Pay period calculator and calendar: every payday of the year, with the 3-paycheck months
Estimates only, not financial advice. What you type stays on your device. Checked against sources on 6 Oct 2026.A biweekly payroll usually has 26 paydays a year and two months with three paychecks; paid every other Friday from 9 January 2026, those months are May and October. About once every eleven years the calendar gives 27 paydays, and a weekly payroll gets 53 every five or six years.
Rates and rules read from the sources listed on this page (the earliest on 6 Oct 2026); they may have changed since.
Choose how often you are paid: weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly or monthly.
For weekly or biweekly pay, enter any one payday from a payslip; for the others pick the days of the month.
Choose whether a payday on a weekend or holiday is paid the business day before or after.
Read the number of paydays, the months with an extra check and the list month by month.
The Pay Period Calendar lists every payday in a year for a weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly or monthly payroll, moves each one that lands on a weekend or a US holiday to the business day before or after, and counts them. It runs in your browser and needs only one payday from a payslip.
Three-paycheck months. Fifty-two weeks make 26 biweekly paydays, two a month with two months left over, so two months a year have three paychecks. Weekly pay gives four months with five. Many people budget on two (or four) checks and treat the extra ones as savings; the calendar names those months.
26 or 27, 52 or 53. A year is 52 weeks and one day, two in a leap year, so the paydays drift a day or two each year. When a biweekly payday falls on 1 January (or 2 January in a leap year) the year holds 27; a weekly payroll gets a 53rd payday every five or six years. The count here is by the date the money is paid, after any move, because that is the year it appears on your W-2. A 1 January payday paid on 31 December belongs to the old year.
Weekends and holidays. Most employers pay the business day before. The default holiday list is the Federal Reserve's, which is what decides when a direct deposit can land: Reserve Banks stay open on the Friday before a Saturday holiday. The US federal option uses the dates federal offices close instead. Both come from the same rules as the Federal Holiday Calendar on this site.
Salary per check. With an annual salary entered, the calendar shows the check at salary divided by the standard 26 or 52, and what it would be if your employer divides by 27 or 53 in a long year.
What it does not do. State and company holidays are not included, and the pay period that each check covers (the work dates behind it) is not shown; it depends on your payroll's lag.
The answer depends on your first payday. Paid biweekly on Fridays from 9 January 2026, the three-paycheck months are May and October. Paid from Friday 2 January 2026, they are January, July and December, because 1 January 2027 is a holiday paid on 31 December. Enter your own payday to see your months.
About once every eleven years on a biweekly payroll. A year is 52 weeks and one day, two in a leap year, so paydays move a day or two later each year until one lands on 1 January, or 2 January in a leap year, and that year holds 27. Weekly payrolls get 53 paydays every five or six years.
Most employers pay on the business day before, so a Saturday payday is paid on Friday and a Christmas Day payday on 24 December. Some pay the next business day instead. The calendar lets you choose before, after or no move, and lists every payday that moved.
Biweekly pay comes every other week, on the same weekday, 26 times in most years. Semi-monthly pay comes twice a month on set dates, such as the 15th and the last day, giving 24 scheduled paydays a year. Biweekly checks are smaller but there are two more of them, and the weekday stays the same.
Federal Reserve Banks close on the eleven federal holidays, but when a holiday falls on a Saturday they stay open on the Friday before, unlike federal offices. In 2026 that is Friday 3 July, so a direct deposit due that day can still be paid. The US bank option follows the Federal Reserve's published schedule.
Only if your employer pays the salary as annual pay divided by 26. Then each check is the same and the year pays one extra, about 3.8% more. Employers that divide the salary by the number of paydays in the year pay the same annual total in 27 slightly smaller checks.
Rates and rules change; check the source before you rely on a figure.
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