States calculate unemployment benefits from your base-period wages, which in most states means the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters. If you cannot qualify under the standard base period, most states try an alternate base period using the most recent quarters. A common formula is 1/26 of your highest-quarter wages, capped at the state maximum, but exact formulas, minimums, and earnings tests differ by state.
When you file for unemployment, the first thing the state does has nothing to do with why you lost your job. Before it looks at your separation, it looks at your wages. Specifically, it looks at wages from a window of time called the base period. Everything about your claim flows from those wages: whether you are monetarily eligible, how high your weekly benefit will be, and how many weeks you can potentially draw.
In most states, the standard base period is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you file. Calendar quarters are January through March, April through June, July through September, and October through December. The phrase "first four of the last five" means the state drops the most recently completed quarter and uses the four before it.
Here is a concrete example. Suppose you file your claim on October 10, 2026. The last five completed calendar quarters at that point are Q3 2026 (July through September), Q2 2026, Q1 2026, Q4 2025, and Q3 2025. The standard base period drops Q3 2026 and uses Q2 2026 back through Q3 2025. The quarter you are currently in, Q4 2026, never counts, because it is not complete.
The reason the most recent quarter is dropped is practical, not punitive. Employers report wages to the state each quarter, and the newest quarter's reports are often not yet processed when you file. Skipping it keeps the wage records the state uses complete and accurate.
The standard base period can penalize people with short or interrupted work histories. If most of your earnings landed in the most recently completed quarter, or you only recently re-entered the workforce, the standard base period may show too little to qualify you. That is why most states have an alternate base period.
The alternate base period is generally the last four completed calendar quarters, with no quarter dropped. In the October 2026 example, the alternate base period would be Q3 2026 back through Q4 2025. Many states apply the alternate base period automatically when you fail to qualify under the standard one. Others apply it only if you ask or if it produces a higher benefit. If you worked recently and the standard base period looks thin, it is worth asking your agency which base period it used.
A smaller number of states go further. Some use the wages you earned in the benefit year, which is the 52-week period starting when you file, or offer multiple alternate methods and pick the one most favorable to you. The principle is the same everywhere: the state wants a recent, complete 12-month picture of your covered earnings.
Having wages in the base period is not enough; you have to have earned enough of them. This is called monetary eligibility, and every state sets its own thresholds. Common requirements include a minimum dollar amount in your highest quarter, wages spread across at least two quarters of the base period, and total base-period wages above a set multiple of the high-quarter amount or of the state minimum benefit.
For example, a state might require at least $3,000 in your highest quarter plus wages in at least two quarters totaling 1.5 times your high-quarter wages. These tests exist to make sure the program covers people with a meaningful work attachment, not someone who worked a single week. Only wages from covered employment count. Most wages from regular employers are covered, but some categories, such as certain agricultural, domestic, religious, or self-employment income, may not be. Self-employed workers and independent contractors generally do not earn covered wages, which is why they are usually ineligible for regular state unemployment.
Once you are monetarily eligible, the state computes your weekly benefit amount from your base-period wages. The formulas vary, but most fall into a few families. Many states use a fraction of high-quarter wages: 1/26 is the most common, with 1/25, 1/23, and 1/21 used in various states. Others compute a percentage of your average weekly wage in the base period, often around 50 percent. A few use a benefit table that maps ranges of base-period wages to weekly amounts, and a few use a percentage of total base-period wages.
Every state then clamps the result between a minimum and a maximum weekly benefit. The maximums range from $235 per week in Mississippi to $1,208 in Washington for new 2026 claims, with Massachusetts second at $1,105 plus dependent allowances. The full 50-state table on our calculator page lists the current maximum for every state.
Example 1: below the cap. Your high-quarter wages are $13,000 and you live in Texas. Using the common 1/26 approximation: $13,000 / 26 = $500 per week. The Texas maximum is $605, so no cap applies and your estimate is $500 per week.
Example 2: at the cap. Your high-quarter wages are $15,000 and you live in California. The 1/26 approximation gives $15,000 / 26 = $577 per week, but California's maximum is $450, so your estimate is capped at $450 per week.
Keep in mind that the real state formula may differ from the approximation. California actually uses a high-quarter table rather than a straight 1/26, New York uses 1/25 to 1/26 depending on the quarter, and New Jersey pays 60 percent of average weekly wage. The calculator on this site uses the 1/26 approximation because it matches the largest group of states, and it is labeled as an estimate for exactly this reason.
The weekly benefit is only half the picture. The state also sets a maximum benefit amount, which is the total dollars you can draw across your benefit year, and a maximum duration. Most states cap duration at 26 weeks, but the range runs from 12 weeks in Florida up to 30 in Massachusetts and 28 in Montana. Several states adjust the number of weeks based on the current unemployment rate, so the duration you see in a table may be lower than the published maximum when the economy is strong.
Many states also limit your total payout to a fraction of your base-period wages, commonly around one-third. That rule is what usually determines the real duration for lower earners: if your weekly benefit times 26 weeks exceeds one-third of your base-period wages, the state cuts the number of payable weeks so the total stays within the cap.
The wage math is only the starting point. States apply waiting weeks, meaning your first payable week may be unpaid; they reduce benefits for part-time earnings, severance, pensions, or workers compensation depending on the state; and they require you to be able, available, and actively seeking work each week you claim. None of those factors change the base-period formula, but all of them affect what actually lands in your account.
If the number the state sends you looks wrong, compare it against your own wage records quarter by quarter. Employers sometimes report wages late or under the wrong quarter, and a misattributed quarter can change your base-period wages enough to move your benefit. Every state has an appeals and redetermination process, and correcting the wage record is one of the most common reasons benefits get recalculated upward.