How many federal holidays in January?

There are two federal holidays in the United States in January: New Year's Day and Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday (often erroneously referred to as Martin Luther King Day). However, this does not mean that the two holidays are observed (as time off for federal workers) in January. (Read below concerning when New Year's Day is observed in December.)

King's Birthday is observed on the third Monday in January, thus it can occur anywhere from January15th (the actual anniversary of his 1929 birthdate) to January 21st.

The New Year's Day holiday occurs on January 1st itself unless that date occurs on a weekend, in which case the holiday is observed on the nearer weekday (i.e. Saturday, January 1 is observed on Friday, December 31 and Sunday, January 1 is observed on Monday, January 2).

It should be noted that, since not all federal employees work Monday-Friday, for some workers holidays can be observed on the actual days of the week on which they occur.