Vermont Unemployment Calculator 2026
Vermont pays $0–$705 per week for up to 26 weeks in 2026. Your weekly benefit amount is 1/45 of your two highest-earning quarters combined. Enter your quarterly wages below to estimate it — the math runs entirely in your browser, from figures verified against Vermont Department of Labor.
Works offline — your inputs never leave this device. How that works
Enter your gross wages for each quarter of the base period — roughly the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you file. Your state's exact window is shown with the result.
Base period: Method 1: the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters preceding the effective date of the claim. VDOL: 'Any time a worker becomes monetarily eligible under method one, (s)he must be paid under this method'. (an alternate base period is available if you don’t qualify with the standard one).
File your claim with Vermont Department of Labor — only the agency determines your actual benefit.
Verified 2026-07-31 against Vermont Department of Labor - Calculating Your UI Benefits (effective 2026-07-01)
Estimate only — not legal, tax, or financial advice. Only Vermont Department of Labor can determine your actual amounts.
Official source: Vermont Department of Labor — file a claim ↗
Working part-time? Partial benefits
Vermont disregards part of what you earn in a week before reducing your benefit. Estimate what a part-time week leaves you with:
- Disregard: 50% of earnings $150.00 = $75.00
- Countable earnings: $150.00 − $75.00 = $75.00
- Payable: WBA $400.00 − $75.00 = $325.00
How long benefits can last
Up to 26 weeks; total benefits are VDOL: 'The maximum number of weeks an individual can receive in a benefit year is 26 times the WBA... Maximum duration will be 46% of the base period wages - OR - 26 times the WBA, which ever amount is LESS.' Claimant Handbook B-11 (02/2026): 'Your total benefit amount is limited to 26 times your weekly benefit amount or 46% of your base period wages, whichever is less.' Findings of misconduct cap maximum duration at 23 full weeks.
Who qualifies for benefits in Vermont
21 V.S.A. 1338(d)(1): the claimant must have been paid at least $1,000.00 in one quarter of the base period and additional base-period wages equal to or exceeding 40 percent of the total wages paid in the highest base-period quarter. 21 V.S.A. 1338(h) adjusts that minimum quarterly wage requirement each July by the prior year's percentage increase in the State minimum wage, and VDOL states only that a claimant 'must have been paid at least the current minimum quarter amount during one of those calendar quarters' - no current adjusted dollar figure is published on any VDOL page opened, so no numeric floor is encoded here.
Meeting the wage test is not the same as being approved: Vermont Department of Labor also rules on the reason for the separation and on your availability for work each week. File with Vermont Department of Labor ↗
Base period in Vermont
Method 1: the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters preceding the effective date of the claim. VDOL: 'Any time a worker becomes monetarily eligible under method one, (s)he must be paid under this method'.. An alternate base period is available if you don’t qualify with the standard window. Vermont law provides four base-period methods (handbook B-11 02/2026): Method 2 = the last four completed calendar quarters; Method 3 = the last three completed quarters plus wages paid in the current quarter up to the claim's effective date; Method 4 = an adjusted base period for claimants who were receiving Workers' Compensation temporary total disability (claim within six months of the end of those payments).
See which quarters count for your filing date →Severance and your claim
Claimant Handbook B-11 (02/2026): 'Separation pay is typically referred to as severance pay. Severance pay may change the first week that you are eligible for unemployment benefits... You cannot receive severance pay and unemployment benefits at the same time. If you receive severance pay after you begin filing, you MUST report that income to the Department.' Allocation: 'even if received in a lump sum, the department allocates it weekly until exhausted in accordance with your typical weekly work schedule with that employer.'
Source: Vermont Department of Labor - Calculating Your UI Benefits (verified 2026-07-31).
Vermont unemployment: frequently asked questions
Vermont pays between $0 and $705 per week in 2026. Your amount is 1/45 of your two highest-earning quarters combined, and only Vermont Department of Labor can determine it officially. These figures were verified against the agency's own publication on 2026-07-31.
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