Virginia Unemployment Calculator 2026
Virginia pays $160–$478 per week for up to 26 weeks in 2026. Your weekly benefit amount is a statutory benefit table (BENEFIT TABLE DIVISION C, 'Weekly Benefit Amounts beginning on July 1, 2026', printed at pp. 60-78 of 2026 Acts of Assembly ch. 774 (H 1320); Col. A = HIGHEST TWO QUARTER EARNINGS, Col. B = WEEKLY BENEFIT AMOUNT. All 319 printed rows transcribed programmatically from the chaptered bill PDF and validated against the ladder the table itself prints (each $50.00 of Column A adds $1 to Column B).) applied to your highest-earning quarter. Enter your quarterly wages below to estimate it — the math runs entirely in your browser, from figures verified against Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) / Virginia Works.
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: Va. Code 60.2-204: “'Base period' means the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of the claimant's benefit year.” (an alternate base period is available if you don’t qualify with the standard one).
File your claim with Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) / Virginia Works — only the agency determines your actual benefit.
Verified 2026-08-01 against Va. Code 60.2-602(D) 'Weekly benefit amount', Benefit Table Division C beginning on July 1, 2026, as amended and reenacted by 2026 Acts of Assembly ch. 774 (H 1320, approved April 13, 2026); table transcribed from the chaptered bill PDF served by the Virginia LIS legislation-text API (effective 2026-07-01)
Estimate only — not legal, tax, or financial advice. Only Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) / Virginia Works can determine your actual amounts.
Official source: Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) / Virginia Works — file a claim ↗
Working part-time? Partial benefits
Virginia disregards part of what you earn in a week before reducing your benefit. Estimate what a part-time week leaves you with:
- Disregard: flat $100.00
- Countable earnings: $150.00 − $100.00 = $50.00
- Payable: WBA $400.00 − $50.00 = $350.00
How long benefits can last
Up to 26 weeks; total benefits are Va. Code 60.2-607: “The maximum total amount of benefits payable to any individual during any benefit year shall be determined from the 'Benefit Table' shown in 60.2-602 but shall not exceed twenty-six times such individual's weekly benefit amount... Such determination shall be based only upon wages paid for insured work during such individual's base period.” The same Benefit Table Division C row carries fifteen duration columns (12 WEEKS through 26 WEEKS); the claimant's duration is the column whose total-base-period-wage range contains his base-period wages, so entitlement runs from 12 to 26 weeks. Only the Column A to Column B weekly benefit amount is encoded here; the duration columns are not.
Who qualifies for benefits in Virginia
Va. Code 60.2-612(A)(1): the claimant must have, “in the highest two quarters of earnings within his base period, been paid wages in employment for employers that are equal to not less than the lowest amount appearing in Column A of the 'Benefit Table' appearing in 60.2-602 on the line which extends through Division C and on which in Column B of the 'Benefit Table' appears his weekly benefit amount. Such wages shall be earned in not less than two quarters.” The lowest Column A amount in the July 1, 2026 Division C table is $3,000.00.
Meeting the wage test is not the same as being approved: Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) / Virginia Works also rules on the reason for the separation and on your availability for work each week. File with Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) / Virginia Works ↗
Base period in Virginia
Va. Code 60.2-204: “'Base period' means the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of the claimant's benefit year.”. An alternate base period is available if you don’t qualify with the standard window. 60.2-204 continues: “however, if the claimant has earned insufficient wages in the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters to become eligible for benefits, then such claimant's 'base period' shall be the four most recent completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of the claimant's benefit year.”
See which quarters count for your filing date →Severance and your claim
Va. Code 60.2-229(A) counts 'dismissal pay, severance pay' as wages and provides: “Severance pay paid at the time of, or subsequent to, separation from employment shall be allocated to the last day of work unless otherwise allocated by the employer. If otherwise allocated, severance pay shall be allocated at a rate not less than the average weekly wage of such employee during the last calendar quarter, and reported as such. Severance pay shall be deducted from any benefits payable after the Commission's receipt of notification of severance pay by the employer pursuant to 60.2-603.”
Source: Va. Code 60.2-602(D) 'Weekly benefit amount', Benefit Table Division C beginning on July 1, 2026, as amended and reenacted by 2026 Acts of Assembly ch. 774 (H 1320, approved April 13, 2026); table transcribed from the chaptered bill PDF served by the Virginia LIS legislation-text API (verified 2026-08-01).
Virginia unemployment: frequently asked questions
Virginia pays between $160 and $478 per week in 2026. Your amount is a statutory benefit table (BENEFIT TABLE DIVISION C, 'Weekly Benefit Amounts beginning on July 1, 2026', printed at pp. 60-78 of 2026 Acts of Assembly ch. 774 (H 1320); Col. A = HIGHEST TWO QUARTER EARNINGS, Col. B = WEEKLY BENEFIT AMOUNT. All 319 printed rows transcribed programmatically from the chaptered bill PDF and validated against the ladder the table itself prints (each $50.00 of Column A adds $1 to Column B).) applied to your highest-earning quarter, and only Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) / Virginia Works can determine it officially. These figures were verified against the agency's own publication on 2026-08-01.
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