The weekly pay schedule is a popular payment format for lots of companies across the globe. Given that most months have four weeks on average, it is safe to assume that there are four weekly paychecks every month. However, this assumption can fall apart quickly if a month starts on the wrong day of the week. This leads us nicely to the topic of this article: months with 5 paychecks.

What are five paycheck months?

A five-paycheck month is a month in which workers who get weekly paychecks receive five of them instead of the usual four. Most months only have four paychecks, however, some months have five due to the particularities of the calendar.

Moreover, many professionals assume that there are only four weeks every month. This can make the occasional fifth one seem like an “extra paycheck”, so to say.

As you might imagine, months with five paychecks can only happen with weekly paychecks. If you pay your staff once per month, you won’t get any month-to-month inconsistencies like these.

However, you might still encounter some variations in the number of your monthly paychecks if you use bi-weekly payments. In such cases, you may encounter three-paycheck months instead.

Why do some months have five paychecks?

Some months have five paychecks because there are just over four weeks every month. Counting partial weeks, months with 5 weeks are actually a fairly common occurrence. Depending on which day of the week a month starts, your company’s payday may end up repeating five times per month instead of four.

How to tell if a month is going to be a five-paycheck month?

The simplest way to tell if there’s going to be 5 paychecks in a month is to look at what weekday the month starts on. For months with 30 days, if your payday falls on either the first or second day of the month, then you’ll have five paychecks. For 31-day months, the same is true if your payday falls on either the first, second, or third day of the month.

How can five paychecks in one month affect your business?

The fluctuations in the number of paychecks from month to month can cause some short-term challenges for your business if you don’t anticipate them in time. These include:

• Cashflow fluctuations
• Overtime pay

Cashflow fluctuations

The biggest challenge in months with 5 paychecks can be cash flow. If your company assumes there are four monthly paychecks, your payroll allocation will have to grow when months with 5 paychecks come around.

This can be a big problem if your revenue doesn’t rise enough at the same time. However, simply planning ahead can help you smooth out these ups and downs. We’ll cover this in more detail in just a bit.

Moreover, using an expense tracking solution can help you further simplify your cashflow management work.

Overtime pay

Besides standard work hours, five paycheck months will also affect your overtime calculations. This is especially true if you pay your staff’s overtime separately or use compensatory time in place of overtime pay.

5 Paycheck Months of the Decade

Having covered the basics of the concept, let’s now explore a few examples of five-paycheck months. Specifically, we’ll cover months with five paychecks for businesses that pay their staff on Fridays. This is the most common payday for companies offering weekly paychecks, though other weekdays like Mondays may also be used.

The 5 paycheck months of 2025-2029, the remaining years of the decade, are the following:

2025: January, May, August, October

2026: January, May, July, October

2027: January, April, July, October, December

2028: March, June, September, December

2029: March, June, August, November

Months with 5 paychecks in 2025

As already mentioned, the 5 paycheck months of 2025 are January, May, August, and October. However, if you pay your staff on a day of the week that’s not Friday, your five-paycheck months will differ. For example, if you process your weekly paychecks on Mondays, your extra paycheck months will be March, June, September, and December.

How to Plan for Months with Extra Paychecks Ahead of Time

Planning for five paycheck months starts with knowing when they’ll happen. From there, you can prepare your project budgeting and payroll work to handle the change with no issues.

Forecast expenses annually and plan for higher-cost months

When forecasting your company’s revenues and expenses, do so for the course of an entire year. Start each year by reviewing a calendar. Mark all five paycheck months that apply to your pay schedule and simply mark those dates.

Moreover, use the number of weeks in a year—52, to estimate your average monthly payroll costs instead of assuming there are four weeks in every month. Simply multiply your weekly payroll spending by 52 and then divide by 12, the number of months in a year.

By planning for these higher-cost months, you can avoid going into debt or using up your company’s emergency funds.

Track payroll with dedicated software

If you track your payroll costs manually, you stand to benefit a lot from a payroll tracking app. Software like WebWork offers Employee Payroll Tracking functionality, allowing you to know exactly how much you need to pay your staff each pay cycle. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Five Paycheck Months

Before closing off this article, let’s briefly explore a few of the most common questions about five-paycheck months.

What is a five-paycheck month?

A five-paycheck month is when employees who are paid weekly paychecks receive five payments instead of the usual four. This happens when your team’s payday falls on a weekday that repeats five times within a month, which can happen almost every month of the year.

When can a five-paycheck month not occur?

The only month that cannot have five paychecks is February. However, on leap years, the month can have five paychecks if it starts on your company’s payday.

How to tell if there are going to be five paychecks in one month?

There are going to be five paychecks in a given month only if your payday follows within a short window of the month’s first day. For 30-day months, this window is just one day, while for 31-day months, it’s two days.

To illustrate this, if you pay your staff on Fridays, there will be five paychecks in:

• 30-day months that start on Thursdays and Fridays
• 31-day months that start on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays

Do extra paycheck months occur only with weekly paychecks?

No, you may also encounter months with extra paychecks if you pay your staff bi-weekly. In such cases, you’ll have three-paycheck months instead of the typical two-paycheck months.

How often do months with 5 paychecks occur?

Given that the average number of workdays per month is more than 20, months with 5 paychecks occur fairly frequently. The years between 2025 and 2029, the remaining years of the 2020s, each contain at least four 5-paycheck months.

What are the 5 paycheck months of 2025-2029?

The months with five paychecks each year between 2025 and 2029 are the following:

• 2025: January, May, August, October
• 2026: January, May, July, October
• 2027: January, April, July, October, December
• 2028: March, June, September, December
• 2029: March, June, August, November

Concluding Thoughts

While five-paycheck months don’t change how much you pay your staff over the year, they can lead to surprises if you assume that there are only four paydays each month. By accounting for these fifth paychecks, you can ensure your business won’t ever be faced with unexpected payroll costs. This will help you keep things running smoothly at your organization, ensuring its long-term stability.