US Pay Period Calculator

Enter the first day of the pay period, the pay frequency and the processing lag, and the calculator returns the calendar days until payday, both days counted. A bi-weekly period starting 5 January 2026 with a 4-day lag pays on 22 January — 18 days.

A pay period is the window in which hours are tracked; payday is the day the money arrives. The distance between them is the processing lag, and this page turns all three into one number: the calendar days from the first day of the period until payday, both ends counted. The period end follows the frequency — six days after the start for weekly, thirteen for bi-weekly, the 15th or the last day of the month for semi-monthly, the last day for monthly. Adding the lag gives the nominal payday, and if that lands on a weekend or a bank holiday it is pulled back to the previous business day. With the preset values — bi-weekly from 5 January 2026, four days of lag — the period ends on Sunday 18 January, the nominal payday is Thursday 22 January, no adjustment is needed, and the answer is 18 days. Everything here is US practice. The holiday set is the eleven federal bank holidays, the backwards adjustment is the common employer rule rather than a law, and some union contracts require the following business day instead, which makes the real wait longer than the figure shown. In Germany the question barely arises: pay is effectively always monthly, and when it is due follows from the employment or collective agreement rather than from a payroll calendar.