California EDD disability pays between 70% and 90% of your regular wages, with a $50 weekly minimum and a $1,765 weekly maximum for claims starting in 2026.1EDD – CA.gov. Contribution Rates and Benefit Amounts Lower earners get the higher percentage; higher earners get 70% up to the cap. Your exact check depends on what you made in your single highest-earning quarter during a 12-month lookback window.
How the Weekly Amount Is Calculated
EDD looks at your wages over a 12-month base period, picks the quarter in which you earned the most, and applies a percentage to those wages to set your weekly benefit.2Employment Development Department. Disability Insurance Benefit Payment Amounts There are two tiers:
- If your income falls below the state’s threshold, you receive 90% of the wages in your highest quarter, prorated to a weekly amount.
- If your income is above that threshold, you receive 70%.
For 2025 claims, the cutoff sat around $63,000 in annual earnings: workers below that line got 90%, and workers above it got 70%.3EDD – CA.gov. California Boosts Paid Family Leave and Disability Benefits to Record Levels for New Claims Filed in 2025 The 2026 structure is the same, with the threshold adjusting annually. Either way, your check cannot be smaller than $50 or larger than $1,765 per week.1EDD – CA.gov. Contribution Rates and Benefit Amounts
A rough way to picture it: take what you earned in your best three-month stretch, divide by 13 to get a weekly figure, then apply either 70% or 90% depending on your overall income level. The result is your weekly benefit, subject to the floor and the ceiling.
The Base Period That Drives Your Payment
The base period is the 12-month window EDD searches for your highest-earning quarter. It skips the quarter you file in and the one just before it, giving employers time to report wages. The window shifts with your claim start date:
- Claim starts January, February, or March: base period is the 12 months ending the previous September 30.
- Claim starts April, May, or June: base period is the 12 months ending the previous December 31.
- Claim starts July, August, or September: base period is the 12 months ending the previous March 31.
- Claim starts October, November, or December: base period is the 12 months ending the previous June 30.
So a claim beginning in February 2026 draws on wages from October 1, 2024, through September 30, 2025.4EDD – CA.gov. Paid Family Leave Benefit Payment Amounts EDD breaks the window into four quarters, finds the biggest one, and runs the formula on that single quarter. Everything else about your work history is secondary to that one three-month peak.
If your normal base period was distorted by military service, a workers’ compensation claim, a labor dispute, or extended unemployment, you can ask EDD for a special alternate base period.4EDD – CA.gov. Paid Family Leave Benefit Payment Amounts That can matter when the standard window would otherwise shortchange you.
The 2026 Minimum and Maximum
For claims starting in 2026, the weekly benefit floor is $50 and the ceiling is $1,765.1EDD – CA.gov. Contribution Rates and Benefit Amounts These limits move each year with the state’s average weekly wage.
To receive anything at all, you need at least $300 in wages during your base period.5EDD – CA.gov. Part-time, Intermittent, or Reduced Work Schedule FAQs Workers whose highest-quarter earnings land between about $300 and $722 get the $50 minimum. On the other end, hitting the $1,765 maximum takes a highest quarter well above $19,000 in wages. Most claimants land somewhere in the middle, with a weekly check scaled to their actual earnings.
How Long the Payments Last
Benefits run for as long as your licensed health professional certifies that you cannot work, up to 52 weeks per claim.2Employment Development Department. Disability Insurance Benefit Payment Amounts At 52 weeks, the claim ends even if your condition has not resolved.
A second limit sits behind the 52 weeks: your total benefits cannot exceed your total wages for the entire four-quarter base period. If your yearly earnings were modest, your payments can exhaust before you reach a year. This is why the weekly maximum alone does not tell you what you will collect over the life of a claim.
Then there is the waiting period. The first seven consecutive days of every new claim are unpaid.6Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Title 22 Section 2627(b)-1 – Waiting Period Payments begin on day eight and arrive by debit card or check.
If you go back to part-time or modified work while still partially disabled, you can still receive a reduced benefit as long as you are losing wages and remain eligible.5EDD – CA.gov. Part-time, Intermittent, or Reduced Work Schedule FAQs EDD determines the reduced amount after you file.
What You Actually Take Home After Taxes
In most cases, the check you receive is the check you keep. California does not treat SDI disability benefits as taxable income, so they stay off your state return.7Employment Development Department. Form 1099G FAQs The IRS generally excludes disability payments that compensate for physical sickness or injury from federal income as well.8Internal Revenue Service. Publication 907, Tax Highlights for Persons With Disabilities
One exception matters for take-home math: if you were drawing unemployment benefits and then became disabled, your SDI payments are treated as a substitute for unemployment compensation and are federally taxable. EDD will issue a Form 1099G for that portion.7Employment Development Department. Form 1099G FAQs California still does not tax those payments at the state level.
What SDI Does Not Pay For
SDI replaces wages for non-work-related illness, injury, pregnancy, or surgery.9EDD – CA.gov. Fact Sheet: State Disability Insurance Program (DE 8714C) It does not protect your job. Keeping your position while you are out is a separate question governed by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, which offers up to 12 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave if you have been with your employer at least 12 months, worked at least 1,250 hours in the past year, and work at a site where the employer has 50 or more employees within 75 miles.10eCFR. 29 CFR 825.110 – Eligible Employee FMLA leave can run concurrently with your SDI benefits, so the paycheck comes from SDI while FMLA holds your job.11U.S. Department of Labor. Employment Laws: Medical and Disability-Related Leave California has its own leave laws that may go further, and when more than one applies, you get the greater protection.