How Much Is New York State Unemployment Per Week?

New York unemployment pays between $143 and $869 per week. The New York Department of Labor (NYDOL) sets your weekly amount by taking your highest-earning three-month quarter from a recent stretch of work history and, in most cases, dividing it by 26. So if your best quarter’s wages were $15,000, your weekly benefit works out to roughly $577. The $869 ceiling took effect in October 2025 and is now indexed to the state’s average weekly wage, so it should climb each year.¹

The Base Period Behind Your Number

The wages used in the calculation come from your base period. Standard base period: the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you file.² Calendar quarters run January–March, April–June, July–September, and October–December.³ A claim filed in January 2026 would look at wages from October 2024 through September 2025.

You need wages in at least two quarters of that period to qualify.² If your standard base period comes up short, the NYDOL automatically checks the alternate base period, which uses the last four completed quarters instead of skipping the most recent one.³ You can also ask for the alternate period yourself if your most recent quarter’s wages would produce a higher weekly rate.⁴

Worked in more than one state during the past 18 months? You can file a combined wage claim, choosing one state to pull in wages from all the others where you worked. If you pick New York, New York’s formula and its $869 cap apply to the combined total.⁵

How the Weekly Amount Is Calculated

The core formula is high quarter divided by 26. That’s what applies when you had wages in all four base-period quarters and your high quarter was above $3,575.⁶

Two situations change the math:

If your high quarter was $3,575 or less (any number of quarters with wages), divide by 25 instead of 26.
If you had wages in only two or three quarters and your high quarter was above $4,000, average your two highest quarters and divide by 26. Top two of $4,500 and $4,288 average to $4,394, giving a weekly rate of $169.

If you had wages in only two or three quarters and your high quarter was between $3,576 and $4,000, the standard high-quarter-divided-by-26 rule applies.⁶

The Floor and the Ceiling

The most anyone can receive is $869 per week. That maximum took effect in October 2025 after the state paid off its Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund debt, jumping from the previous $504 cap.⁷

On the low end, $143 is the floor under the divide-by-26 formula. If the math produces a smaller number, the NYDOL rounds it up to $143.⁶ Claimants whose amounts are figured under the divide-by-25 formula for very low high-quarter wages can receive less than $143, since that formula has no stated floor.

What Can Reduce Your Weekly Payment

Part-Time Work

New York uses an hours-based system. You can work up to 30 hours in a week and still collect something, provided your gross earnings for the week stay below the maximum benefit rate.⁸ The reduction scales with hours:

10 or fewer hours: no reduction, full weekly benefit.
11 to 16 hours: 25 percent reduction.
17 to 21 hours: 50 percent reduction.
22 to 30 hours: 75 percent reduction.
31 or more hours: no benefit that week.

Round hours up to the nearest whole number when you certify.⁸ Self-employment earnings are excluded from the gross-pay test, but all other wages count. Cross the maximum benefit rate in gross pay for the week and you get nothing, regardless of hours.

Severance Pay

Severance doesn’t automatically knock you off benefits. If your weekly severance (or a prorated lump sum) is at or below the maximum benefit rate and you receive it within 30 days of your last day of work, you can still collect. You lose eligibility for any week where the weekly severance amount goes over the maximum rate. And if your first severance payment arrives more than 30 days after your last day of work, it has no effect on your benefits at all.⁹

Pensions

A pension from a base-period employer reduces your weekly benefit by 100 percent of the pension amount, whether or not you also contributed.¹⁰ A pension from an employer outside your base period doesn’t trigger any reduction.

Social Security

Social Security retirement income has no effect on your weekly unemployment amount in New York. Some states offset UI against Social Security; New York doesn’t.

How Long the Payments Last

Your first eligible week after filing is an unpaid waiting week. You still certify for it, but no money moves. Payments start the second week.

From there, eligible claimants can collect up to 26 weeks of benefits within a one-year benefit year.¹¹ Your total payout cannot exceed 26 times your weekly rate.³ Partial weeks count against that cap at the dollar amount actually paid. Extensions beyond 26 weeks exist only when federal or state legislation activates them during periods of unusually high unemployment, and they are not part of the standard program.

Taxes Come Out of Your Own Pocket

Unemployment benefits are taxable at both the federal and state level, and the NYDOL doesn’t automatically withhold. You can opt into federal withholding by filing IRS Form W-4V, which pulls a flat 10 percent from each payment.¹² Without withholding, you may need to make quarterly estimated payments to avoid a penalty at filing time.

By the end of January each year, the NYDOL issues Form 1099-G showing your total benefits and any federal tax withheld.¹³ The dollar figures above are gross. What lands in your account is that number minus whatever you owe in taxes, so plan accordingly.

1
Governor Kathy Hochul. Governor Hochul and Labor Leaders Announce Maximum Weekly Benefit Increase for Unemployed Workers
2
Department of Labor. Glossary of Unemployment Terms for Claimants
3
Department of Labor. Before You File a Claim for Unemployment FAQs
4
New York State Department of Labor. Unemployment Insurance Request for Alternate Base Period (TC403HA)
5
eCFR. Part 616 – Interstate Arrangement for Combining Employment and Wages
6
New York State Department of Labor. How Your Weekly Unemployment Insurance Benefit Payment is Calculated (P832)
7
Department of Labor. What is the Maximum Benefit Rate?
8
Department of Labor. Partial Unemployment Eligibility
9
Department of Labor. Dismissal/Severance Pay and Pensions Frequently Asked Questions
10
New York State Department of Labor. Receiving a Pension and Your UI Benefits
11
Department of Labor. The Unemployment Claimant Benefit Process
12
Internal Revenue Service. Topic no. 418, Unemployment Compensation
13
Department of Labor. 1099-G Tax Form