Paycheck Date Schedules: Pay Periods, Pay Dates and Holidays

Every paycheck has two sets of dates: the pay period, the days being paid for, and the pay date, the day the money arrives. The gap between them, and how weekends, holidays and calendar quirks move pay dates around, decides when you get paid and which year a paycheck counts toward.

Pay period, lag and pay date

Many employers close a pay period, process payroll, then pay several days later. A common biweekly setup:

Pay period (Sun–Sat)	Processing	Pay date (Fri)
Mar 29 – Apr 11, 2026	Apr 13–16	Apr 17, 2026
Apr 12 – Apr 25, 2026	Apr 27–30	May 1, 2026

States limit how long that lag can be:

• California: wages for weekly, biweekly or other periods that don't run 1st–15th and 16th–end must be paid within seven calendar days of the period's end. Wages earned from the 1st to the 15th must be paid by the 26th, and wages earned from the 16th to the end of the month by the 10th of the next month. Employers must post the regular payday, time and place.
• New York: most manual workers must be paid weekly, within seven calendar days after the end of the week in which wages were earned. Clerical and other workers must be paid at least twice a month, on regular paydays designated in advance.
• Texas: non-exempt employees must be paid at least twice a month and exempt employees at least monthly, on designated paydays that are posted at the workplace. If no paydays are designated, they default to the 1st and 15th.

Biweekly calendars: three-paycheck months and 27-paycheck years

Biweekly schedules repeat every 14 days, so which months get a third paycheck depends on the first payday:

Friday schedule	3-paycheck months, 2026	3-paycheck months, 2027	Paydays in 2027
A: first payday Jan 2, 2026	January, July	January, July, December	27 (Jan 1 through Dec 31)
B: first payday Jan 9, 2026	May, October	April, October	26

Schedule A shows how a 27-paycheck year happens. 26 biweekly periods take 364 days, so the schedule drifts one day earlier each year. It eventually lands on both January 1 and December 31, 2027. Two details make it tricky:

• January 1, 2027 is New Year's Day, a Federal Reserve holiday. If the employer pays early on Thursday, December 31, 2026, that paycheck counts for 2026, which then has 27 paychecks. If it pays on the next business day in January, 2027 has 27.
• Salary math changes. Some employers divide annual salary by 27 in those years; others pay the usual per-check amount, so the year's total runs higher. Your offer letter or handbook should say which.

Weekly schedules have the same quirk. 2026 has 53 Thursdays and 2027 has 53 Fridays.

Semimonthly calendars: weekend shifts

Semimonthly paydays are dates, commonly the 15th and the last day of the month, so they fall on weekends regularly:

Year	15th or month-end falling on a weekend
2026	Jan 31 (Sat), Feb 15 (Sun), Feb 28 (Sat), Mar 15 (Sun), May 31 (Sun), Aug 15 (Sat), Oct 31 (Sat), Nov 15 (Sun)
2027	Jan 31 (Sun), Feb 28 (Sun), May 15 (Sat), Jul 31 (Sat), Aug 15 (Sun), Oct 31 (Sun)

Monday, February 15, 2027 is also Washington's Birthday, a bank holiday. Many employers move weekend and holiday paydays to the previous business day; others move them to the next. Either way, the stub should carry the date actually paid.

Bank holidays that move direct deposits

Direct deposits settle on Federal Reserve business days. The 2026 and 2027 Fed holidays:

Holiday	2026	2027
New Year's Day	Thu, Jan 1	Fri, Jan 1
Martin Luther King Jr. Day	Mon, Jan 19	Mon, Jan 18
Washington's Birthday	Mon, Feb 16	Mon, Feb 15
Memorial Day	Mon, May 25	Mon, May 31
Juneteenth	Fri, Jun 19	Sat, Jun 19 (Fed open Fri)
Independence Day	Sat, Jul 4 (Fed open Fri)	Sun, Jul 4 (closed Mon, Jul 5)
Labor Day	Mon, Sep 7	Mon, Sep 6
Columbus Day	Mon, Oct 12	Mon, Oct 11
Veterans Day	Wed, Nov 11	Thu, Nov 11
Thanksgiving	Thu, Nov 26	Thu, Nov 25
Christmas	Fri, Dec 25	Sat, Dec 25 (Fed open Fri)

When a holiday falls on a Saturday, Federal Reserve banks stay open the Friday before. When it falls on a Sunday, they close the following Monday. Christmas 2026 is a Friday, a common payday, so a Friday schedule paying that day will usually pay on Thursday, December 24.

The pay date decides the tax year

W-2 Box 1 reports wages paid during the calendar year. The same rule drives YTD on stubs. A paycheck for December work paid in January belongs to January's year. That's why holiday shifts around New Year's Day matter more than most: they can move a whole paycheck between years. See what is YTD on a pay stub.

Building stubs on a schedule

In our generator you pick the frequency (weekly, biweekly, semimonthly or monthly) and the first pay date, and the stubs lay out consecutive pay periods for up to 26 pay dates in one order. If a payday moved for a holiday, enter the date actually paid. The optional payday reminder emails you the day before your next pay date, so stubs stay on schedule without a subscription.

Leaving a job? Final paychecks follow their own state deadlines. See final paycheck rules by state.