California Unemployment Benefits Calculator
Paid $42,000 a year every two weeks, you would get $435 a week from California unemployment, up to $11,310 in all. A week with $200 of part-time pay still pays $285.
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Your weekly benefit
Your weekly benefit
$435.00
Most in all
$11,310.00
Part-time week
$285.00
You would get $435.00 a week, 53.9% of your $807.69 weekly pay, and at most $11,310.00 in all.
Paid every two weeks, 7 of your 26 paychecks fall in your best quarter, $11,307.66, and half of it divided by 13 rounds up to $435.00.
In a week with $200.00 of part-time pay, $50.00 does not count, so you would get $435.00 less $150.00, $285.00, or $485.00 with the pay.
Your pay and your claim
- paycheck = $42,000.00 ÷ 26 ≈ $1,615.38
- best quarter = 7 × $1,615.38 = $11,307.66
- weekly = 50% × $11,307.66 ÷ 13 = $434.9100, rounded up to $435.00
- half of base-period wages = $41,999.88 ÷ 2 = $20,999.94, rounded up to $21,000.00
- most in all = the smaller of 26 × $435.00 = $11,310.00 and $21,000.00 = $11,310.00
- part-time week = $435.00 − ($200.00 − $50.00) = $285.00
Weekly benefit at each best quarter
Your benefit as part-time pay rises
How the benefit table treats your best quarter
| Best quarter | Weekly benefit | Yearly pay, twice a month | Yearly pay, every two weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| $900.00 to $948.99 | $40.00set by the minimum | $3,599.88 to $3,795.95 | $3,342.95 to $3,524.94 |
| $949.00 to $1,832.99 | $41.00 to $70.00set by the statute's table | $3,795.96 to $7,331.87 | $3,524.95 to $6,808.22 |
| $1,833.00 to $11,674.00yours | $71.00 to $449.00set by half ÷ 13, rounded up | $7,331.88 to $46,695.95 | $6,808.23 to $43,360.58 |
| $11,674.01 or more | $450.00set by the maximum | $46,695.96 or more | $43,360.59 or more |
Your $11,307.66 quarter is $366.35 short of $11,674.01, the first quarter that pays the $450.00 maximum.
Every row of the EDD's benefit table (DE 1101BT5)
Show all 411 rows of the benefit table
| Best quarter from | To | Weekly benefit |
|---|
Your $11,307.66 quarter falls on the row from $11,284.01 to $11,310.00, at $435.00 a week.
Your benefit at other best quarters
| Best quarter | Weekly benefit | Without the $450 cap | Share of the quarter's weekly pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| $900.00 | $40.00 | $40.00 | 57.8% |
| $1,300.00 | $53.00 | $53.00 | 53.0% |
| $1,832.99 | $70.00 | $70.00 | 49.6% |
| $1,833.00 | $71.00 | $71.00 | 50.4% |
| $3,250.00 | $125.00 | $125.00 | 50.0% |
| $6,500.00 | $250.00 | $250.00 | 50.0% |
| $9,100.00 | $350.00 | $350.00 | 50.0% |
| $11,307.66yours | $435.00 | $435.00 | 50.0% |
| $11,674.00 | $449.00 | $449.00 | 50.0% |
| $11,674.01 | $450.00 | $450.00 | 50.1% |
| $15,600.00 | $450.00 | $600.00 | 37.5% |
At your $11,307.66 quarter the weekly amount is 50.0% of the quarter's $869.82 a week; it is 57.8% at a $900.00 quarter and 37.5% at $15,600.00, where the $450.00 cap holds the benefit down.
How often you were paid changes the quarter
| Paid | Paychecks in the best quarter | Best quarter | Weekly benefit | Most in all |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Every week | 13 | $10,499.97 | $404.00 | $10,504.00 |
| Every week, 14 paydays in a quarter | 14 | $11,307.66 | $435.00 | $11,310.00 |
| Every two weeksyours | 7 | $11,307.66 | $435.00 | $11,310.00 |
| Twice a month | 6 | $10,500.00 | $404.00 | $10,504.00 |
| Once a month | 3 | $10,500.00 | $404.00 | $10,504.00 |
On $42,000.00 a year, a quarter with 7 paychecks pays $31.00 more a week and $806.00 more in all than the same pay twice a month.
A week with part-time pay
| Gross pay in the week | Not counted | Benefit paid | Benefit plus pay | Weeks the maximum lasts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $0.00 | $0.00 | $435.00 | $435.00 | 26.00 |
| $25.00 | $25.00 | $435.00 | $460.00 | 26.00 |
| $26.00 | $25.00 | $434.00 | $460.00 | 26.06 |
| $100.00 | $25.00 | $360.00 | $460.00 | 31.42 |
| $200.00yours | $50.00 | $285.00 | $485.00 | 39.68 |
| $400.00 | $100.00 | $135.00 | $535.00 | over 52 |
| $579.99 | $145.00 | $1.00 | $580.99 | over 52 |
| $580.00 | $145.00 | $0.00 | $580.00 | — |
Up to $100.00 of pay in a week, the first $25.00 does not count; above that, 25% does not count. Your $435.00 benefit stays whole under $26.00 and reaches $0.00 at $580.00. Past 52 weeks the benefit year ends, and what is left of the maximum is not paid.
How California works out your unemployment benefit
The Employment Development Department (EDD) works out two amounts for you. The weekly benefit amount is what a full week out of work pays. The maximum benefit amount is the most your claim can pay in its benefit year, 52 weeks from the week it starts. Both rest on the wages paid to you in your base period, and the weekly amount on its best quarter alone.
Which four quarters count
The EDD counts the wages of four calendar quarters, your base period, which end three to six months before the claim. Section 1275(a) of the Unemployment Insurance Code sets them by the month you start, and fact sheet DE 8714AB calls them "the first four of the last five" completed quarters. A claim that starts in July, August or September 2026 counts April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026, so pay from April 2026 on does not count.
Section 1275(b) adds an alternate base period, the last four completed quarters, used only "if an individual cannot establish a claim under subdivision (a)". You do not choose it: the fact sheet says the EDD looks at it for you when the first four quarters fall short. Your award notice says which one the EDD used.
Why pay every two weeks puts 7 paychecks in one quarter
Section 1280(c) counts "the wages paid to the individual" in each quarter, so the date on the paycheck decides where it falls. A quarter is 13 weeks, and 26 paydays cannot sit in four quarters of 6. So two quarters of a base period hold 7 paychecks, or three when it has 27 paydays. No quarter can hold 8.
That best quarter holds 7/26 of your year, more than a fourth. On $42,000, 7 paychecks of $1,615.38 come to $11,307.66, which pays $435 a week. The same pay twice a month puts $10,500.00 in every quarter and pays $404, so the schedule alone is worth $31 a week. Paid every week, the best quarter holds 13 paychecks, or 14 in some base periods.
The $40 to $450 benefit table
From a best quarter of $900.00 to $1,832.99, section 1280(c) prints its own table: 31 rows that pay $40 to $70 a week. The first row is $49 wide and the other 30 are $26 or $39 wide, so the table does not follow one rate. Its last row pays $70, which is less than half of $1,832.99 divided by 13.
Above $1,832.99 the weekly amount is "50 percent of these wages divided by 13", which is your best quarter divided by 26. A result with cents "shall be computed to the next higher multiple of one dollar ($1)", so each $26 more in the quarter adds $1 a week until the cap. The cap is $450 for claims since January 1, 2005, and it starts at $11,674.01. The EDD prints all 411 rows as form DE 1101BT5.
The $1,300 test and the 1.25 test
Section 1281(a) lets you set up a claim in one of two ways. Your best quarter can hold at least $1,300 on its own. Or it can hold at least $900, with total base-period wages "equal to 1.25 times the amount he or she was paid in this same quarter". So a $1,200.00 quarter needs $1,500.00 over the four quarters, and $1,499.99 fails.
The most a claim pays: 26 weeks or half your wages
Section 1281(b) caps the claim at the lower of "Twenty-six times his or her weekly benefit amount" and "One-half the total wages paid to the individual during his or her base period." Under 1281(c), a half with cents rounds up to the next dollar. With steady pay all year, 26 weekly amounts are always the lower figure.
A short work history is where half your wages takes over. If you worked one quarter and earned $11,674.01, you get the $450 weekly maximum, but the claim stops at $5,838, which is 12.97 weeks. Total wages of $23,398.01 are the least that unlock all 26 weeks at $450, $11,700.
A week with part-time work
Section 1279(a) pays your weekly amount less the smaller of two figures: your wages over $25, or your wages over 25% of them. So up to $100 a week the first $25 does not count, and above $100 a quarter of your pay does not count. Section 1279(b) rounds the payment up to the next dollar.
The EDD's FAQ on reporting work and wages gives two examples, and the page gets both: a $145 weekly amount with $26 of wages pays $144, and a $315 amount with $200 of wages pays $165. The cut starts at $26, because $25.99 leaves less than a dollar to count, which the rounding takes back.
Video walkthrough
A 3½-minute walkthrough of how California works out your weekly unemployment benefit, the most a claim pays, and a week of part-time work.
Read the transcript
How much you get each week
0:00 How much will California unemployment pay you each week?
0:04 Say you earn $42,000 a year, paid every other week.
0:09 Then you would get $435 a week.
0:12 That's a little over half of your weekly pay.
0:15 Here's where it comes from.
The quarter that counts
0:17 The EDD counts a year of your pay, called the base period.
0:22 For a claim that starts in July, it ends the March before, so pay since April does not count.
0:28 Paid every other week, you get 26 paychecks a year.
0:32 They can't split evenly into quarters, so one quarter holds 7 of them.
0:37 That best quarter, not your whole year, sets your weekly benefit.
0:42 Now say you're paid twice a month instead.
0:44 The same pay spreads evenly over the quarters, so the weekly benefit drops to $404.
0:52 The page's table of pay schedules shows the gap.
0:55 It's $31 a week, all because of the dates on your paychecks.
Half the quarter, to a cap
1:01 Next, section 1280(c) takes half of your best quarter and divides it by 13, the weeks in a quarter.
1:08 Any cents round up.
1:10 The section says the amount shall be computed to the next higher multiple of one dollar.
1:16 The page's chart shows the climb.
1:18 A bigger quarter pays more, up to a point.
1:22 From there, the benefit stays at the $450 cap.
1:26 Now type a higher yearly pay.
1:29 The weekly benefit stops at the cap, and so does the most in all.
How much in all
1:33 So how long does it last?
1:35 The total stops at the smaller of 26 weekly benefits or half your base-period wages.
1:42 With steady pay all year, the weeks are always the smaller amount, so you could get up to $11,310 in all.
1:50 A short work history is different.
1:53 Say all your pay came in one quarter, at the cap.
1:56 You'd get the top weekly benefit, but only about $5,800 in all.
Working part-time
2:03 Part-time work doesn't end your benefit.
2:06 A small part of each week's pay doesn't count, and the rest comes off your benefit.
2:11 So a week with $200 of pay still pays $285, and you get to keep the pay as well.
2:19 If you earn $580 or more in a week, that week pays nothing at all.
2:25 Smaller payments make your total last longer.
2:28 But the EDD's page on ending benefits warns you cannot be paid for weeks that fall outside of your benefit year.
Check your award notice
2:37 After you apply, the EDD mails you an award notice.
2:41 To check it here, choose My award notice in the form.
2:44 Its item 6 is your highest quarter, and item 5 is your total wages.
2:50 Enter both.
2:51 The weekly benefit and the most in all should then match items 4 and 3.
2:56 If a wage is missing or wrong, write to the EDD within 30 calendar days.
3:02 The notice counts those days from the mail date printed at the top, so don't wait.
3:08 So your best quarter sets the weekly amount, and your total wages can limit how much in all.
3:14 Work out your own at fastcalc.us.
The benefit formula
HQ = the wages paid to you in the best quarter of your base period HQ from $900.00 to $1,832.99: the table in section 1280(c), $40 to $70 a week HQ above $1,832.99: 50% × HQ ÷ 13, rounded up to a dollar, at most $450 valid claim: HQ of $1,300 or more, or HQ of $900 or more with base-period wages of at least 1.25 × HQ most in all = the lower of 26 × the weekly amount and half the base-period wages, rounded up to a dollar part-time week = the weekly amount − (pay − the larger of $25 and 25% of pay), rounded up to a dollar, not below $0
Worked examples
A best quarter of $1,300.00, from four quarters. It meets the $1,300 test on its own. It is in the table's row from $1,287.00 to $1,312.99, which pays $53 a week. With four quarters like it, half of $5,200.00 is $2,600, more than 26 weeks of $53, so the most in all is $1,378.
A best quarter of $9,100.00. Half of it is $4,550.00, and $4,550.00 divided by 13 is $350 exactly, so the weekly amount needs no rounding. A quarter of $9,100.01 pays $351.
A best quarter of $13,000.00 on the notice. Half of $13,000.00 divided by 13 is $500, held to the $450 maximum. A part-time week of $150.00 counts $112.50, which leaves $337.50, rounded up to $338.
Check it against your award notice
The EDD's step 4 page says it will "mail important documents to you in about two weeks" after you apply. One is the Notice of Unemployment Insurance Award, form DE 429Z. It says it "is not a final decision on whether you are eligible", but it carries the two wage figures this page uses. Choose My award notice under How you know your pay and enter them.
Item 6 is Highest Quarter Earnings, and the back of the form says these earnings set your weekly benefit amount. Item 5 is Total Wages, which set the maximum. Items 4 and 3 are the weekly amount and the maximum the EDD worked out. With a notice that shows $13,000.00 and $52,000.00, the page shows $450 a week and $11,700 in all, the figures items 4 and 3 should show.
If a wage is missing or wrong, the notice says to write within "30 calendar days of the “Mail Date” printed at the top of this Notice". Add up the gross pay on the stubs dated in each quarter first. A missing employer or a paycheck in the wrong quarter changes the best quarter, and so the weekly amount.
When your claim works differently
The first week is not paid
Section 1253(d) makes the first week out of work a waiting period. The EDD's step 6 page says "You must serve a one-week unpaid waiting period on your claim before getting paid." The same page says the wait "does not change the total amount of benefits you can receive." So on the default pay, 26 weeks of $435 take 27 weeks out of work to collect.
If you got severance or vacation pay
Severance pay does not count as wages for your claim. The EDD's Benefit Determination Guide, TPU 460.35, says "Severance pay is not wages for unemployment insurance purposes." Its calculator page says "Do not include severance pay." Vacation pay is different: the same page lists it among the wages to include. For vacation you earned but were not paid before your job ended, section 1265.5 says that payout "shall not be construed to be wages" and that benefits "shall not be denied or reduced because of the receipt of these payments."
The EDD's FAQ on reporting work lists severance pay and in-lieu-of-notice pay among the earnings it asks about, so report them and let the EDD decide. A payout that is not wages leaves a $435 weekly amount at $435.
If part-time work stretches your claim
A week of part-time pay uses less of your maximum, so the maximum lasts more weeks. On the default pay, $285 weeks would take 39.68 weeks to use up $11,310. But section 1276 ends the benefit year 52 weeks after it starts. The EDD's step 8 page says "You cannot be paid for weeks that fall outside of your benefit year, even if there is a remaining balance on your claim."
Federal tax on your benefit
Section 1342.1(a)(1) says unemployment compensation is "subject to federal income tax". The EDD's Form 1099G page says "California State Tax Return: You do not need to report your Form 1099G." IRS Form W-4V lets you ask for tax to be taken out, and for unemployment the payer "will withhold 10% from each payment". On $435 a week that is $43.50, leaving $391.50.
If you are sick, injured or caring for family
Section 1253(c) pays only for a week when you were "able to work and available for work". If an illness, injury or pregnancy keeps you from work, Disability Insurance pays instead, from the same best quarter. On the default pay its weekly amount is $783, $348 more than this page's $435. The California SDI and Paid Family Leave calculator works it out. If you were hurt at work, the California workers' comp calculator starts from your usual week.
If you file again next year
Item 9 of the award notice says section 1277 requires you to work between the beginning and the ending dates of this claim "to have a valid claim the next year." The notice adds "If this applies to your claim you will receive additional instructions."
Assumptions and limits
- The page works out the amounts, not whether you qualify. The EDD also checks why your job ended and that you can work, look for work and certify each week.
- Entered as yearly pay, your pay is taken as the same all year, with no unpaid weeks, and each paycheck as the year's pay over the paychecks, to the cent. If your pay changed during the base period, use your four quarters.
- Paid every week, the page counts 13 paychecks in the best quarter; the table of pay schedules shows a quarter with 14. Paid every two weeks, it counts 26 in the base period. A base period with 27 adds one paycheck to its wages, not to the best quarter.
- Your four quarters are taken as the base period the claim month shows. The page does not work out the alternate base period, which uses one later quarter.
- The part-time week counts gross pay earned that week. The EDD's page on reporting work asks for wages "during the actual week you worked and earned the wages, not when you received your pay."
- Not covered: school employees between terms, pensions the EDD deducts, 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 you file and while you claim
Add up your quarters before you file. Total the gross pay on the stubs dated in each quarter; paid $42,000 every two weeks, a quarter with 7 paydays should show $11,307.66. The California paycheck calculator shows the gross pay on each check.
Plan for the gap. The default's $435 a week is $372.69 less than the $807.69 weekly pay it replaces, or $9,689.94 over 26 weeks. The emergency fund calculator shows how long your savings cover the rest, and the COBRA calculator prices keeping your health plan.
Plan part-time work around the cut. On the default pay, a $200 week pays $285 and leaves $485 with the pay, and $580 or more pays nothing that week. The take-home pay calculator compares a full paycheck.
Decide on federal tax when you apply. If all 26 weeks of the default's $11,310 are paid, taking out ten percent comes to $1,131 of tax. The federal income tax calculator shows what the full year's income may owe.
Frequently asked questions
How much unemployment will I get in California?
Half of your best base-period quarter divided by 13, rounded up to a dollar, from $40 to $450 a week; small quarters use the table in section 1280(c). Paid $55,000 a year twice a month, your quarter is $13,750.02, so you would get the $450 maximum.
What is the maximum unemployment benefit in California?
$450 a week, for a best quarter of $11,674.01 or more. Paid every two weeks, that quarter takes yearly pay of $43,360.59; paid twice a month, $46,695.96.
How is the California unemployment base period figured?
It is four calendar quarters that end three to six months before your claim. A claim that starts in January 2026 counts October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025, and one that starts in October 2026 counts July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026.
How much can I earn while on unemployment in California?
Up to $25.99 in a week leaves your benefit whole; above $100, a quarter of your pay does not count. At the $450 maximum, $200 of pay leaves $300, and the benefit reaches $0 at $600 a week.
Does severance pay reduce unemployment in California?
No, when it is true severance: the EDD's Benefit Determination Guide says it is not wages. Report it anyway. So a $435 weekly amount stays $435 in a week a true severance check arrives.
How many weeks of unemployment can I get in California?
Up to 26 weekly amounts in a 52-week benefit year, and fewer when half your base-period wages is less. One quarter of $6,500.00 pays $250 a week, but half of it, $3,250, lasts 13 weeks.
Is California unemployment taxable?
Yes, for federal income tax, and no for California's. With 10% taken out, the $450 maximum pays $405 a week.
Why is my EDD weekly benefit less than half my pay?
The $450 cap is one reason: at $1,000 a week, $450 is 45.0% of your pay. Pay twice a month is another, since each quarter then holds a fourth of your year, not 7/26 of it.
Sources
- California Unemployment Insurance Code section 1253, eligibility for a week of benefits (current version)
- California Unemployment Insurance Code section 1265.5, vacation pay at termination (current version)
- California Unemployment Insurance Code section 1275, base period (current version)
- California Unemployment Insurance Code section 1276, benefit year (current version)
- California Unemployment Insurance Code section 1279, benefits in a week with wages (current version)
- California Unemployment Insurance Code section 1280, weekly benefit amount (current version)
- California Unemployment Insurance Code section 1281, valid claim and maximum benefit amount (current version)
- California Unemployment Insurance Code section 1342.1, federal income tax on benefits (current version)
- California EDD, Unemployment Insurance Benefit Table (DE 1101BT5) (page modified Mar 30, 2022)
- California EDD, How Unemployment Insurance Benefits Are Computed (DE 8714AB) (page modified Mar 30, 2022)
- California EDD, Notice of Unemployment Insurance Award (DE 429Z) (page modified Oct 6, 2022)
- California EDD, Unemployment Benefits Calculator (page modified Aug 5, 2026)
- California EDD, Unemployment Step 4: Review Benefit Documents (page modified Jun 16, 2026)
- California EDD, Unemployment Step 6: Receive Your First Payment (page modified Jun 16, 2026)
- California EDD, Unemployment Step 8: End Your Benefits (page modified Jun 16, 2026)
- California EDD, Reporting Work and Wages FAQs (page modified Feb 7, 2025)
- California EDD, How to Report Work or Earnings (page modified Oct 9, 2026)
- California EDD, Tax Information (Form 1099G) (page modified Oct 23, 2026)
- California EDD, Benefit Determination Guide, Total and Partial Unemployment TPU 460.35 (page modified Apr 7, 2023)
- IRS, Form W-4V, Voluntary Withholding Request (page modified Dec 17, 2025)
More on California from sister sites
FastWages publishes wage data and the minimum wage for California.
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