2026 payroll calendar

2026 biweekly payroll calendar

Both biweekly Friday schedules for 2026: the one that starts on January 2 and the one that starts a week later. Paydays on bank holidays move to the previous business day.

Watch for Friday, July 3: federal offices close, but the Federal Reserve is open, so it's a normal payday. Plenty of payroll calendars get this wrong; see the Saturday holiday rule.

Schedule A: starts Friday, January 2

#PaydayMoved fromSubmit payroll by
1Friday, January 2, 2026Tuesday, December 30
2Friday, January 16, 2026Wednesday, January 14
3Friday, January 30, 2026Wednesday, January 28
4Friday, February 13, 2026Wednesday, February 11
5Friday, February 27, 2026Wednesday, February 25
6Friday, March 13, 2026Wednesday, March 11
7Friday, March 27, 2026Wednesday, March 25
8Friday, April 10, 2026Wednesday, April 8
9Friday, April 24, 2026Wednesday, April 22
10Friday, May 8, 2026Wednesday, May 6
11Friday, May 22, 2026Wednesday, May 20
12Friday, June 5, 2026Wednesday, June 3
13Thursday, June 18, 2026Fri June 19 (Juneteenth National Independence Day)Tuesday, June 16
14Friday, July 3, 2026Wednesday, July 1
15Friday, July 17, 2026Wednesday, July 15
16Friday, July 31, 2026Wednesday, July 29
17Friday, August 14, 2026Wednesday, August 12
18Friday, August 28, 2026Wednesday, August 26
19Friday, September 11, 2026Wednesday, September 9
20Friday, September 25, 2026Wednesday, September 23
21Friday, October 9, 2026Wednesday, October 7
22Friday, October 23, 2026Wednesday, October 21
23Friday, November 6, 2026Wednesday, November 4
24Friday, November 20, 2026Wednesday, November 18
25Friday, December 4, 2026Wednesday, December 2
26Friday, December 18, 2026Wednesday, December 16

Download: CSV for Excel or Google Sheets

Schedule B: starts Friday, January 9

#PaydayMoved fromSubmit payroll by
1Friday, January 9, 2026Wednesday, January 7
2Friday, January 23, 2026Wednesday, January 21
3Friday, February 6, 2026Wednesday, February 4
4Friday, February 20, 2026Wednesday, February 18
5Friday, March 6, 2026Wednesday, March 4
6Friday, March 20, 2026Wednesday, March 18
7Friday, April 3, 2026Wednesday, April 1
8Friday, April 17, 2026Wednesday, April 15
9Friday, May 1, 2026Wednesday, April 29
10Friday, May 15, 2026Wednesday, May 13
11Friday, May 29, 2026Wednesday, May 27
12Friday, June 12, 2026Wednesday, June 10
13Friday, June 26, 2026Wednesday, June 24
14Friday, July 10, 2026Wednesday, July 8
15Friday, July 24, 2026Wednesday, July 22
16Friday, August 7, 2026Wednesday, August 5
17Friday, August 21, 2026Wednesday, August 19
18Friday, September 4, 2026Wednesday, September 2
19Friday, September 18, 2026Wednesday, September 16
20Friday, October 2, 2026Wednesday, September 30
21Friday, October 16, 2026Wednesday, October 14
22Friday, October 30, 2026Wednesday, October 28
23Friday, November 13, 2026Tuesday, November 10
24Friday, November 27, 2026Tuesday, November 24
25Friday, December 11, 2026Wednesday, December 9
26Thursday, December 24, 2026Fri December 25 (Christmas Day)Tuesday, December 22

Download: CSV for Excel or Google Sheets

How the dates are worked out

Direct deposits settle through the Federal Reserve's ACH network, which is closed on weekends and on Fed holidays. When a payday lands on one of those days, the usual practice is to pay on the previous business day so nobody is paid late. The "submit by" column is 2 banking days before payday, the common deadline for a standard ACH payroll file; check your provider's own cut-off.

Generate any schedule with the API

Payroll software can build these calendars for every client and every year, for US (us-fed) or Canadian (ca-payments) payrolls:

curl "https://bankday.dev/v1/payroll/schedule?calendar=us-fed&frequency=biweekly&anchor=2026-01-02&year=2026" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BANKDAY_KEY"

Other 2026 schedules: Weekly · Semimonthly (15th and last) · Semimonthly (1st and 15th) · Monthly · Canada

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