California SDI and PFL Benefit Calculator
Paid $58,000 a year every two weeks, you would get $1,082 a week from California Paid Family Leave in 2026. Eight weeks of leave pays $8,656.
Last reviewed
Your weekly benefit
Your weekly benefit
$1,082.00
Total for your leave
$8,656.00
Share of your weekly pay
97.0%
You would get $1,082.00 a week, or $8,656.00 for 8 weeks of Paid Family Leave: 97.0% of your regular $1,115.38 a week.
Paid every two weeks, your best quarter holds 7 of your 26 paychecks, $15,615.39, and 90.0% of it divided by 13 rounds up to $1,082.00.
Sick pay or other wages of up to $33.38 a week during your leave keep the full benefit; each dollar more takes a dollar off it.
Your leave and your pay
- paycheck = $58,000.00 ÷ 26 ≈ $2,230.77
- best quarter = 7 × $2,230.77 = $15,615.39
- weekly = 90.0% × $15,615.39 ÷ 13 ≈ $1,081.0655, rounded up to $1,082.00
- total = $1,082.00 × 8 = $8,656.00
Weekly benefit at each best quarter
Your benefit as pay during leave rises
How the EDD's chart treats your best quarter
| Best quarter | Weekly benefit | Yearly pay, twice a month | Yearly pay, every two weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| $75.00 to $722.49 | $50.00set as the minimum | $299.88 to $2,889.95 | $299.91 to $2,683.58 |
| $722.50 to $16,264.44yours | $51.00 to $1,126.00set as 90.0% ÷ 13, rounded up | $2,889.96 to $65,057.87 | $2,683.59 to $60,410.86 |
| $16,264.45 to $20,931.30 | $1,127.00set as a flat amount | $65,057.88 to $83,725.31 | $60,410.87 to $77,744.80 |
| $20,931.31 to $32,760.00 | $1,128.00 to $1,764.00set as 70.0% ÷ 13, rounded up | $83,725.32 to $131,040.11 | $77,744.81 to $121,680.12 |
| $32,760.01 or more | $1,765.00set as the maximum | $131,040.12 or more | $121,680.13 or more |
Your $15,615.39 quarter is $649.06 below $16,264.45, where the flat band starts and the next $4,666.85 in the quarter adds nothing.
Every row of the EDD's chart for 2026 claims
Show all 1,716 rows of the chart
| Best quarter from | To | Weekly benefit |
|---|
Your $15,615.39 quarter is on the row from $15,614.45 to $15,628.88, which pays $1,082.00 a week.
Your benefit at other best quarters
| Best quarter | Weekly benefit | Next $100 adds | Total before other pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| $2,500.00 | $174.00 | $6.00 | $1,392.00 |
| $7,500.00 | $520.00 | $7.00 | $4,160.00 |
| $12,500.00 | $866.00 | $7.00 | $6,928.00 |
| $15,615.39yours | $1,082.00 | $6.00 | $8,656.00 |
| $16,264.44 | $1,126.00 | $1.00 | $9,008.00 |
| $16,264.45 | $1,127.00 | $0.00 | $9,016.00 |
| $20,931.30 | $1,127.00 | $6.00 | $9,016.00 |
| $20,931.31 | $1,128.00 | $5.00 | $9,024.00 |
| $26,000.00 | $1,400.00 | $6.00 | $11,200.00 |
| $32,760.00 | $1,764.00 | $1.00 | $14,112.00 |
| $32,760.01 | $1,765.00 | $0.00 | $14,120.00 |
| $40,000.00 | $1,765.00 | $0.00 | $14,120.00 |
At your $15,615.39 quarter, the next $100.00 adds $6.00 a week; from $16,264.45 to $20,831.30, where a quarter and $100.00 more both stay in the flat band, it adds nothing.
How often you are paid changes the quarter
| Paid | Paychecks in the best quarter | Best quarter | Weekly benefit | Total for your leave |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Every week | 13 | $14,499.94 | $1,004.00 | $8,032.00 |
| Every week, 14 paydays in a quarter | 14 | $15,615.32 | $1,082.00 | $8,656.00 |
| Every two weeksyours | 7 | $15,615.39 | $1,082.00 | $8,656.00 |
| Twice a month | 6 | $14,500.02 | $1,004.00 | $8,032.00 |
| Once a month | 3 | $14,499.99 | $1,004.00 | $8,032.00 |
On $58,000.00 a year, 7 paychecks in a quarter pay $78.00 a week and $624.00 for your leave more than the same pay twice a month.
Pay you still get during your leave
| Pay you still get | Weekly benefit | Benefit plus pay | Total for your leave |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0.00yours | $1,082.00 | $1,082.00 | $8,656.00 |
| $33.38 | $1,082.00 | $1,115.38 | $8,656.00 |
| $100.00 | $1,015.38 | $1,115.38 | $8,123.04 |
| $200.00 | $915.38 | $1,115.38 | $7,323.04 |
| $300.00 | $815.38 | $1,115.38 | $6,523.04 |
| $446.15 | $669.23 | $1,115.38 | $5,353.84 |
| $557.69 | $557.69 | $1,115.38 | $4,461.52 |
| $1,115.38 | $0.00 | $1,115.38 | $0.00 |
Up to $33.38 a week, pay you still get leaves the benefit whole; above that, each dollar takes a dollar off, and at $1,115.38 nothing is left.
How California SDI and PFL benefits are worked out
The EDD works out one weekly benefit amount for you, and both programs pay it. Paid Family Leave pays it for up to 8 weeks in a 12-month period. You can use it to bond with a new child, to care for a family member who is very ill, or when a family member leaves for military duty abroad. Disability Insurance pays it for up to 52 weeks when an illness, injury or pregnancy keeps you from work. The amount rests on one number: the wages paid to you in the best quarter of your base period.
Which four quarters count
Your base period is four calendar quarters that end three to six months before your claim starts. Section 2610 of the Unemployment Insurance Code sets them by the month you start. A claim that starts in July, August or September 2026 uses April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026, so a raise in May 2026 does not count. The EDD's page on benefit amounts says the base period "does not include wages paid at the time your family leave begins."
Why your best quarter can hold 7 paychecks
A quarter is 13 weeks long. Paid every two weeks, you get 26 paychecks a year, and 26 cannot be split into four quarters of 6. No quarter can hold 8, so two quarters of every base period hold 7 paychecks (three when it has 27 paydays), and the EDD uses one of them. That quarter holds 7/26 of your year, which is more than a fourth. On $58,000, 7 paychecks of $2,230.77 come to $15,615.39, while pay twice a month puts $14,500.02 in each quarter.
Section 2655 counts the wages "paid to the individual" during the quarter, so the date on the paycheck decides where it falls, not the weeks you worked. Paid every week, most quarters hold 13 paychecks (52 weeks over 4 quarters gives 13), and a few hold 14.
The 90% and 70% rates
Section 2655(f) pays 90% of your best quarter divided by 13 while the quarter is no more than 70% of the state average quarterly wage. That average is 13 times the state average weekly wage. In news release 2025-116, the Department of Industrial Relations reported that this wage rose "from $1,704 to $1,789" in the year to March 31, 2025, the year that sets it for claims in 2026. So the line falls at $16,279.90.
Above the line the benefit is 70% of the quarter divided by 13, with a floor of 63% of the state average weekly wage. Section 2655(f)(1) holds it to the top rate for workers' compensation, which the same release puts at $1,764.11 a week. Section 2655(f)(2) then says a result that is not a whole dollar "shall be computed to the next higher multiple of one dollar ($1)", even past that rate, so the top is $1,765.
The flat band at $1,127
The EDD's chart turns that floor into a flat $1,127 a week. The band starts at $16,264.45, where 90% of the quarter divided by 13 first reaches $1,127, and it runs to $20,931.30. Inside it, $4,666.85 more in your best quarter adds nothing. Above it the benefit rises again, until a quarter of $32,760.01 reaches the maximum.
The $50 minimum and the $300 test
Section 2652 says you "cannot establish a valid claim" unless the base period holds at least $300 of wages. A best quarter under $722.50 pays the $50 minimum. Four quarters under $75 add up to less than $300, so the EDD's chart starts at $75.
The benefit formula
HQ = the wages paid to you in the best quarter of your base period HQ under $722.50: $50 a week HQ from $722.50 to $16,264.44: 90.0% × HQ ÷ 13, rounded up to a dollar HQ from $16,264.45 to $20,931.30: $1,127 a week HQ above $20,931.30: 70.0% × HQ ÷ 13, rounded up, at most $1,765 total = weekly benefit × paid weeks, at most 8 (Paid Family Leave) or 52 (Disability Insurance) weeks and at most your base-period wages, rounded up to a dollar
Worked examples
A best quarter of $14,500. Ninety percent of it is $13,050, and $13,050 divided by 13 is $1,003.85, which rounds up to $1,004 a week. The chart's row from $14,487.78 to $14,502.22 prints the same $1,004.
A best quarter of $25,000. It is above the flat band, so the rate is 70%: $17,500 divided by 13 is $1,346.15, and the benefit is $1,347. Its row runs from $24,997.15 to $25,015.71.
Yearly pay of $90,000 every two weeks. Each paycheck is $3,461.54, and 7 of them make a quarter of $24,230.78. Seventy percent of it divided by 13 is $1,304.73, so the benefit is $1,305 a week, 75.4% of your regular $1,730.77.
Check it against your EDD notice and pay stub
About two weeks after you apply, the EDD mails a Notice of Computation: form DE 429D for Disability Insurance or DE 429DF for Paid Family Leave. The EDD's step 4 page says the notice "includes your potential weekly benefit amount" and "does not mean you are eligible". Choose My EDD notice under How you know your pay and enter its best quarter. This page should then show the same weekly amount.
If the amount is lower than you expected, add up the gross pay on the stubs dated in each quarter of your base period. The same page asks you to say "right away if any information is wrong, such as wages, dates, or missing employers." A missing employer, or a paycheck put in the wrong quarter, changes your best quarter.
Your pay stub shows what you pay in. The EDD's benefit page says "You will see this as “CASDI” on your paystub." Paid $58,000 every two weeks, that line is $29 a paycheck. The state paid leave premium calculator adds it up for the year.
The EDD's Paid Family Leave benefit amounts page gives two examples of the section 2656(a) rule for pay during leave. With regular wages of $1,000 a week and a $600 benefit, $500 of part-time wages leaves a $500 benefit, and $300 leaves the full $600. Enter a notice quarter of $8,666, which pays $600, with a regular week of $1,000 to see both.
When your claim works differently
If you got a raise
The month your claim starts picks the base period, so it can matter after a raise. Say you were paid $52,000 twice a month, then $60,000 from January 2026. A claim that starts in June 2026 counts 2025 only: a $13,000.02 quarter and $901 a week. Start in July and January to March 2026 counts too: $15,000 and $1,039 a week. The EDD's Paid Family Leave benefit amounts page says you cannot change the start date "after establishing a valid claim", so call before you file.
If you got a bonus
A bonus counts in the quarter it is paid. Paid $52,000 twice a month plus a $6,000 bonus in one quarter, your best quarter is $19,000.02, which pays $1,127 a week. The same $58,000 spread over the year pays $1,004. The EDD's calculator page says commission and bonuses "may impact base period wages."
If you are pregnant, then bonding
Disability Insurance pays while your doctor or practitioner says you cannot work. Paid Family Leave can then follow it, so you can bond with your baby. The EDD's Paid Family Leave page lists bonding claims "For birth mothers transitioning from pregnancy disability benefits". Section 3303.1(a)(3) does not pay Paid Family Leave for a day you get or are owed Disability Insurance, so one follows the other. Both pay the same weekly amount. On the default pay, 6 weeks off pays $5,410 from Disability Insurance and $6,492 from Paid Family Leave.
If you worked only part of the base period
Your benefits can never add up to more than the wages in your base period, rounded up to a whole dollar. Section 2653 says that "in no case" may Disability Insurance pay more than those wages, and section 3301(c) says the same for Paid Family Leave. If you worked one quarter and earned $14,500, Disability Insurance pays $1,004 a week but stops at $14,500, after 14.44 weeks. Enter your quarters to see your own limit.
If you were hurt at work
If you were hurt at work, workers' comp pays first. Under section 2629(c), when its weekly check is less than your benefit, Disability Insurance pays the rest. The California workers' comp calculator works out that check from your regular week.
If you cannot work for more than a year
Disability Insurance stops after 52 paid weeks. On the default pay, 53 weeks off pays $56,264. If you still cannot work, the EDD's page on managing benefits says "you may want to apply for disability benefits through Social Security." The SSDI benefit calculator estimates that benefit from your work record.
Your benefit and your paycheck after payroll tax
Your paycheck loses Social Security, Medicare and SDI before you get it. IRS Topic 751 puts the employee's Social Security rate at 6.2% and Medicare at 1.45%, and SDI is 1.3% in 2026. On the default pay, they take $99.82 from a $1,115.38 week, leaving $1,015.56. So the $1,082 weekly benefit, before any tax on it, is $66.44 more than that paycheck before its income tax. The take-home pay calculator adds income tax to the paycheck side.
If your claim starts in 2027
This page uses the figures for claims that start in 2026. A claim that starts in 2027 uses the next state average weekly wage and the next maximum, so its amounts will differ from these.
Assumptions and limits
- The weekly amounts follow the EDD's chart for claims that start in 2026 (DE 2589). The page works out the amount, not whether you qualify: Disability Insurance needs a doctor's or practitioner's certificate, and Paid Family Leave a qualifying reason.
- Yearly pay becomes a best quarter from how often you are paid, with the same pay all year and no unpaid weeks. Each paycheck is rounded to the cent, as payroll pays it. If your pay changed, enter your four quarters instead.
- Paid every week, the page counts 13 paychecks in the best quarter. A base period can hold a quarter with 14 paydays, which the table of pay schedules shows. Paid every two weeks, it counts 26 paychecks in the base period; a few base periods hold 27, which adds one to the base-period wages but not to the best quarter.
- Entered as yearly pay, your regular week is that pay divided by 52. The section 2656(a) rule for pay during leave uses your weekly wage before overtime, so if part of your pay is overtime, enter your quarters and your regular week.
- Weeks are whole weeks. Sections 2627 and 3301(b)(1) pay one-seventh of the weekly amount for each full day, so a part week pays less.
- The EDD rounds the weekly amount up to a whole dollar, so the totals are whole dollars unless pay during your leave cuts the benefit.
- Not covered: special base periods for military service, a work injury or a labor dispute; plans an employer runs instead of the state; overpayments and child support taken from benefits.
These figures are estimates for learning and planning, not financial, tax, legal or investment advice. Terms of use.
What to do before and during your leave
Check your quarters before you file. Add up the gross pay on the stubs dated in each quarter; paid $58,000 every two weeks, a quarter with 7 paydays should show $15,615.39. The California paycheck calculator shows the gross pay of each check.
Plan any top-up with your employer. Paid $58,000 every two weeks, the benefit leaves $33.38 a week of room under your regular pay, and the table of pay during your leave shows your own room. Ask for no more than it, or the benefit drops by the extra. The take-home pay calculator shows what your regular paycheck nets.
Set money aside for federal tax on Paid Family Leave. At a 12% tax rate, $8,656 of benefits is $1,038.72 of tax. California does not tax it, so leave it out of your income on the California income tax calculator.
Ask about your job as well as your pay. The EDD's Paid Family Leave page says the program pays benefits "but not job protection", so check whether the California Family Rights Act or the federal Family and Medical Leave Act covers the 8 weeks it can pay. The FMLA leave balance calculator counts the leave you have used.
Frequently asked questions
How much will I get from California Paid Family Leave?
Usually 70% to 90% of your best base-period quarter divided by 13, rounded up to a dollar. Paid $45,000 a year every two weeks, your best quarter is $12,115.39, so you would get $839 a week, or $6,712 for 8 weeks.
What is the maximum SDI benefit in 2026?
$1,765 a week, for a best quarter of $32,760.01 or more. Paid every two weeks, that takes yearly pay of $121,680.13; paid twice a month, $131,040.12. Fifty-two weeks of Disability Insurance at the maximum is $91,780.
How is the California SDI benefit calculated?
The EDD takes your best base-period quarter and pays 90% of it divided by 13, or 70% for a high quarter, rounded up to a dollar. A $10,000 quarter pays $693 a week, and a $28,000 quarter pays $1,508.
Is California Paid Family Leave taxable?
The EDD's Form 1099G page says Paid Family Leave benefits "are taxable and need to be included on your federal tax return only." On $6,712 of benefits, federal tax is $805.44 at 12% or $1,476.64 at 22%. The same page says "In most cases, disability benefits are not taxable."
Is there a waiting period for California disability?
Yes, for Disability Insurance: the first 7 days of a claim are not paid. Six weeks off at $839 a week pays 5 weeks, $4,195. Paid Family Leave pays from the first day, so the same 6 weeks pays $5,034.
Can I get paid sick leave and Paid Family Leave at the same time?
Yes, but under section 2656(a) the two together may not pass your regular weekly wage before overtime. Earning $865.38 a week with an $839 benefit, $200 of sick pay cuts the benefit by $173.62, to $665.38. Up to $26.38 a week of sick pay would cut nothing.
How much is SDI tax in 2026?
The EDD's rates page says "The SDI withholding rate for 2026 is 1.3 percent", on all wages since 2024. On $45,000 that is $585 a year, against $540 at 2025's rate of 1.2%.
What percentage of my pay does California PFL pay?
It depends on your pay and how often you are paid. Paid $58,000 every two weeks, the benefit is 97.0% of your regular week, because your best quarter holds 7 paychecks. At $150,000 it is 61.2%, held down by the $1,765 maximum.
Sources
- California Unemployment Insurance Code section 2610, disability base period (current version)
- California Unemployment Insurance Code section 2627, waiting period (current version)
- California Unemployment Insurance Code section 2629, other benefits (current version)
- California Unemployment Insurance Code sections 2652 to 2658, computation of disability benefits (current version)
- California Unemployment Insurance Code sections 3300 to 3308, family temporary disability insurance (Paid Family Leave) (current version)
- California EDD, DI and PFL Weekly Benefit Amounts in Dollar Increments (DE 2589) (page modified Dec 31, 2025)
- California EDD, Paid Family Leave Benefit Payment Amounts (page modified Oct 20, 2026)
- California EDD, Paid Family Leave (page modified May 7, 2026)
- California EDD, Disability Insurance Benefits (page modified Jul 7, 2026)
- California EDD, Disability Insurance Step 4: Review Benefit Documents (page modified Jun 16, 2026)
- California EDD, Paid Family Leave Step 4: Review Benefit Documents (page modified Jun 16, 2026)
- California EDD, Disability Insurance Step 6: Manage Benefits (page modified Jun 16, 2026)
- California EDD, Contribution Rates, Withholding Schedules, and Meals and Lodging Values (page modified Oct 20, 2026)
- California EDD, Tax Information (Form 1099G) (page modified Oct 23, 2026)
- California EDD, Disability Insurance and Paid Family Leave Calculator 2026 (page modified Oct 20, 2026)
- California Department of Industrial Relations, news release 2025-116, temporary total disability rates for 2026 (page modified Nov 21, 2025)
- IRS, Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates (page reviewed Sep 24, 2026)
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