How Much Money Will I Get From Unemployment

Although we cannot tell you how much you will receive until you apply for benefits, you can estimate your own weekly benefit amount ahead of time.

When will I know my weekly benefit amount?

After you apply for benefits, we will mail you an Unemployment Claim Determination letter that tells you how much you are potentially eligible to receive.

How much can I get each week?

In Washington state, the maximum weekly benefit amount is $929. The minimum is $295. No one eligible for benefits will receive less than $295, regardless of their earnings.

The actual amount you are eligible to receive depends on the earnings in your base year. We calculate your weekly benefit amount (WBA) and maximum benefits payable (MBP) by using the wage information reported to us by your employer(s).

How can I estimate my weekly benefit amount?

You can estimate your own weekly benefit amount to see how much you are potentially eligible to receive. To do this, you need to know which calendar quarters will make up your base year.

Your base year is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before the week in which you apply for benefits. For example, if you applied for unemployment benefits on Jan. 20, 2021, your base year would include wages earned from Oct. 1, 2019, through Sept. 30, 2020.

You could be eligible for an alternate base year claim if you do not have enough hours in that base year for a valid claim (see below).

When you file your claim here:

Unemployment base year

Your base year is the blue-shaded area.

To estimate how much you might be eligible to receive, add together the gross wages in the two highest quarters during that period, divide by 2, and then multiply by 0.0385 to get your weekly benefit amount.

The total amount of benefits potentially payable on your claim is found by taking the smaller of:

26 times your weekly benefit amount or
1/3 of the total gross wages in all four quarters of your base year.

Estimate your own WBA

Identify the two highest quarters in your base year.
Key each total in the boxes below.
Press "Calculate" to see how much you are potentially eligible to receive.
To try again, press "Clear" and start over.

Keep in mind that this is just an estimate of your weekly benefit amount. Your actual weekly benefit amount may be different when you file your claim.

Your weekly benefit amount:

Examples of weekly benefit amount calculation:

Average of two highest quarters	Multiplied by .0385	Weekly benefit amount
$2,800	$107.80	$295*
$10,508	$404.56	$404
$19,480	$749.98	$749
$30,000	$1,155	$929**

*$295 is the minimum weekly benefit amount payable.
**$929 is the maximum weekly benefit amount payable.

Alternate base year (ABY) claims

You could be eligible for an alternate base year claim if you do not have the required 680 hours of work in your regular base year.

The base year for an alternate base year claim is the last four completed calendar quarters before the week in which you file your claim. You must have 680 hours of work in the alternate base year and still meet all of the other eligibility requirements.

If you file your claim here:

Your base year is the blue-shaded area.

Earning deductions chart

This chart helps determine how much you may get if you report partial earnings during a week.

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