Pay Period Calendar Calculator
Build a pay-period calendar from a known anchor date or a monthly schedule. The result shows each period, payday adjustments, cutoff dates, high-paycheck months, and year-boundary periods.
Paydays in the year26
- Pay periods touching the year
- 27
- High-paycheck months
- April and October
- Year-boundary periods
- Dec. 21, 2026 to Jan. 3, 2027; Dec. 20, 2027 to Jan. 2, 2028
- Weekend-shifted paydays
- 0
- Next payday
- Jan. 8, 2027
Pay-period calendar
| Period | Start date | End date | Raw payday | Adjusted payday | Timesheet cutoff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dec. 21, 2026 | Jan. 3, 2027 | Jan. 8, 2027 | Jan. 8, 2027 | Jan. 5, 2027 |
| 2 | Jan. 4, 2027 | Jan. 17, 2027 | Jan. 22, 2027 | Jan. 22, 2027 | Jan. 19, 2027 |
| 3 | Jan. 18, 2027 | Jan. 31, 2027 | Feb. 5, 2027 | Feb. 5, 2027 | Feb. 2, 2027 |
| 4 | Feb. 1, 2027 | Feb. 14, 2027 | Feb. 19, 2027 | Feb. 19, 2027 | Feb. 16, 2027 |
| 5 | Feb. 15, 2027 | Feb. 28, 2027 | Mar. 5, 2027 | Mar. 5, 2027 | Mar. 2, 2027 |
| 6 | Mar. 1, 2027 | Mar. 14, 2027 | Mar. 19, 2027 | Mar. 19, 2027 | Mar. 16, 2027 |
| 7 | Mar. 15, 2027 | Mar. 28, 2027 | Apr. 2, 2027 | Apr. 2, 2027 | Mar. 30, 2027 |
| 8 | Mar. 29, 2027 | Apr. 11, 2027 | Apr. 16, 2027 | Apr. 16, 2027 | Apr. 13, 2027 |
| 9 | Apr. 12, 2027 | Apr. 25, 2027 | Apr. 30, 2027 | Apr. 30, 2027 | Apr. 27, 2027 |
| 10 | Apr. 26, 2027 | May 9, 2027 | May 14, 2027 | May 14, 2027 | May 11, 2027 |
| 11 | May 10, 2027 | May 23, 2027 | May 28, 2027 | May 28, 2027 | May 25, 2027 |
| 12 | May 24, 2027 | Jun. 6, 2027 | Jun. 11, 2027 | Jun. 11, 2027 | Jun. 8, 2027 |
| 13 | Jun. 7, 2027 | Jun. 20, 2027 | Jun. 25, 2027 | Jun. 25, 2027 | Jun. 22, 2027 |
| 14 | Jun. 21, 2027 | Jul. 4, 2027 | Jul. 9, 2027 | Jul. 9, 2027 | Jul. 6, 2027 |
| 15 | Jul. 5, 2027 | Jul. 18, 2027 | Jul. 23, 2027 | Jul. 23, 2027 | Jul. 20, 2027 |
| 16 | Jul. 19, 2027 | Aug. 1, 2027 | Aug. 6, 2027 | Aug. 6, 2027 | Aug. 3, 2027 |
| 17 | Aug. 2, 2027 | Aug. 15, 2027 | Aug. 20, 2027 | Aug. 20, 2027 | Aug. 17, 2027 |
| 18 | Aug. 16, 2027 | Aug. 29, 2027 | Sep. 3, 2027 | Sep. 3, 2027 | Aug. 31, 2027 |
| 19 | Aug. 30, 2027 | Sep. 12, 2027 | Sep. 17, 2027 | Sep. 17, 2027 | Sep. 14, 2027 |
| 20 | Sep. 13, 2027 | Sep. 26, 2027 | Oct. 1, 2027 | Oct. 1, 2027 | Sep. 28, 2027 |
| 21 | Sep. 27, 2027 | Oct. 10, 2027 | Oct. 15, 2027 | Oct. 15, 2027 | Oct. 12, 2027 |
| 22 | Oct. 11, 2027 | Oct. 24, 2027 | Oct. 29, 2027 | Oct. 29, 2027 | Oct. 26, 2027 |
| 23 | Oct. 25, 2027 | Nov. 7, 2027 | Nov. 12, 2027 | Nov. 12, 2027 | Nov. 9, 2027 |
| 24 | Nov. 8, 2027 | Nov. 21, 2027 | Nov. 26, 2027 | Nov. 26, 2027 | Nov. 23, 2027 |
| 25 | Nov. 22, 2027 | Dec. 5, 2027 | Dec. 10, 2027 | Dec. 10, 2027 | Dec. 7, 2027 |
| 26 | Dec. 6, 2027 | Dec. 19, 2027 | Dec. 24, 2027 | Dec. 24, 2027 | Dec. 21, 2027 |
| 27 | Dec. 20, 2027 | Jan. 2, 2028 | Jan. 7, 2028 | Jan. 7, 2028 | Jan. 4, 2028 |
Dates use proleptic Gregorian calendar arithmetic.
Business-weekday cutoffs exclude Saturdays and Sundays, but not public holidays.
How to use this calculator
- Choose the pay frequency and the calendar year you want to review.
- For weekly or biweekly pay, enter one confirmed period start date from the employer calendar.
- For semimonthly pay, enter the day the first period of each month ends.
- Set the payday lag, weekend rule, and timesheet cutoff rule.
- Review the table for raw paydays, adjusted paydays, and cutoff dates.
How the payroll calendar is built
The calculator uses calendar dates only. For weekly payroll it repeats seven-day periods from the known anchor start date. For biweekly payroll it repeats fourteen-day periods from that same kind of anchor. If the anchor date is A and the period length is L, period i starts on A + iL and ends on start + L - 1. The end date is inclusive.
Semimonthly payroll is not anchored to a weekday. Each month is split into two periods: the 1st through the split day, then the next day through the end of the month. Monthly payroll uses the 1st through the last day of each month. The split day is capped at 27 so it is valid in February in every year.
For every period, the raw payday is period end + payday lag. If the raw payday falls on Saturday or Sunday, the weekend rule either moves it back to Friday, moves it forward to Monday, or leaves it unchanged. The timesheet cutoff is then counted back from the adjusted payday using either calendar days or weekdays. Weekday counting skips Saturdays and Sundays only.
What the summary rows mean
Pay periods touching the year count periods whose start or end date lands inside the selected calendar year, including periods that cross December and January. Paydays in the year count adjusted payday dates from January 1 through December 31. These counts can differ when a period ends in one year and is paid in the next.
High-paycheck months are months with at least five weekly paydays or at least three biweekly paydays. Semimonthly and monthly schedules do not use that label because their normal pattern already fixes the number of monthly paydays.
The year-boundary row lists periods whose inclusive start and end dates are in different calendar years. The weekend-shifted count shows how many raw paydays changed because of the selected Saturday or Sunday rule.
What this calculator leaves out
The tool does not calculate wages, taxes, overtime, benefit deductions, direct-deposit availability, or bank holidays. Business-weekday cutoff counting excludes weekends, but it does not remove federal, state, bank, or employer holidays. Compare the generated dates with the employer's official payroll calendar before relying on them for cash planning.
Worked example
Suppose a biweekly schedule has a confirmed period start on Jan. 4, 2027. With a 5-day payday lag, previous-Friday weekend adjustment, and a 3-business-weekday cutoff, the period Dec. 21, 2026 to Jan. 3, 2027 has a raw payday of Jan. 8, 2027 and a cutoff of Jan. 5, 2027.
For the 2027 calendar year, this setup produces 27 periods touching the year and 26 adjusted paydays in the year. April and October each contain three biweekly paydays. The periods Dec. 21, 2026 to Jan. 3, 2027 and Dec. 20, 2027 to Jan. 2, 2028 are shown as year-boundary periods.
Common questions
What is the difference between biweekly and semimonthly pay?
Biweekly pay repeats every 14 days, so payday stays on the same weekday and some years can have 27 paydays. Semimonthly pay happens twice per month, often around the 15th and month-end, so the periods do not have equal lengths.
How do I find my pay-period anchor date?
Use the start date of a confirmed weekly or biweekly pay period from an employer payroll calendar, pay stub, or HR system. The anchor does not need to be in the selected year because the calculator counts forward and backward from it.
When does a year have 27 biweekly paydays?
A biweekly year has 27 adjusted paydays when the first adjusted payday falls early enough in the year for 26 more fourteen-day intervals to land by December 31. Weekend adjustment can move a borderline payday into or out of the year.
What happens when payday falls on a weekend?
The weekend rule controls only Saturdays and Sundays. The previous rule moves Saturday paydays back one day and Sunday paydays back two days; the next rule moves Saturday paydays forward two days and Sunday paydays forward one day.
Are holidays included in the business-day cutoff?
No. Business weekdays mean Monday through Friday only. Holidays vary by employer and bank, so you should adjust the cutoff manually if an official payroll calendar treats a weekday as unavailable.