How many biweekly pay periods are in a year?
There are 26 biweekly pay periods in most years. A year has 52 weeks, and you are paid every second week, so 52 divided by 2 is 26.
Some years have 27. That happens when your first payday of the year lands on January 1, which leaves room for a 27th payday on December 31.
Biweekly is also the most common schedule in the U.S. In a February 2023 Bureau of Labor Statistics survey, 43.0% of private employers paid biweekly.
To count your own paydays, enter your next payday and frequency in the counter above. It lists every payday for the year and flags months with an extra check.
How many paychecks in a year? Pay periods by frequency
The IRS uses these pay period counts in Publication 15-T, its guide to federal income tax withholding:
| Pay frequency | Pay periods per year | Paychecks per month | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily | 260 | About 20 to 23 | 52 weeks x 5 workdays |
| Weekly | 52 | 4 or 5 | 53 in some years |
| Biweekly | 26 | 2 or 3 | 27 in some years |
| Semi-monthly | 24 | Always 2 | Count never changes |
| Monthly | 12 | Always 1 | Count never changes |
| Quarterly | 4 | 1 every three months | Count never changes |
| Semiannual | 2 | 1 every six months | Count never changes |
| Annual | 1 | 1 per year | Count never changes |
The two schedules that can add an extra check are the ones tied to the week: weekly and biweekly. Semi-monthly and monthly pay are tied to dates, so they always produce the same count. If you are unsure which one you have, our guide to semi-monthly vs biweekly pay explains how to tell from your pay stub.
Why do some years have 27 biweekly pay periods?
A normal year has 365 days, which is 52 weeks plus one day. A leap year has 366 days, which is 52 weeks plus two days.
That leftover day means one weekday shows up 53 times in a normal year instead of 52. In a leap year, two weekdays show up 53 times. The extra day always belongs to whatever weekday the year starts on (and the next weekday in a leap year).
A biweekly schedule needs 364 days to fit 27 paydays: one on day 1 and the 27th exactly 26 two-week periods later. So in a normal year, a biweekly schedule gets 27 paydays only if its first payday is January 1, which puts the 27th on December 31.
Each biweekly schedule shifts by one or two days every year, so the extra payday comes back around about once every 11 or 12 years.
Which paydays get 27 paychecks in 2026 and 2027?
2026 starts on a Thursday and is not a leap year, so it has 53 Thursdays. A biweekly schedule that pays on Thursdays, with a payday on January 1, 2026, gets 27 paydays: January 1, January 15, and every other Thursday through December 31, 2026. The other Thursday schedule (first payday January 8) gets 26, and both Friday schedules get 26 on their scheduled dates.
2027 starts on a Friday and is not a leap year, so it has 53 Fridays. A biweekly schedule that pays on Fridays, with a payday on January 1, 2027, gets 27 paydays, through December 31, 2027. That is the same schedule as Friday paydays that started January 2, 2026.
| Year | Starts on | Weekday that occurs 53 times | Biweekly schedule with 27 paydays | First and last payday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Thursday | Thursday | Thursdays, including January 1 | January 1 and December 31, 2026 |
| 2027 | Friday | Friday | Fridays, including January 1 | January 1 and December 31, 2027 |
| 2028 (leap year) | Saturday | Saturday and Sunday | None on a weekday schedule | Not applicable |
The same math applies to weekly pay. Weekly Thursday paydays get 53 checks in 2026, and weekly Friday paydays get 53 checks in 2027.
The holiday catch: which year gets the extra check?
Both 27-payday schedules start on January 1, which is New Year’s Day, a federal holiday. In addition, January 1, 2028 falls on a Saturday, so Friday, December 31, 2027 is the observed federal holiday. When payday lands on a holiday, employers usually pay either the business day before or the business day after, and that choice decides which calendar year the extra check lands in.
| Schedule | Paid on the scheduled dates | Pay-early policy | Pay-late policy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thursdays, starting January 1, 2026 | 27 in 2026 | January 1 check paid December 31, 2025, so 2025 gets 27 and 2026 gets 26 | January 1 check paid Friday, January 2, so 2026 still gets 27 |
| Fridays, starting January 1, 2027 | 27 in 2027 | January 1 check paid December 31, 2026, so 2026 gets 27 and 2027 gets 26 | December 31, 2027 check paid January 3, 2028, so 2027 gets 26 and 2028 gets 27 |
The bottom line: the extra paycheck is real, but its calendar year depends on your employer’s holiday rule. Ask payroll if you need to know for tax planning or a budget.
What is a 3-paycheck month?
On biweekly pay, 26 paydays spread across 12 months means 10 months get two checks and two months get three. In a 27-payday year, three months get three checks.
Which months depends on your schedule. Here is 2026, before any holiday shifts:
| Biweekly payday schedule in 2026 | Months with 3 paydays |
|---|---|
| Fridays, starting January 2 | January, July |
| Fridays, starting January 9 | May, October |
| Thursdays, starting January 1 | January, July, December |
| Thursdays, starting January 8 | April, October |
Weekly pay works the same way with five-paycheck months. Weekly Friday paydays in 2026 bring five checks in January, May, July and October.
Semi-monthly and monthly schedules never have a third-paycheck month. See what semi-monthly means for how those dates work.
How to budget on biweekly pay
- Build your budget on two paychecks a month. If you earn $52,000 a year, a biweekly check is $2,000 gross, so budget from $4,000 a month, not from $52,000 divided by 12. That is $25 an hour at full time; see the $25 an hour breakdown.
- Give each third paycheck a job in advance. Assign it to an emergency fund, a debt payment, an annual bill like car insurance, or holiday spending before it arrives.
- Ask HR how a 27-paycheck year works. Find out whether salaried checks stay the same or are divided by 27. On a $52,000 salary, dividing by 27 drops each check from $2,000 to $1,925.93.
- Check per-paycheck deductions. If you contribute a flat dollar amount to a retirement plan or health savings account each pay period, a 27th check means one more contribution. Review your elections early in the year.
- Match bills to paydays. If a lender or landlord lets you choose a due date, set it a few days after one of your usual paydays.
- Use the counter above. It shows every payday for the year so you can mark the third-paycheck months on your calendar now.
For tax questions about an extra paycheck, a tax professional can review your situation. To turn an hourly rate into an annual salary, or the reverse, try our salary calculators or browse all JobQuix tools.
Are pay periods set by law?
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act requires the wages it covers, such as minimum wage and overtime, to be paid on the regular payday for the pay period covered, but how often payday comes is mostly a matter of state law. The U.S. Department of Labor keeps a table of state payday requirements showing which schedules each state allows. Some states, such as Texas, require nonexempt employees to be paid at least twice a month, which rules out monthly pay for those workers.