5-Paycheck Months in 2027: Dates by Payday Weekday
Paid weekly, most months bring four paychecks and a few bring five. Which 2027 months those are for each payday weekday, and why Friday pay gets 53 paychecks this year.
Paid every week, you get 52 paychecks in an ordinary year. Twelve months at four paychecks each only accounts for 48 of them, so four months end up holding a fifth. Which four is decided by the weekday you are paid on and nothing else, and since there are only seven weekdays there are only seven answers. Find yours below.
Five-paycheck months in 2027, by payday
| Paid every | Paychecks in 2027 | Months with a fifth one |
|---|---|---|
| Friday | 53 | January (1, 8, 15, 22, 29) · April (2, 9, 16, 23, 30) · July (2, 9, 16, 23, 30) · October (1, 8, 15, 22, 29) · December (3, 10, 17, 24, 31) |
| Saturday | 52 | January (2, 9, 16, 23, 30) · May (1, 8, 15, 22, 29) · July (3, 10, 17, 24, 31) · October (2, 9, 16, 23, 30) |
| Sunday | 52 | January (3, 10, 17, 24, 31) · May (2, 9, 16, 23, 30) · August (1, 8, 15, 22, 29) · October (3, 10, 17, 24, 31) |
| Monday | 52 | March (1, 8, 15, 22, 29) · May (3, 10, 17, 24, 31) · August (2, 9, 16, 23, 30) · November (1, 8, 15, 22, 29) |
| Tuesday | 52 | March (2, 9, 16, 23, 30) · June (1, 8, 15, 22, 29) · August (3, 10, 17, 24, 31) · November (2, 9, 16, 23, 30) |
| Wednesday | 52 | March (3, 10, 17, 24, 31) · June (2, 9, 16, 23, 30) · September (1, 8, 15, 22, 29) · December (1, 8, 15, 22, 29) |
| Thursday | 52 | April (1, 8, 15, 22, 29) · July (1, 8, 15, 22, 29) · September (2, 9, 16, 23, 30) · December (2, 9, 16, 23, 30) |
The same thing, month by month
If you are reading this from inside the year and want to know whether the month coming up is one of yours, this is the list turned around.
- January: Friday pay (1, 8, 15, 22, 29), Saturday pay (2, 9, 16, 23, 30), Sunday pay (3, 10, 17, 24, 31)
- March: Monday pay (1, 8, 15, 22, 29), Tuesday pay (2, 9, 16, 23, 30), Wednesday pay (3, 10, 17, 24, 31)
- April: Friday pay (2, 9, 16, 23, 30), Thursday pay (1, 8, 15, 22, 29)
- May: Saturday pay (1, 8, 15, 22, 29), Sunday pay (2, 9, 16, 23, 30), Monday pay (3, 10, 17, 24, 31)
- June: Tuesday pay (1, 8, 15, 22, 29), Wednesday pay (2, 9, 16, 23, 30)
- July: Friday pay (2, 9, 16, 23, 30), Saturday pay (3, 10, 17, 24, 31), Thursday pay (1, 8, 15, 22, 29)
- August: Sunday pay (1, 8, 15, 22, 29), Monday pay (2, 9, 16, 23, 30), Tuesday pay (3, 10, 17, 24, 31)
- September: Wednesday pay (1, 8, 15, 22, 29), Thursday pay (2, 9, 16, 23, 30)
- October: Friday pay (1, 8, 15, 22, 29), Saturday pay (2, 9, 16, 23, 30), Sunday pay (3, 10, 17, 24, 31)
- November: Monday pay (1, 8, 15, 22, 29), Tuesday pay (2, 9, 16, 23, 30)
- December: Friday pay (3, 10, 17, 24, 31), Wednesday pay (1, 8, 15, 22, 29), Thursday pay (2, 9, 16, 23, 30)
Why Friday pay gets 53 paychecks in 2027
A year is 52 weeks and one day. That spare day is a Friday in 2027, so there are 53 of them, and anyone paid on that day gets a 53rd paycheck on December 31, 2027. It also means Friday pay has 5 five-paycheck months this year instead of the usual four.
There is a catch, and it is the same one the biweekly crowd is dealing with. January 1 is a bank holiday. An employer or payroll provider may move that scheduled payday, which can change which calendar year contains the deposit. Confirm the date on your payroll calendar. The 27 pay periods page walks through what your employer’s choice does to the count.
A fifth paycheck is not automatically spare money
A five-paycheck month changes cash-flow timing; it does not create extra annual income. How much is available for another goal depends on your bills, deductions and irregular expenses. Review those obligations before assigning the fifth paycheck.
Work out your per-paycheck amounts
How these dates were produced
Every date on this page is computed from the pay cycle at build time rather than typed in, and the counts above are covered by unit tests. Dates are calculated in UTC so the answer does not change with the reader’s timezone.
All amounts are computed in integer cents and rounded up when splitting a bill across paychecks, so a plan never funds a bill short. Pay-period counts follow the calendar: 52 weekly, 26 biweekly, 24 semi-monthly, 12 monthly. Written by Larder, makers of an envelope budgeting app for iPhone. Last reviewed .