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How to Find the Day of the Week for Any Date

Calculate What Day of the Week it is With Our Simple Formula

Written By: Catherine Boeckmann Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

What day did that happen? It’s easy to find the day of the week for births, weddings, deaths, and other historical events. Follow our simple instructions to calculate the day for any historical or future date—as far back as the mid-1700s.

For example, what day of the week was December 26, 2004, when the tsunami struck the Indian Ocean? Follow the example as you read along:

  1. Take the last two digits of the year.
  2. Add to that one–quarter of those two digits (discard any remainder).

  3. Add to that the day of the month and the Month Key number for that month:

    Read Next
    January = 1June = 5
    …leap year = 0July = 0
    February = 4August = 3
    …leap year = 3September = 6
    March = 4October = 1
    April = 0November = 4
    May = 2December = 6
  4. Divide the sum by 7. The remainder is the day of the week! One is Sunday, two is Monday, and so on. If there is no remainder, the day is Saturday. 
    [Note: At this step, it may be easiest to use long division to get the remainder. When using a calculator, after you divide the sum by 7, you’ll need to multiply the numbers after the decimal (not the whole number) in the result by 7 and then round to the nearest whole number to get the remainder.]

Note: 

  • If you’re searching for a week before 1900, add 2 to the sum before dividing; before 1800, add 4.
  • The formula doesn’t work for days before 1753.
  • From 2000 to 2099, subtract 1 from the sum before dividing.

Here’s an Example:

A tsunami occurred in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004.

Last two digits of year04
One-quarter of these two digits1
Given day of month:26
Key number for December6

Sum: 37

Because 2004 is in the range of 2000 to 2099, subtract 1 from 37. This yields 36.

36 divided by 7 = 5, with a remainder of 1. The tsunami took place on Sunday, the first day of the week.

Monday’s child is fair of face, 
Tuesday’s child is full of grace, 
Wednesday’s child is full of woe, 
Thursday’s child has far to go, 
Friday’s child is loving and giving, 
Saturday’s child works hard for a living, 
And the child that is born on the Sabbath Day, 
Is bonny and blithe and good and gay. 
–an old English nursery rhyme

Or… if you want to make it easy, check out our Day of the Week Calculator! It does the work for you!

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About The Author
Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Catherine Boeckmann is the Executive Digital Editor of Almanac.com, the website companion of The Old Farmer's Almanac. She covers gardening, plants, pest control, soil composition, seasonal and moon c...
Read More from Catherine Boeckmann

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Comments

<span>Dan</span> Sat, 04/05/2025 - 17:25
January 20 1988 88+22+20+1=131 131/7=18... 18 is not a day of the week.
<span>Wayne</span> Thu, 09/25/2025 - 22:32
Subtract 70 from 131 = 61. Then divide by 7. Answer is 8 with 5 remainder Thursday
<span>Gary</span> Thu, 06/26/2025 - 11:09
18 x 7 =126 131-126=5 5=thursday.
<span>Latke</span> Wed, 04/02/2025 - 06:57
So… 01/20/1940? 40/4=10. 10+40=50 50+20+0 (leap) =70 70/7 =10 Also 02/04/1956? =11 Both are Saturdays If the number is bigger than 7 is it always a Saturday?
<span>Nick</span> Thu, 03/27/2025 - 09:40
I couldn't get this to work for 14th may for a few years, 1979, 2013 most notably
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Fri, 04/04/2025 - 15:06

Hi, Nick. For 5/4/1979:

79 + 19 = 98 +14= 112 +2 =114  114/7 = 16 with a remainder of 2  2 = Monday

For 5/14/2013:

13 + 3 = 16 +14= 30 +2 =32 -1 = 31  31/7 = 4 with a remainder of 3  3 = Tuesday

 <span>Kristopher</span> Thu, 03/06/2025 - 07:42
hi can u solve jan 8 1984, i solved it multiple times but the answer is 1.9 so on so it would be 2 which is monday but it's sunday please help haha
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/joe-bills">Joe Bills</a> Thu, 03/06/2025 - 10:24

Hi Kristopher,

I'm just guessing, but I think the fact that 1984 was a leap year might be causing your miscalculation. As noted on the Month Key chart, Leap Year changes January's 1 to a 0.

Which leads us to:

January 8, 1984

last two digits: 84

add one quarter of those digits: 84/4=21  84+21=105 

add day and month key: 105+0+8=113

divide sum by 7: 113/7=16 (remainder 1)

And the remainder of 1 tells us that January 8, 1984 was in fact a Sunday.

Hope that makes sense!

 <span>Kristopher</span> Fri, 03/07/2025 - 10:04
thanks a lot!!!!
<span>Wendy</span> Tue, 02/18/2025 - 15:21
WRONG! You forgot to add the last two digits of the year before dividing by 7