How the calendar works
Weekly and biweekly schedules repeat on a fixed cycle: every 7 or every 14 days from a starting payday. That’s why the calculator asks for your first payday in 2026: from that one date, every other payday of the year follows. Semi-monthly and monthly schedules don’t repeat by weekday. They’re tied to dates in the month, so you pick the days instead (for example the 15th and the last day).
With the holiday option on, a payday that lands on a Saturday, Sunday or bank holiday moves to the business day before. That’s what most payroll providers do, and it matters at year-end: a payday that moves from January 1, 2027 to December 31, 2026 is paid, and taxed, in 2026.
Biweekly vs semi-monthly
These two get mixed up all the time, but the difference is real money per check.
| Biweekly | Semi-monthly | |
|---|---|---|
| When | Every other week, same weekday | Twice a month, fixed dates |
| Paychecks a year | 26 (sometimes 27) | 24 |
| Paychecks a month | 2, with two months of 3 | Always 2 |
| $60,000 salary, gross per check | $2,307.69 | $2,500.00 |
A biweekly check is smaller, but you get two more of them. Over the year the salary is the same. Biweekly is easier to budget for weekly bills like groceries and rent split by week; semi-monthly lines up better with monthly bills, since rent and the mortgage are due once a month.
For hourly workers, biweekly pay covers exactly two workweeks (80 hours at full time). Semi-monthly periods are 15 or 16 days, so the hours in each check vary a little. Overtime is still figured by the workweek under federal law, whatever the pay schedule.
How many paychecks are in 2026
2026 starts on a Thursday and ends on a Thursday, so it has 53 Thursdays and 52 of every other weekday. That decides the count:
- Biweekly, Fridays starting January 2: 26 paydays, with three-paycheck months in January and July. The 27th falls on Friday, January 1, 2027, a holiday. If your employer pays it early on December 31, 2026, you get 27 paychecks in 2026.
- Biweekly, Fridays starting January 9: 26 paydays, with three paychecks in May and October. The December 25 payday is paid on Thursday, December 24.
- Biweekly, Thursdays starting January 1: 27 paydays on paper, but January 1 is New Year’s Day. If that check is paid on December 31, 2025, it belongs to 2025, and 2026 has 26.
- Weekly: 52 paydays for most weekdays, 53 for Thursdays starting January 1, or for Fridays when the January 1, 2027 check is paid early.
- Semi-monthly: always 24. Monthly: always 12.
A 27th paycheck doesn’t mean a raise. A salaried employee’s annual pay is usually divided by 26, so a 27-paycheck year pays one extra check; some employers instead divide by 27 so the yearly total doesn’t change. Your employer’s payroll policy decides.
Budgeting with three-paycheck months
If you’re paid biweekly, a simple rule is to budget your month on two paychecks. Then the two three-paycheck months bring a whole extra check each, which you can put straight into savings, debt or bills paid yearly. Enter your take-home pay per check in the calculator to see the amounts. For example, $1,800 per check gives a $3,600 monthly budget, and each three-paycheck month adds another $1,800.
Weekly pay works the same way: budget on four checks, and the four months with five paydays (five if you get 53 checks) each bring an extra one.
Holidays used
The calculator computes the 11 federal holidays by rule, not from a typed list: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day (third Monday of January), Washington’s Birthday (third Monday of February), Memorial Day (last Monday of May), Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day (first Monday of September), Columbus Day (second Monday of October), Veterans Day, Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday of November) and Christmas. Banks follow the Federal Reserve calendar: a Sunday holiday closes them on Monday, but a Saturday holiday doesn’t close them on Friday.
Your employer may follow a different rule, such as paying after the holiday or paying early only on bank holidays it observes. Check your company’s payroll calendar if a date matters for a bill.