Unemployment Benefits Calculator
Your wages, your state's rules and the tax on the benefit
Your result will appear here
Fill in the fields on the left and this updates as you type.
Know what this estimate is based on
- Jurisdiction
- General mathematical model
- Scope and limitations
- Planning indicator only. It does not assess every part of a household's finances or replace individualized professional advice.
- Source links checked
- Jul 30, 2026
Built and regression-tested by Smart Tools Lab. It has not been individually reviewed by a licensed financial, tax, or legal professional.
How to use
- 01
Enter the wages from your highest-paid calendar quarter in the base period — the four completed quarters before you filed. If you do not have quarterly figures, enter your normal gross weekly wage instead and the page falls back to the replacement-rate method.
- 02
Enter your state's MAXIMUM weekly benefit. It opens at 0, which applies no cap at all, and for most people the cap rather than the formula is what sets the cheque — leaving it blank is the single most common way to read a number off this page that your state will never pay.
- 03
Add the dependent children your state allows an allowance for and any severance or pay in lieu of notice you are receiving. Both change the answer, and the severance figure drives the treatment table below.
- 04
Enter your federal bracket for the year the benefits fall in and your state's income tax rate on benefits — 0 where the state exempts them or levies no income tax at all.
- 05
Check the three prefilled state parameters before you read the result: the divisor (26), the alternative replacement percentage (50%) and the weeks your state pays (26). All three are ordinary designs rather than your state's law, and the duration is the second-biggest lever on the page after the cap.
Formula
The page computes both standard designs and reports both. • High-quarter method: weekly benefit = wages in your highest-paid quarter ÷ your state's divisor (26 is the commonest, and approximates half your weekly wage in that quarter). • Replacement-rate method: weekly benefit = your normal gross weekly wage × your state's replacement percentage (about 50% is the common statutory design). The high-quarter figure is used where you have entered one, otherwise the replacement figure. Then: add the dependent allowance (dependents × the weekly allowance where your state pays one), apply your state's maximum if you have entered one, and lift the result to your state's minimum if that is higher. Total benefits = weekly benefit × the weeks your state pays. Tax: federal = total × your bracket; state = total × your state's rate on benefits; no Social Security or Medicare at all. Electing Form W-4V withholds 10% of every payment, so what remains owed = max(0, federal tax − 10% of the total) + state tax. Severance: deductible severance = the package less anything your state excludes; the weeks it covers = that figure ÷ your weekly wage, rounded up. Ignoring it pays every week from week one; delaying pushes the first cheque past those weeks and still pays the full duration; offsetting removes those weeks from the entitlement entirely.
Example
$21,000 in the highest quarter of the base period, a normal weekly wage of $1,600, no maximum entered, no dependents, a 12% federal bracket and no state tax on benefits, against the prefilled 26-week divisor, 50% replacement rate and 26-week duration. The high-quarter method gives $21,000 ÷ 26 = $808 a week; the replacement method gives $800, so the two designs agree closely and the page leads with $808. Over 26 weeks that is $21,000 in total, replacing 50% of the $1,600 weekly wage. Elect the 10% on Form W-4V and the weekly cheque becomes $727; decline it and you keep $808 a week and owe $2,520 at filing, of which $420 remains even after the election because 10% is all the form offers against a 12% bracket. Now enter a $600 state maximum: the benefit falls to $600, the real replacement rate drops from 50% to 38%, and the total falls to $15,600 — the cap, not the formula, is what decided the answer. Add 5% of state tax and the bill becomes $2,652 ($1,872 federal plus $780 state), leaving $1,092 owed after the election. Finally enter $38,462 of severance: California's treatment pays all 26 weeks from week one, $15,600; Texas delays the first cheque to week 26 and still pays 26 weeks; a week-by-week offset pays 1 week, $600.
Definitions
- Base period
- The four completed calendar quarters before you filed your claim, which is the window a state measures your wages over. Most states offer an alternative base period using more recent quarters when the standard one does not qualify you.
- High quarter
- The single highest-paid calendar quarter inside the base period. Dividing it by about 26 approximates half your average weekly wage in that quarter, which is the design most state formulas are built on.
- Weekly benefit amount
- The gross benefit a week before any tax or offset. The formula produces it, the state maximum caps it, and the minimum lifts it — for most claimants above modest earnings, the maximum is what actually sets it.
- Form W-4V
- The voluntary withholding request you file with the paying state agency. For unemployment it offers one rate only: 10%. The 7/10/12/22 menu on the same form is line 6, for Social Security and other federal payments.
- Form 1099-G
- The statement the state sends in January reporting your gross benefits in box 1 and anything withheld in box 4. Box 1 goes on Schedule 1 line 7 whether or not you elected withholding.
- Dependent allowance
- A flat weekly addition per dependent child paid by a minority of states — Massachusetts pays $25. Most states pay none, and where one exists it is usually capped as a share of the basic benefit.
Good to know
One arithmetic, fifty statutes
Unemployment insurance is a federal-state programme in which the federal government sets the frame and each state writes the rules, so there is no national answer to what unemployment pays. What there is, underneath the variation, is a common arithmetic. Every state looks at a base period — normally the four completed calendar quarters before you filed, with most states offering an alternative period using more recent quarters when the standard one does not qualify you — and computes a weekly benefit amount from the wages in it. Two designs dominate. The commonest divides the wages in your single highest-paid quarter by a fixed number, usually about 26, which approximates half your average weekly wage in that quarter: $21,000 of high-quarter wages produces $808 a week. The second replaces a stated percentage of your prior average weekly wage, with about 50% the common statutory design: 50% of $1,600 is $800. Because the two land close together for most earners and because no field can key on a state, this page computes both and reports both, so a visitor whose state uses the other design is never handed a wrong headline. Then come the limits, and they matter more than the formula. Every state caps the weekly benefit, and the national spread is enormous — roughly $235 a week at the bottom of the range to $1,208 in Washington, which raised its figure for new claims opened on or after 5 July 2026. Massachusetts pays a $1,105 basic maximum plus $25 a week for each dependent child, one of the minority of states that pays a dependent allowance at all. States also set a minimum, and a handful compute the benefit from total base-period wages rather than the high quarter. The maximum field on this page opens at zero, which applies no cap, because any real figure would be wrong for 49 states — but for most claimants above modest earnings, the cap rather than the formula is what actually sets the cheque.
The tax nobody withholds
Unemployment compensation is 100% taxable federal income, and this is the trap that turns a difficult year into a worse one. There is no exclusion. The $10,200 exemption a lot of people remember was a one-year provision for tax year 2020 only and did not return, which means anyone reasoning from a friend's experience of the pandemic is reasoning from a rule that no longer exists. The paying state reports your gross benefits on Form 1099-G box 1 in January, you report that figure on Schedule 1 line 7, and it is taxed at your ordinary rate along with everything else. On $21,000 of benefits at a 12% bracket that is $2,520 of federal tax on money that has already been spent on rent. The one thing unemployment is NOT is wages. It sits outside the FICA regime entirely, so no Social Security and no Medicare come out — which is a real advantage and also a trap of its own, because it makes a benefit cheque and a payslip incomparable. An $808 benefit and $808 of gross salary are different things: only one of them loses 7.65% before you see it. The same fact has a long-term edge nobody mentions at the time, which is that benefits build no Social Security earnings credit, so a long spell of unemployment inside the 35 years that set a retirement benefit leaves a zero or a low year in the averaging. State treatment splits three ways and you have to know which applies to you: nine states levy no wage income tax at all, some tax unemployment exactly as they tax wages, and a handful exempt unemployment specifically while taxing wages. Entering your own state's rate rather than assuming is worth doing; across a 26-week benefit period a five-point difference is over a thousand dollars.
Ten percent is the only rate the form offers
Nothing is withheld from an unemployment cheque unless you ask for it. To elect withholding you file Form W-4V, the Voluntary Withholding Request, with the state agency that pays you — not with the IRS and not with a former employer — and 10% of each payment is then withheld for federal income tax. Ten percent is the ONLY rate available for unemployment. You cannot elect 12%, you cannot elect 22%, and you cannot elect a flat dollar amount. This is where the form itself causes the confusion: further down the same page there is a menu of 7%, 10%, 12% and 22%, and that menu belongs to a different line, covering Social Security benefits, social security equivalent Tier 1 railroad retirement benefits, certain federal payments and a handful of others. Unemployment gets its own line and a single box. The consequence is arithmetical. If your bracket is above 10% — and for anyone with meaningful earnings earlier in the year it will be — the election is a partial payment rather than a solution. At a 12% bracket on $21,000 of benefits, the election covers $2,100 of a $2,520 bill and $420 remains. At 22% it covers less than half. Add state tax and the shortfall widens again. The usual response is to elect the 10% anyway, because it removes most of the problem automatically, and then to make estimated payments for the difference, which also protects you from an underpayment penalty computed quarter by quarter rather than at filing. The alternative argument is real too: if the weekly cheque is the difference between paying rent and not, taking the full amount now and settling the tax later is a defensible trade — just make it deliberately, with the size of the eventual bill on the page in front of you rather than as a surprise in February.
Severance, structure, and the two poles that are certified
Whether a severance package delays your benefits is state law, and the states sit at genuinely opposite poles rather than clustering around a norm. Two of them are certified here. California holds that severance is not wages for unemployment purposes, so a package has no effect on eligibility at all — but the same body of law treats wage continuation and pay in lieu of notice AS wages, and those do disqualify, which inverts the advice most people arrive with. Texas disqualifies a claimant for every benefit period the severance covers, so the money is delayed rather than lost: on a $38,462 package against a $1,600 weekly wage that is 25 weeks before a first cheque, and then the full duration is still paid. A third pattern, used by a number of states, allocates the package week by week and treats the covered weeks as used — on the same numbers, one week of benefits instead of 26. The page prices all three side by side on your own figures precisely because there is no honest way to pick one for you. No state beyond California and Texas is certified on this site, and the reason is specific: the last authoritative national compilation of severance-offset rules reflects 2013 law, and several states have changed since. Pennsylvania is included on the page as a threshold-case illustration — it deducts only the part of a package above a figure tied to the state average annual wage — and that too should be confirmed with the agency rather than relied on. Structure matters as much as geography. A lump sum and a salary continuation of the same size are treated differently in several states, a lump sum often being disqualifying only for the week it arrives while continuation disqualifies every week it lands. That is usually negotiable, and it can be worth months of benefits. Whatever the answer, the weekly figure is where this page stops; the layoff runway page is what schedules it against your actual monthly costs.
Frequently asked questions
How much will unemployment actually pay me a week?
Every state computes a weekly benefit amount from a base period and then caps it. The commonest design divides your highest-paid quarter by about 26, which lands near half your weekly wage in that quarter: $21,000 of high-quarter wages produces $808 a week. A second family of states replaces a stated share of your prior weekly wage instead — 50% of a $1,600 weekly wage is $800. The page computes both so a visitor whose state uses the other one is not left with a wrong headline, and then applies whatever maximum, minimum and dependent allowance you enter.
Why is the number here higher than what my state actually pays?
Almost certainly because the maximum weekly benefit field is still at 0, which means uncapped. Every real figure would be wrong for 49 states, so the field opens neutral rather than lying — but the cap is what decides the answer for most claimants. The national spread is enormous: roughly $235 a week at the bottom to $1,208 in Washington, which raised its figure for new claims opened on or after 5 July 2026, with Massachusetts paying a $1,105 basic maximum plus $25 a week per dependent child. Enter a $600 cap against the same $21,000 high quarter and the benefit drops from $808 to $600.
Is unemployment taxable?
It is 100% taxable federal income and there is no exclusion. The $10,200 break people remember was a one-year 2020 provision and did not return. The state reports the gross on Form 1099-G box 1, you report it on Schedule 1 line 7, and it is taxed at your ordinary rate. On $21,000 of benefits at a 12% bracket that is $2,520 of federal tax on money most people have already spent. State treatment splits three ways: nine states levy no wage income tax at all, some tax benefits exactly like wages, and a handful exempt them specifically.
Is Social Security and Medicare taken out of my benefit?
No, and this is worth holding on to when you compare a benefit cheque to a payslip. Unemployment is income but it is not wages, so no FICA applies — a $808 benefit and $808 of gross salary are not the same thing, because only one of them loses 7.65% before you see it. It also means benefits build no Social Security earnings credit for the year, which matters if you are near the 35-year averaging window that sets a retirement benefit.
How do I get tax withheld from my benefits?
You have to ask; nothing is withheld by default. File Form W-4V with the state agency paying you and 10% of each payment is withheld for federal tax. Ten percent is the ONLY rate the form offers for unemployment — you cannot elect 12% or 22%. The 7%, 10%, 12% and 22% menu further down the same form is line 6, which belongs to Social Security, railroad retirement and a handful of other payments, not to this. At 12% on $21,000 the election covers $2,100 of a $2,520 bill and leaves $420, so many claimants pair the election with estimated payments for the difference.
Will my severance delay my benefits?
It depends entirely on the state, and only two poles are certified here. California treats severance as not wages for unemployment purposes, so it has no effect on eligibility — although wage continuation and pay in lieu of notice ARE wages there and do disqualify. Texas disqualifies you for every benefit period the severance covers, so the money is delayed rather than lost: on a $38,462 package against a $1,600 weekly wage that is 25 weeks before the first cheque. A third pattern allocates the package week by week and the weeks it covers are simply gone, which on the same numbers pays 1 week instead of 26. The table on the page prices all three on your own figures; no state beyond California and Texas is certified, and the last authoritative national compilation of these rules reflects 2013 law.
How many weeks do I get?
Twenty-six was the national standard and no longer is. As of the last authoritative count fourteen states paid fewer, several of them sliding the number with the state unemployment rate or with your own base-period wages, and Massachusetts pays 30 with statutory triggers that drop it to 26. Because the total is simply the weekly figure times the weeks, the duration is the second-biggest lever on this page: 26 weeks at $808 is $21,000, and every week your state does not pay costs you the full weekly benefit.