Federal Pay Period Calendar 2027

2027 has 26 federal pay periods. OPM’s 2027 leave year starts with the pay period that begins on Sunday, January 10, 2027 and ends on Saturday, January 8, 2028. On the every-other-Friday schedule DFAS and GSA pay, the first payday of 2027 is Friday, January 15, 2027 and the last is Thursday, December 30, 2027, 26 in all.

What this page sets up

The calendar opens on the federal pay cycle as DFAS and GSA pay it: every other Friday, each payday six days after its pay period ends. Pay periods are two weeks, Sunday to Saturday, and the table shows the period each check pays for. The first payday of 2027, Fri, Jan 15, 2027, pays for Sun, Dec 27, 2026 to Sat, Jan 9, 2027. The federal holidays are the days off OPM gives employees, so a Saturday holiday counts on the Friday before and a Sunday holiday on the Monday after. A payday that lands on one moves to the Thursday before, as VA’s payroll policy sets out and GSA’s calendar shows.

Which payroll office this matches

By law a federal pay period covers two administrative workweeks (5 U.S.C. 5504), and most agencies share the same two-week cycle, so the pay period dates here apply to them. OPM notes that some payroll systems use a different schedule; the Postal Service is one. The payday is set by the payroll provider. DFAS’s civilian pay processing schedule lists Friday pay dates six days after the period ends for Defense agencies other than the Army, and for VA, HHS, USAGM and the Military Sealift Command. VA’s financial policy names the first Friday after the pay period as its payday.

If you’re paid by DFAS as an Army or Department of Energy civilian, or at an overseas Army or Defense agency, the same schedule gives the Thursday 12 days after the period ends: set the payday to that Thursday and the gap to 12 days, and check holiday weeks with your payroll office. Agencies paid by the National Finance Center (USDA, Homeland Security, Treasury and many smaller agencies) get money on a Monday, set up on the NFC pay period calendar. Postal workers have their own pay periods, Saturday to Friday: see the USPS pay period calendar.

The 2027 leave year

OPM starts each leave year on the first day of the first full pay period in January, so the 2027 leave year runs from Sunday, January 10, 2027 to Saturday, January 8, 2028. Its first pay period is paid on Fri, Jan 29, 2027; any payday before it pays for work in the 2026 leave year. Annual leave over your carryover ceiling (30 days for most employees in the US) is forfeited if you haven’t used it by the last day of the leave year. Leave lost to an exigency of the public business or your own sickness can be restored only if it was scheduled in writing before the start of the third pay period before the leave year ends: for the 2027 leave year, by Saturday, November 27, 2027. Leave lost through an administrative error can be restored without that.

Using the calendar

Download the PDF for a one-page year you can pin up, or the .ics file to put every payday in Google Calendar, Outlook or Apple Calendar. Switch the year to plan ahead: the pay periods continue in two-week steps with no reset. For a wall calendar with the federal holidays marked, make a printable calendar. For any other schedule, start from the pay period calendar.

Federal holidays in 2027 and the paydays they move