Estimate weekly unemployment benefits, the maximum benefit amount and how many weeks a claim lasts, using each state's own 2026 rules.
Each preset exercises a different state rule — a wage-capped claim, a state maximum, an earnings disregard, New York's hour bands, and a state whose amount comes from a table.
Enter gross wages for the last four completed quarters. Weeks worked is optional — leave it blank and a full 52-week base period is assumed, which is right only if you worked the whole year.
Gross earnings in a week of part-time work. Your state ignores part of it and subtracts the rest.
A payer may withhold 10% federal from unemployment, or nothing — Form W-4V allows no other rate. The marginal rate below estimates what you will OWE at filing, which is a different number.
Estimates only — not a benefit determination. State formulas, minimums, maximums, earnings disregards, claim caps and durations are the individual (no-dependants) figures published by the U.S. Department of Labor effective January 2026; your state agency makes the binding determination and may apply an alternate base period, a dependants allowance, or a disqualification this calculator does not model.
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How much unemployment pays, and for how long, is decided by two separate state rules — a weekly benefit formula and a cap on the whole claim. Most calculators apply only the first and multiply it by the maximum number of weeks, which overstates the total for anyone who did not work a full base period. This calculator applies both, for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, using the rules the U.S. Department of Labor published for January 2026, and shows you the wording it used.
An unemployment calculator estimates the weekly benefit amount your state will pay after a job loss, the maximum benefit amount the whole claim is capped at, and how many weeks that works out to. It starts from your base-period wages — usually the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters — applies your state's formula, pushes the result inside the state minimum and maximum, and then caps the claim. Where you work part time while claiming, it applies your state's own partial-benefit rule, which may be an earnings disregard, an hours band, or a taper.
Weekly benefit and claim cap
Turn a weekly benefit into a monthly figure and a total claim value, so you know how many months of expenses the claim covers.
Model the exact week: what you earn, what your state disregards, what is left of the benefit, and how much longer the claim then lasts.
A partial year of wages caps the claim in most states. See the real total before you assume 26 weeks of support.
Compare the 10% election against an estimate of what you will owe at filing, and decide whether to set money aside instead.
Same wages, different state: see how much the safety net differs before you accept a role or a relocation.
Your monetary determination letter states a weekly amount and a maximum benefit amount. Reproduce both here, with the rule cited, before you appeal.
Not a national average. Every one of the 50 states and the District of Columbia has its own weekly formula, its own minimum and maximum, and its own claim cap, all applied here exactly as the U.S. Department of Labor publishes them for January 2026.
Most state claims are capped at a fraction of your base-period wages, not at a flat number of weeks. If you worked part of the year, this is the difference between planning for 26 weeks and planning for 14.
Each state reduces a partial week differently — an earnings disregard in most, hours in New York, a 1.5x ceiling in Michigan, a 50-cent taper in Minnesota. See what a given week of work leaves you with.
A payer may withhold 10% federal, or nothing — no other rate is permitted. Your marginal rate is a different question, and this calculator answers both without confusing them.
Every result shows the Department of Labor wording it applied for the weekly amount, the earnings disregard and the claim cap, so you can take it to your state agency and check it.
Switch the state with the same wages and watch the weekly amount and the duration change together. Mississippi caps at $235; Washington at $1,152.
Every state starts from your base period — usually the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters. Your weekly benefit amount comes from a state formula applied to those wages: a fraction of your highest quarter (Florida uses 1/26, Texas 1/25), a percentage of your average weekly wage (Massachusetts 50%, New Jersey 60%), or a percentage of the whole base period (Oregon 1.25%). The result is then pushed inside the state minimum and maximum. This calculator applies each state rule as the U.S. Department of Labor publishes it and shows the wording it used.
Fewer than the headline number, for most people. States cap the whole claim at a maximum benefit amount, and in 40 of 51 jurisdictions that is the LESSER of a fraction of base-period wages and a set number of weeks times your weekly benefit. Your duration is the maximum benefit amount divided by the weekly amount. That is why the Department of Labor publishes "14–26 weeks" for California rather than a single figure — a Californian who worked one quarter is capped at half of base-period wages, which runs out in about 14 weeks.
Because the fraction-of-wages half of the rule bound first. If you worked only part of the base period, a fraction of those wages is smaller than 26 weekly payments, so that fraction is what you receive. This calculator tells you when that happened, names the state rule that caused it, and shows both numbers side by side.
In every state, yes, up to a point — but the rules differ in kind, not just in amount. Most states ignore a slice of your weekly earnings and subtract the rest: California disregards the greater of $25 or a quarter of your earnings, Washington the first $5 plus a quarter of the rest. New York counts HOURS instead: ten or fewer in a week costs you nothing at all. Michigan caps benefit plus earnings at 1.5 times your weekly amount. Minnesota takes 50 cents for every dollar you earn.
By hours worked, not by dollars earned, since 18 January 2021. Ten hours or fewer counts as zero days and pays your full weekly benefit; 11–16 hours pays 75%; 17–21 hours pays 50%; 22–30 hours pays 25%; 31 or more pays nothing. A separate test applies on top: earn more than the maximum weekly benefit rate in gross pay that week and you get nothing regardless of hours.
No — usually the opposite. A reduced weekly payment draws your maximum benefit amount down more slowly, so the claim stretches over more weeks. The total is the same; the calendar is longer. This calculator shows both the base duration and the stretched one.
Federally, yes — unemployment compensation is fully taxable income. It is NOT subject to Social Security or Medicare tax, because it is not wages. State treatment varies: several states with an income tax exempt unemployment benefits entirely, and nine states have no income tax at all, so check your state before assuming.
Ten percent, or nothing. IRS Form W-4V is explicit: "For unemployment compensation, the payer is permitted to withhold 10% from each payment. No other percentage or amount is allowed." Any other rate you have seen quoted is an estimate of what you will OWE at filing, not what anyone can withhold. This calculator keeps the two apart.
Your state issues Form 1099-G to report the unemployment compensation it paid you and any federal tax it withheld. The amount in Box 1 goes on your federal return whether or not you elected withholding — which is why a claimant who declined the 10% often owes at filing.
The stretch of past work your claim is measured against — in most states the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters, which means your most recent quarter usually does not count. Many states also offer an alternate base period using more recent work if you do not qualify on the standard one. Enter the four quarters your state will use.
Often, and how depends entirely on your state. Some treat severance as wages that postpone the start of your claim week by week; others disregard it completely; others only count it if it was paid for a period after your last day. Severance never reduces your weekly benefit amount itself — it can delay when payments begin.
Four jurisdictions — Alaska, New Hampshire, Virginia and West Virginia — set the weekly amount from a published lookup table rather than a formula, so no honest calculation is possible from wages alone. The calculator says so and gives you the published minimum and maximum instead of inventing a figure. Use your state agency's own estimator for those.
In about a dozen states, yes. Connecticut adds $15 per dependant, Massachusetts $25, Michigan $19.33, Pennsylvania $5 for the first and $3 for the second. This calculator computes the individual rate with no dependants — the lower figure — so your actual award may be higher if you have qualifying dependants.
Because both halves of the rule differ. A $60,000 earner hits Mississippi's $235 weekly maximum and Washington's formula would pay far more, and durations range from Florida's 12 weeks to Massachusetts's 30. Change the state in this calculator with the same wages and the difference is immediate.