Skip to content
UnemploymentCalc

50 states + DC

Unemployment Benefits Calculator

Every state uses its own formula: the most it pays runs from $235 a week in Mississippi to $1,208 in Washington, usually for 12 to 26 weeks, and the worksheet below works out your own amount from your wages.

Checked against primary sources · updated See the sources

Your claim

Use the effective claim date from the agency. A blank date uses your current local date. An unsupported date leaves the automatic wage estimate unresolved. For later unsupported schedules, use the official-award worksheet with the confirmed weekly amount, maximum account and payable weeks.

From your benefit notice

Copy these numbers exactly as they appear on your monetary determination.

Agency-awarded weekly amount; do not guess this number.

Enter the maximum benefit amount from your determination.

Copy the whole or half weeks approved on your determination, including any approved half week. Do not derive weeks from the balance. Weeks to model remains a count of full weeks.

Plan your weeks

Leave blank to model the full available duration; otherwise enter 0–52 whole weeks.

Shown separately from the gross benefit estimate.

How your state works out your amount

Enter only what you know. Blank wages stay unresolved rather than becoming an invented eligibility result.

Weekly earnings reduction is not modeled here unless your state source gives a rule. Optional withholding is separate from the gross estimate.

The agency decides eligibility, base-period wages, payable weeks, reductions, withholding and the final award. Use the official record below to verify this scenario.

Find your state worksheet

Choose the state where you worked and use the wage period or award on your agency record. The worksheet separates weekly benefits from the balance available over the claim.

How much unemployment will I get if I make $1,000 a week?

The same paycheck turns into very different benefits depending on the state. This table runs one example through every state's formula: steady pay of $1,000 a week for a full year (four quarters of $13,000), no dependents, and a claim filed October 17, 2026. Your own amount depends on your actual quarters, so use your state's worksheet for a real estimate.

StateWeekly estimateWeeksTotal balance
Alabama $275 Set by your determination Needs agency figure
Alaska $370 26 $9,620
Arizona $320 24 $7,680
Arkansas $451 12 $5,412
California $450 26 $11,700
Colorado $600 26 $15,600
Connecticut $500 26 $13,000
Delaware $450 26 $11,700
District of Columbia $444 26 $11,544
Florida $275 12 $3,300
Georgia $365 14 $5,110
Hawaii $620 26 $16,120
Idaho $500 Set by rate band Needs agency figure
Illinois $470 26 $12,220
Indiana $390 26 $10,140
Iowa Needs agency figure 16 Needs agency figure
Kansas $552 Set by your determination Needs agency figure
Kentucky Needs agency figure — Needs agency figure
Louisiana $275 12 $3,300
Maine $590 26 Needs agency figure
Maryland $430 26 $11,180
Massachusetts $500 26 or 30 Needs agency figure
Michigan $530 26 $13,780
Minnesota $500 26 $13,000
Mississippi $235 26 $6,110
Missouri $320 20 $6,400
Montana $520 24 $12,480
Nebraska $500 26 $13,000
Nevada $520 26 $13,520
New Hampshire $427 26 $11,102
New Jersey $600 26 $15,600
New Mexico $535 26 $13,910
New York * $500 26 $13,000
North Carolina $350 12 Needs agency figure
North Dakota $500 26 $13,000
Ohio $500 26 $13,000
Oklahoma Needs agency figure — Needs agency figure
Oregon $650 26 $16,900
Pennsylvania $511 26 $13,286
Rhode Island $500 26 $13,000
South Carolina $350 20 $7,000
South Dakota $500 26 $13,000
Tennessee $325 12 $3,900
Texas $520 26 $13,520
Utah $495 26 $12,870
Vermont Needs agency figure — Needs agency figure
Virginia $478 26 $12,428
Washington $500 26 $13,000
West Virginia $550 26 $14,300
Wisconsin $370 26 $9,620
Wyoming $520 26 $13,520

* No verified schedule yet for claims filed after New York's last verified period (through October 4, 2026). That row uses the last verified schedule; a newer claim uses the award printed on the notice.

“Needs agency figure” means the state's rule depends on a number only the agency can supply, such as Oklahoma's taxable wage record, Vermont's confirmed weekly cap, Maine's statewide average weekly wage, North Carolina's indexed wage threshold or an agency-confirmed rounding of a fractional amount. The worksheet asks for that number instead of guessing it.

How much unemployment can you get?

All 50 state and DC worksheets have a researched wage calculation. Choose the state where the covered work occurred, enter the accepted base-period wages and supply any additional state-specific record details. The guide below each form explains the current schedule, qualification tests and worked examples.

A state's maximum is not your automatic payment. Your covered wage pattern, approved dependents, qualifying weeks or hours, dated schedule and available balance can change the result. Some states need agency-confirmed parameters before the worksheet can resolve an amount.

Blank inputs stay unknown. A monetary test does not establish separation or weekly eligibility. An unresolved estimate is not a zero-dollar denial; confirm missing values or source disagreements with the agency.

What to have beside the form

  1. The claim's effective date and the base-period quarter dates from the agency.
  2. Covered gross wages for all four selected quarters and the monetary determination, if available.
  3. Any agency-confirmed base weeks, dependent allowance or indexed wage threshold required by the state guide.

Do not substitute take-home pay for covered gross wages. Enter zero for a known empty quarter, and leave a genuinely unknown amount blank. Quarter 1 is the oldest quarter of the period the agency selected and quarter 4 the newest; a recent paycheck is not a base-period quarter.

Enter the claim's effective date, not today's date. A state can raise its cap for new claims while an older claim keeps the schedule it was filed under. If the worksheet leaves a claim date unresolved, do not move the date just to get a number.

One highest-quarter figure is not enough everywhere. In Texas the highest quarter sets the starting amount, but total wages across several quarters also count. Maine averages the two highest quarters. New Hampshire picks a row in its benefit table from annual earnings once two quarters each reach $1,400. New Jersey counts base weeks, which can also shorten the claim. That is why each state worksheet asks for its own inputs instead of applying one national divisor. The form does not choose an alternative base period or combine wages earned in different states; the agency decides those.

Weekly amount, balance and duration answer different questions

The weekly amount describes one full eligible week. The balance limits the total payable under the claim. A week ceiling can be longer than the number of full checks that a smaller balance can support. For example, the Iowa ordinary claim with $4,600 and $2,300 in its two paid quarters, zero dependents and a $200 weekly amount has an estimated $2,300 wage-limited account. Ten full weeks draw $2,000; requesting twelve cannot create funds beyond the account.

That is why the benefit runway above draws each week as its own tile: when the balance runs out before the last week, the remaining tiles stay empty instead of pretending every week is paid in full.

Read the weekly award, the maximum balance and the authorized number of weeks on your determination as three separate figures, and compare each one with the worksheet. Multiplying an advertised state maximum by 26 does not describe any real claim.

Withholding changes the deposit, not the award

Choosing a 10% withholding scenario on a $240 week shows $216 reaching your account; the award is still $240 and the balance still falls by $240. That figure is not your tax bill, which also depends on other household income, deductions and credits. The IRS generally counts unemployment compensation as taxable income. It describes asking the payer to withhold federal income tax with Form W-4V or making quarterly estimated tax payments, and reporting the amounts shown on Form 1099-G (IRS unemployment compensation guidance, checked October 9, 2026).

The methodology and source list explain what is covered.

Updated Unemployment Benefits Calculator Editorial Team Report a correction