Topic guide · updated 2026-07-31
Unemployment benefits, state by state
How states turn your past wages into a weekly unemployment payment: the base period that decides which earnings count, the formula each state applies, what part-time work does to a weekly claim, and how severance interacts with a claim.
Unemployment insurance is run state by state, and almost nothing about it is uniform. Two people laid off from identical jobs on the same day, living an hour apart across a state line, can receive weekly payments that differ by hundreds of dollars and durations that differ by months.
The machinery is consistent even where the numbers are not. Every state looks back at a defined window of past wages, applies a statutory formula to them, clamps the result between a minimum and a maximum, and pays for a capped number of weeks. This cluster walks each of those pieces, with every figure taken from the agency that actually pays the benefit.
The base period decides which wages count
Benefits are computed from a base period — normally the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you file. The most recent completed quarter is deliberately skipped because employers have not yet reported those wages. The practical consequence is that timing matters: filing a few weeks either side of a quarter boundary can move an entire quarter of earnings into or out of the calculation. Many states offer an alternate base period using the most recent four quarters for people who do not qualify under the standard window.
Each state uses its own formula
Some states divide your highest-earning quarter by a fixed number. Others take a percentage of your two highest quarters combined, or of total base-period wages, or of an average weekly wage. Several publish a statutory benefit table with hundreds of brackets instead of a formula, and North Dakota uses the highest two-and-a-half quarters — a rule no simple two-quarter reading captures. Whatever the method, the result is bounded by a state minimum and maximum, and rounded the way the statute directs.
Working part-time changes the weekly math
Most states let claimants work reduced hours and still draw a reduced benefit. A portion of the week's earnings is disregarded — a fraction of the weekly benefit, a flat amount, or a percentage of earnings — and the rest reduces the payment until earnings reach a cutoff. Because many states track a total dollar entitlement rather than a fixed number of weeks, a partial week can draw the balance down more slowly and extend how long benefits last.
Severance is treated differently in different states
Some states disregard severance entirely; others reduce or delay benefits for the weeks the payment is allocated to. The treatment often turns on how the employer characterises the payment rather than on the amount. Each state page quotes its own agency's wording on this, because a general rule would be wrong somewhere.
Tools in this topic
Every calculator and explainer in this cluster, each built on verified figures with its official source linked.
Unemployment
Estimate your weekly unemployment benefit in any verified state. Enter your base-period quarterly wages and the calculator applies that state’s own published formula, minimum and maximum, dependents allowance, and duration — showing every step of the math and linking the agency source it came from.
Partial Benefits
Working reduced hours? Each state disregards part of what you earn in a week before reducing your benefit. Enter your weekly benefit amount and the week’s gross earnings to estimate what stays payable, plus the earnings level at which the benefit stops for that week entirely.
Compare States
Compare the maximum weekly benefit, maximum number of weeks, dependents allowances, and benefit formulas across every state verified for 2026. Each row is transcribed from that state agency’s own publication, and links through to the state’s full estimate calculator and to the source document the figures came from.
Base Period
Pick the month you file and see exactly which calendar quarters count toward your estimate: the standard base period of the first four of the last five completed quarters, the lag quarter many states add in an alternate base period, and which weeks sit right on the boundary of both windows.
After-Tax Benefit
Unemployment compensation is taxable federally, and some states tax it too. Estimate what a claim is actually worth after the optional 10% federal withholding on Form W-4V and any state tax, using your state’s verified rule on whether benefits are taxed at all.
Guides
Key terms
Frequently asked questions
Your state applies its own statutory formula to your base-period wages, then clamps the result between its minimum and maximum. The calculator applies the exact published formula for whichever state you pick and shows every step.
Official sources for this topic
Every figure and rule referenced above is published by one of these agencies, and each of them — not this site — determines what is actually paid.
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