Working Days Per Month in 2026: Australia Table
See working days for every month of 2026 in Australia, from a 19-day April to a 23-day July, plus how public holidays shift each state's count.
Photo by Road Ahead on Unsplash.
2026 has 261 weekdays, but they aren't spread evenly — some months carry no public holidays at all, while others lose two or three days to Easter or Anzac Day. This table breaks the year down month by month so you can plan payroll runs, rosters and project sprints against the real number of working days, not just a calendar page.
Working days by month in 2026 (NSW)
The table below uses NSW as the reference state — weekdays for the month, the state-wide public holidays that fall on a weekday, and what's left as working days. See the state comparison further down for how other states shift these numbers.
| Month | Weekdays | Public holidays (NSW) | Working days (NSW) |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22 | 2 — New Year's Day, Australia Day | 20 |
| February | 20 | 0 | 20 |
| March | 22 | 0 | 22 |
| April | 22 | 3 — Good Friday, Easter Monday, Anzac Day (substitute) | 19 |
| May | 21 | 0 | 21 |
| June | 22 | 1 — King's Birthday | 21 |
| July | 23 | 0 | 23 |
| August | 21 | 0 | 21 |
| September | 22 | 0 | 22 |
| October | 22 | 1 — Labour Day | 21 |
| November | 21 | 0 | 21 |
| December | 23 | 2 — Christmas Day, Boxing Day (substitute) | 21 |
For an exact count between any two dates, including your own state's holidays, run the range through the Working Days Calculator.
Which month has the fewest and most working days
July has the most working days of any month in 2026 — 23, in every state. No state-wide public holiday lands on a weekday in July anywhere in Australia, so it runs as an unbroken 23-day working stretch nationwide.
April has the fewest. In NSW, WA and the ACT it drops to just 19 working days, because Good Friday, Easter Monday and a Monday substitute for Anzac Day (which falls on a Saturday in 2026) all land in the same month. Other states get 20, since they don't gazette an Anzac Day substitute for a Saturday date.
How public holidays shift the count by state, month by month
Three months carry the biggest state-to-state spread:
- March: VIC, SA and ACT each lose a day to a state holiday in the same week (Labour Day, Adelaide Cup Day and Canberra Day all fall on 9 March 2026), TAS loses a day to Eight Hours Day, and WA loses a day to its own Labour Day on 2 March — while NSW, QLD and NT keep the full month.
- April: NSW, WA and the ACT each lose an extra day to the Anzac Day substitute; VIC, QLD, SA, TAS and NT don't gazette one, so they keep one more working day this month.
- June: most states lose a day to the King's Birthday holiday on 8 June, but QLD doesn't observe King's Birthday until October, so June runs unbroken there — and the ACT loses a second day to Reconciliation Day on 1 June.
- September: VIC loses a day to the Grand Final Eve holiday on Friday 25 September and WA to its King's Birthday on Monday 28 September, while every other state keeps the full month.
WA and QLD also move their King's Birthday holiday to September and October respectively, and QLD's Labour Day sits in May rather than October — so a month that's quiet for NSW can still cost QLD or WA a working day, and vice versa. If you're rostering or budgeting leave across teams in different states, check each state's holiday dates individually rather than assuming one month's total carries over.
The same holidays that shorten April also make it strong for long weekends — though they sit too far apart to join up: Good Friday and Easter Monday bracket a four-day Easter break with no leave at all in early April, and the Anzac Day substitute adds a separate long weekend late in the month. The Leave Planner finds the highest-value days to take off around each month's public holidays.
Total working days in 2026, by state
Add the monthly figures up and the state-wide totals for 2026 land in a tight band:
| State/territory | Weekday public holidays | Working days in 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| ACT | 11 | 250 |
| WA | 10 | 251 |
| VIC | 10 | 251 |
| NSW | 9 | 252 |
| SA | 9 | 252 |
| NT | 9 | 252 |
| QLD | 8 | 253 |
| TAS | 8 | 253 |
Every state starts from the same 261 weekdays; the gap comes entirely from how many state-wide public holidays land on a weekday rather than a weekend. See the full working-days breakdown for 2026 for the quarter-by-quarter view and financial-year figures, and check Public Holidays for the complete list in your state.
Frequently asked questions
How many working days are there in each month of 2026 in Australia?
Using NSW as the reference: 20 in January, 20 in February, 22 in March, 19 in April, 21 in May, 21 in June, 23 in July, 21 in August, 22 in September, 21 in October, 21 in November and 21 in December. Other states differ by a day or two in months where their own state holiday falls — see the tables above.
Which 2026 month has the fewest and most working days?
July has the most, with 23 working days in every state, since no weekday public holiday falls that month anywhere in the country. April has the fewest — as low as 19 in NSW, WA and the ACT — because Good Friday, Easter Monday and an Anzac Day substitute all land in the same four weeks.
How do public holidays change the working-days count by state each month?
Each state gazettes its own holidays on top of the shared national days, so the same month can be a full working month in one state and a day short in another. March, April and June show the biggest spread in 2026 — see the state-by-state notes above for exactly which holiday causes the gap.
How many total working days are there in 2026?
261 weekdays, minus each state's public holidays. That lands between 250 working days (ACT) and 253 (QLD and TAS) for 2026, with most states around 251–252. Use the Working Days Calculator for the exact figure between any two dates in your state.
Related Tools
Related guides