Unemployment benefits
Each state sets its own weekly amount, the number of weeks, and whether the first week is a waiting week. The figures on the state pages are from the U.S. Department of Labor table that took effect July 1, 2026. The table is not an official interpretation of state law. A state can change a rule after that table.
Just lost your job? That page is the order to follow: unemployment, food stamps, Medicaid, health insurance, school meals, heating help, and a hardship ask.
What a state page includes
- Minimum and maximum weekly benefit amount.
- How the weekly amount is calculated, in plain words and in the table's own shorthand.
- Maximum weeks, and whether there is a waiting week.
- The earnings amount the state disregards if you work in the same week.
- Where to file, including a state claim page when we could open one.
What these pages leave out
The July 2026 table does not say how often you certify, and it does not say when the first payment arrives. Unemployment.gov's common questions tell you to file in the state where you worked. They do not print a national first-payment date either. Those fields are left off the state pages rather than filled with a guess. The state claim form is the place that says when to certify and when a payment goes out.
High-quarter wages means the base-period quarter with the highest wages. Base-period wages are the wages in the base period the state uses. The weekly benefit amount is the payment for one week. The state pages spell those out next to the official shorthand.
Pick your state
Choose a state to see its pages.
All states
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Last checked: October 22, 2026
Sources
- U.S. Department of Labor, Significant Provisions of State Unemployment Insurance Laws, effective July 2026 Effective July 1, 2026. Weekly amounts, earnings disregarded, weeks payable, and the qualifying and benefit formulas come from this table.
- U.S. Department of Labor, Comparison of State Unemployment Insurance Laws, 2023, Chapter 3, Table 3-7 The July 2026 table points here for the waiting week. The edition is 2023. It was not reissued as a 2026 comparison.
- Unemployment.gov, find your state The July 2026 report says filing information for a state claim is at Unemployment.gov.
- Unemployment.gov, common questions Read October 22, 2026. It says claims are filed in the state where you worked. It does not print a first-payment date or a certification schedule.
What changed
- October 22, 2026. Published the July 2026 weekly figures and the 2023 waiting-week table. Certification frequency and a state first-payment date are left off because those sources do not print them.
Figures checked 2026-10-22. The Labor Department list of these publications is on the state laws page.