Minnesota unemployment pays between $40 and $948 per week in 2026. The state builds your weekly benefit from wages you earned during a roughly 12-month base period, using a formula that generally replaces about half of what you were earning per week. Your actual check can land lower after deductions for part-time work, pensions, Social Security, child support, or voluntary tax withholding.1Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268.07 – Benefit Account
How the Weekly Benefit Is Calculated
Minnesota runs two calculations and pays you whichever produces the larger weekly amount. The first divides your total base period wages by 52 to find an average weekly wage. The second focuses on your single highest-earning quarter. Whichever formula yields the higher figure becomes your weekly benefit amount.1Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268.07 – Benefit Account Running both protects workers with seasonal or uneven earnings from being penalized by a couple of thin quarters.
The target is roughly 50 percent of what you were earning per week during the base period. The exact percentage shifts depending on which formula wins and where your earnings sit relative to the state’s floor and ceiling.
The 2026 Floor and Ceiling
The minimum weekly benefit is $40. The maximum is $948, up from $890 in 2024.1Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268.07 – Benefit Account These figures are adjusted each year using statewide average wage data. No matter how high your prior salary was, your weekly check cannot exceed the cap, and you must have earned enough during the base period to qualify for at least the minimum.
The Base Period That Sets Your Amount
Your benefit is built on wages from a specific window called the base period: the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you file.2Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268.035 – Definitions File in February 2026, for example, and the state looks at roughly October 2024 through September 2025. If a serious illness or a workers’ compensation claim knocked out significant work time, an alternative base period lets the state reach further back to quarters when you were actually earning.
Gross wages from every employer covered by unemployment insurance count, including commissions, bonuses, overtime, vacation pay, and severance. Wages earned in other states are in. Self-employment income is out. If you got a 1099 rather than a W-2, that pay likely doesn’t count toward your benefit.3Unemployment Insurance Minnesota. Wages Used to Establish an Account Pulling together W-2s or final pay stubs for each quarter will let you sketch your benefit before you apply.
How Long the Money Lasts
Benefits run up to 26 weeks within a one-year benefit period. Your total account balance is the lesser of two numbers: 26 times your weekly benefit, or one-third of your total base period wages.4Unemployment Insurance Minnesota. After You Apply When one-third of your base period wages is smaller, the account empties before week 26.
Say your weekly benefit works out to $500. Twenty-six weeks of that would be $13,000. But if your base period wages totaled $30,000, one-third is $10,000, and you’d collect for about 20 weeks rather than 26.
The Nonpayable Waiting Week
Minnesota pays nothing for your first eligible week. You still have to file the application and submit a request for payment for that week, but no check is issued.5Unemployment Insurance Minnesota. First Payment Your first actual payment arrives during week two. The waiting week doesn’t shrink your total account balance; it just delays when the money starts.
What Gets Deducted From Your Weekly Check
Several things can trim the amount that actually hits your account. Some are automatic, some are your choice.
Part-Time Earnings
If you pick up part-time work while collecting, report your hours and gross earnings each week. Minnesota deducts 50 percent of those earnings from your weekly benefit. Work 32 or more hours in a week, or earn as much as your weekly benefit amount, and you lose eligibility for that week entirely.6Unemployment Insurance Minnesota. Report When Working The unpaid portion stays in your account, so part-time work generally stretches out how long you can collect.
Pension Income
A monthly pension from a base period employer reduces your unemployment benefit dollar for dollar. A $433 monthly pension translates to about $100 a week, and your unemployment check drops by that $100.7Unemployment Insurance Minnesota. Other Income A lump-sum pension from a base period employer is treated much like severance. Payments from a pension plan that none of your base period employers contributed to generally don’t reduce your benefits, and neither does a 401(k) distribution you take as a lump sum subject to an early withdrawal penalty or roll into another retirement account.
Social Security
Collecting Social Security retirement at the same time cuts your unemployment by 50 percent of your weekly Social Security amount.8Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268.085 – Eligibility Conditions One exception applies: if you were already receiving Social Security throughout the entire time you earned your base period wages, no deduction is taken. Social Security disability is a different problem entirely, and generally makes you ineligible for unemployment unless you were approved for disability during the same period you were working.
Child Support
Owed child support in Minnesota or any other state gets pulled out of your weekly benefit automatically and sent to the county child support agency.9Unemployment Insurance Minnesota. Deductions From Benefits You don’t have to set it up.
Tax Withholding
Unemployment benefits are taxable under both federal and Minnesota law. You’ll get a Form 1099-G in January showing the year’s total.10Internal Revenue Service. Unemployment Compensation When you apply, you pick one of three options: withhold 15 percent for combined federal and state taxes, withhold 10 percent for federal only, or withhold nothing.11Unemployment Insurance Minnesota. Year-End Tax Information Choosing nothing means you should set money aside or make quarterly estimated payments to avoid a bill at filing time.
Estimating Your Own Payment
To sketch what you’d receive, add up your gross wages for the four quarters in your base period. Divide that total by 52 to see what the first formula produces. Then check your highest-earning quarter separately, since the second formula could pay more. The higher of the two, capped at $948 and floored at $40, is your starting weekly benefit before any deductions. Multiply that number by 26, compare it to one-third of your total base period wages, and the smaller figure is your total account balance.
When You Won’t Get Paid at All
None of these numbers matter if you’re disqualified. Quitting generally ends your eligibility, though Minnesota recognizes specific exceptions, including quitting for good reason caused by the employer, a serious illness or injury the employer couldn’t accommodate, domestic violence, loss of child care, an unsuitable job you left within 30 days, or an imminent layoff.12Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 268.095 – Ineligibility Because of Quit or Discharge Being fired for employment misconduct — intentional or negligent conduct that clearly violates what an employer can reasonably expect — also disqualifies you. Being let go for poor performance or an inability to meet job requirements, without intentional wrongdoing, generally does not.
You also need to be able to work, available for suitable work, and actively searching each week you claim. Miss a weekly payment request and that week’s money can be delayed or forfeited.