How Many Work Days in a Year?

So, how many working days are there in 2024?

Our workdays calculator says there are 251 working days in the year 2024. 

Getting ready for the new year means having a good idea of what’s in store: weather patterns, global trends, social upheavals? While these are topics our crystal ball is too cloudy to capture, we can offer some solid answers to a much more mundane but practical question: How much time off can you expect?

You can’t talk about time off without talking about the work week, and truly, that is our primary concern. Not the days of TV and Chill, but the days of Rise ‘n’ Grind, being productive and getting things done. 

Why is it important to know that there are 251 work days in 2024? It’s all about helping you make a plan and set yourself some goals, and knowing how many days you need to be on (and off) is a realistic way to set and meet those goals. Goal setting and achievement are key for gaining new skills and making new relationships. 

Ask yourself, are you the type of person to sit down on Sunday night and plan every moment for every day of the week coming up? Or do you simply wake up on a Monday morning, open up your email and to-do lists, and take it one step at a time? It’s likely if you are a self-starter or independent worker, like a freelancer, you have your own method for planning your work days and workweek. But for many full-time employees, they often go with the flow, expecting the company heads, project managers and team leaders to map out their working hours.

So what does this have to do with figuring out the total number of working days and working hours in a given year? Well, that’s what this article aims to explain. Let’s get into the 2024 edition of how many days we’ll be working this year.

How many working/business days in 2024?

It’s unlikely many of you are planning on New Year’s Eve in front of your calendars jotting down notes and setting goals for all 52 coming weeks. 

251 Days: That’s the total number of working days in the year 2024. 

First off is the question of leap years, those years where February gets an extra day, making it that much less puny than it normally is. Is 2024 a leap year? Yes! So the total number of days in the year is 366, divided into approximately 52 weeks, 2 days, and 2 hours.

What about the fiscal year? That expression refers to the year broken down less by conventional month order -- that is, January to December -- but rather from the point of view of business cycles, which get their start in the Fall. 

The start date for the 2024 fiscal year is July 01, 2023. Its end date, as you might expect, is on June 30, 2024.  

Here’s a nifty table you can consult, breaking down at a glance the number of working days per month and beside that, the number of working hours. Feel free to print it out and hang it on your workstation.

What do we get? The total 2024 Calendar Year Working Days are 251.

The range of working days month by month falls between 19 and 22. This is a variation of three days, not too negligible. Now, contrary to what you might expect, February doesn’t have the fewest number of work days. In 2024, that’s November. On the other end of the spectrum, five months have the maximum number of work days, clocking in at 22.

It’s also worth remembering there are shutdown periods for certain industries. Many companies grind to a halt in the no man’s land between Christmas and New Year’s. Or hours get reduced. 

Of course, not every factory, office, call center, warehouse, or other place of business follows these work days strictly. While they cannot force their workers to work more, many offer extra days off from work, whether for personal reasons like sick leave or to give extra time off during the hectic winter holiday season, between Christmas and New Year’s.

List of Public Holidays in 2024 (U.S.A)

Days off shouldn’t be limited to weekend days, right? Who doesn’t love some good holiday time? Certainly, residents of the United States are no exception to being festive, spending time with loved ones, or just zoning out and recharging their batteries for a day or two.

The United States has 11 federal holidays. That’s up one since past years. Can you quickly spot from the below list the new American federal holiday?

• New Year’s Day - January 1st

• Martin Luther King Jr. Day - January 15, 2024

• President’s Day - February 19, 2024

• Memorial Day - May 27, 2024

• Juneteenth - June 19, 2024

• Independence Day - July 4, 2024

• Labor Day - September 2, 2024

• Columbus Day - October 14, 2024

• Veterans Day - November 11, 2024

• Thanksgiving - November 28, 2024

• Christmas Day - December 25, 2024

That’s right, Juneteenth, landing on a Wednesday, June 19th, is a brand new federal holiday in the USA. It officially became a holiday on June 17, 2021, when President Joe Biden signed into law the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act (so, technically, this will be the second Juneteenth in US history). 

Now, some holidays fall on Sundays, and because of that, they are often carried over into the Monday to be a proper day off from work. These are sometimes referred to as “in lieu,” which comes from Old French and means “in place of.” Other times, when a federal holiday lands on a Saturday, it gets carried forward. This means that you’d get the Friday off work.

Do all sorts of workers get the same day off rights? Well, federal employees automatically get these days off, and of course, they get paid for these days too. Things look a bit different in the private sector. Only two states have laws mandating that employees must have paid days off on federal holidays: Rhode Island and Massachusetts. If you do have to work on those days, then you will receive extra pay (some jobs can’t have days off, like ambulance drivers, for example).

If you work in the private sector and want to know more about your holidays and obligations, it’s always a good idea to consult your company policy. Just ask your friendly human resources rep.

Then there is the question of whether you get time off for religious holidays. Technically, private employers are not under obligation to honor specific religious observances. However, most will be accommodating (again, if you’re not sure, ask human resources). Because of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, many employers can face liability for personal discrimination if they aren’t flexible with religious practices. The details of this act state that employers with 15 or more employees must make reasonable accommodations for religious observances.

How many work hours in 2024?

From days to hours… We humans just love adding up and counting down units of time. So, what is the total number of work hours there will be in 2024? And, why is this question important? Well, if you work full time, it’s a good idea to know in advance the total number of annual work-day hours in the year.

That total for 2024 comes to a whopping 2,008 hours. That counts from January 01, 2024, to December 31, 2024. 

What’s more, this doesn’t take into account your sleeping. Most doctors and sleep experts recommend a total of 8 hours of sleep every night. So, if you get that amount of sleep every single night in 2024, you’ll be sleeping for about 2,920 hours this year. That is about one-third of your time. So, work and sleep take up about 57% of your time. This leaves you with about 43% of your time awake, but free from working.

Planning ahead

Knowing the total number of work days and work hours in the year is a good first step to making that productivity plan. There are many great tools you can use to do this. Of course, a standard calendar is one way to go about it, as is setting up a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or a Google Sheets page

You can also just Google 2024 Work Calendars and look for ones that seem to be ideal for organizing a work schedule. These will have things like numbered weeks, details of federal and other holidays (both in the US and internationally), and other useful add-ons.

To get a bit more advanced, you could try some productivity software and see the tools and features that come with their calendar and scheduler modules. SaaS like CRMs (customer relationship management) often come with such features. You could almost always even customize these calendar tools, adding in your details, or company information, such as time zones, local holidays, and company events that might interfere with your regular working schedule. 

On top of that, these CRM and other business SaaS calendar tools allow for team collaboration. This is incredibly useful for when you need to plan and coordinate with other people who may have personal scheduling issues, or live in other countries and time zones.

Summing up

Let’s run through the hard data again.

• 251: Total number of working days in 2024

• 2,008: Total number of working hours in 2024

• 19 - 22: Range of work days per month in 2024

• June 19th: The date of the newest US federal holiday, “Juneteenth,” signed into law in 2021

We here at CRM.org hope this article has been useful and informative regarding such a crucial question that’s on all our minds. Remember, not every company operates the same, so if you have any further questions, it’s always best to direct them to the human resources department of your company. 

That about wraps it up. Now, as we get ready to count down the end of the year and ring in the new one, remember that being time-conscious, having clear schedules, setting plans, and making goals is a recipe for success, whether 251 days of the year or the full 366.

P.S. Would you like to know how many days, hours, and minutes are left until the end of the year? Or any other date that is significant to you? Use our time duration calculator to find out!