Unemployment Benefits Calculator

On maximum weekly benefit, the gap between the highest and lowest state is $1,152 (Washington) versus $235 (Mississippi) — a 4.9x spread. The median state sits at $624, and the middle half of states falls between $427 and $815.

That spread is the reason this site publishes per-state answers instead of one national average: an average of $624 describes 7 of 50 states well and materially misstates the rest.

U.S. caps the weekly benefit at $631 and pays for up to 26 weeks, so a single claim can pay at most $16,406. The weekly figure is derived from wages in a base period — generally the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters — not from your most recent paycheck.

That lag matters: someone whose pay rose recently is usually assessed on the lower earlier wages, and someone who worked only in the most recent months may not have enough base-period wages to qualify at all.

U.S.'s maximum works out to about $2,734 a month before tax, against a median two-bedroom rent of $1,551 — a ratio of 1.8x. That leaves some margin above housing costs.

Unemployment benefits are taxable federal income. U.S. claimants can usually elect withholding when filing the claim; declining it means the liability arrives at tax time instead.

Every state computes the weekly benefit amount with its OWN statutory formula (high-quarter fraction, annual-wage fraction, or average-weekly-wage percentage), its own base period, its own min/max, its own duration, and its own dependent allowance. The arithmetic itself differs per state, not just the constants.

Most calculator sites publish one page per state that repeats the same text with the name swapped. This one publishes a page only where the answer actually changes: 8 pages cover all 50 states, because 42 states produce an answer identical to another state's. The build measures every page against its siblings and fails if any two converge, so that property is enforced rather than intended.

Calculations run entirely in your browser — nothing you type is transmitted or stored. See methodology for the formulas and sources for provenance and vintages.