of weekend days, accommodating global business practices

How to Count How Many Days in a Year Without Weekends

Step 1: Enter Start and End Dates

Let’s assume you want to count the number of working days in 2025 or other years. In your worksheet, type a couple of start dates and end dates:

Step 2: Apply NETWORKDAYS Formula

In cell C2, enter the following formula:

=NETWORKDAYS(A2, B2)

This will return the total number of workdays between January 1 and December 31, excluding weekends.

Common Mistakes or Tips

Wrong date format: Ensure your cells are formatted as dates, not text.

Start date after end date: This will return a negative number. Double-check the order.

Missing holidays range: If the range is blank or has invalid values, the function may ignore it.

Extra spaces in holiday list: Clean up any extra spaces or text entries that are not dates.

Regional date formats: Use ISO format (YYYY-MM-DD) if sharing across regions to avoid confusion.

Bonus Tips and Advanced Scenarios

Use NETWORKDAYS.INTL: If your weekends are not Saturday-Sunday (e.g., Friday-Saturday), use NETWORKDAYS.INTL with a weekend code.

Dynamic year input: Use formulas like =DATE(YEAR(TODAY()),1,1) to calculate for the current year dynamically.

VBA Automation: Add a simple macro to update and count workdays for any year input by the user.

Practical Applications for Businesses

Managing Employee Work Schedules

Effectively managing employee work schedules often involves determining the number of workdays available within a certain period, excluding weekends and holidays. Using the NETWORKDAYS function simplifies this process significantly. By inputting the start and end dates of a scheduling period, businesses can instantly determine the number of available days to assign tasks, shifts, or projects.

For instance, human resources departments can streamline vacation planning by accurately calculating remaining workdays for each employee, considering their requested leave days. This helps ensure a balanced workload distribution and only requires minimal adjustments if unexpected events arise

Additionally, this function aids in nearly automating payroll calculations by precisely calculating work periods, thus reducing manual errors and saving time for administrative teams. Overall, the NETWORKDAYS function provides clarity and precision in schedule management, leading to more organized operations.

Project Management and Timelines

In project management, accurately projecting timelines is essential to successful execution and delivery. The NETWORKDAYS function plays a crucial role in developing realistic project plans by providing exact counts of workdays between milestones. This ability to exclude weekends ensures that project timelines are based on actual working days, aligning schedules with team availability and minimizing surprises.

Project managers can utilize this function to anticipate delays and adjust deadlines effectively. For instance, by incorporating public holidays into their calculations, they can foresee potential bottlenecks and allocate resources accordingly. This foresight is especially beneficial in maintaining consistent workflow and meeting project deadlines.

Furthermore, using NETWORKDAYS aids in forecasting budget requirements by gauging the labor costs associated with workdays. It enables clear communication with stakeholders and enhances the reliability of proposed delivery dates, ultimately boosting client satisfaction and optimizing project outcomes.

By leveraging the NETWORKDAYS function, project managers can enhance precision in planning and execution, ensuring projects are delivered on time and within scope.

FAQ

How many working days are there in a year without weekends?

In a non-leap year, there are 261 working days. In a leap year like 2024, there are 262 working days. This assumes no holidays are excluded.

What’s the difference between NETWORKDAYS and NETWORKDAYS.INTL?

NETWORKDAYS assumes weekends are Saturday and Sunday. NETWORKDAYS.INTL lets you customize which days are considered weekends using a numeric code.

Can I calculate working days across multiple years?

Yes. Just enter the correct start and end dates that span multiple years. Excel will calculate accordingly.

What happens if my holiday range has text instead of dates?

Excel will ignore non-date values, but it’s a good practice to clean the list using Data Validation or error checking.

Can I exclude only Sundays but keep Saturdays?

Yes. Use NETWORKDAYS.INTL with the weekend code “11”, which treats Sunday only as a weekend day.