How to Count Days Between Two Dates in Google Sheets

Type =B2-A2 to get the number of days between an earlier date in A2 and a later date in B2 — just format the result as a plain number.

=B2-A2

Dates are stored as numbers, so subtracting them gives the day count. If the cell shows a date instead of a number, set the format to Number.

How it works

Google Sheets stores every date as a serial number, so the difference between two dates is simply subtraction. The only common surprise is formatting: the result cell may inherit a date format and show something like 1900-02-14 instead of 45. Fix it with Format > Number > Number. For business-day counts, use NETWORKDAYS instead, which skips weekends.

Variations

Workdays only (skip weekends)

=NETWORKDAYS(A2,B2)

Counts Monday–Friday between the two dates, inclusive.

Workdays excluding holidays

=NETWORKDAYS(A2,B2,E2:E10)

List holiday dates in E2:E10 to subtract them too.

Whole weeks between dates

=INT((B2-A2)/7)

Divides the day count by 7 and rounds down.

Examples

Scenario	Formula
Days until a deadline in B2	`=B2-TODAY()`
Working days on a project	`=NETWORKDAYS(A2,B2)`

FAQ

Why does my result show a date, not a number?

The cell is date-formatted. Select it and choose Format > Number > Number, or wrap the formula: =TEXT(B2-A2,"0").

Does =B2-A2 include both the start and end day?

No — plain subtraction counts the gap, so a Monday-to-Friday span returns 4. Add 1 if you want to count both endpoints: =B2-A2+1.

How do I count only working days?

Use =NETWORKDAYS(A2,B2), which counts weekdays and can exclude a holiday list as a third argument.

Related formulas

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