Unemployment in New York pays between $140 and $869 per week in 2025–2026, with your exact amount set by a formula based on your highest-earning calendar quarter before you filed. Most claimants land somewhere in the middle of that range. You can collect for up to 26 weeks.
How Your Weekly Amount Is Calculated
The New York Department of Labor looks at your base period, which is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you filed. Within that span, it finds the quarter where you earned the most. That “high quarter” drives everything.
If your high quarter wages were more than $3,575, the state divides that figure by 26. If they were $3,575 or less, it divides by 25 instead, which gives lower earners a slightly higher proportional benefit.1New York State Department of Labor. How Your Weekly Unemployment Insurance Benefit Payment Is Calculated
A different formula applies if you were not paid wages in all four quarters of your base period. The state averages your two highest quarters and divides by 26. If that average-based calculation produces less than $143, your benefit is set at $143.1New York State Department of Labor. How Your Weekly Unemployment Insurance Benefit Payment Is Calculated
A couple of worked examples make the math concrete. If you earned $15,000 in your highest quarter, dividing by 26 gives $577 per week. That is under the cap, so $577 is what you get. If your high quarter was $26,000, dividing by 26 gives $1,000, which exceeds the cap, so your weekly benefit is $869. The calculation uses gross wages from payroll records, not take-home pay.
Minimum and Maximum Weekly Rates
New York sets a floor and ceiling regardless of what the formula produces. As of January 2026, the minimum weekly benefit is $140. The maximum is $869, effective October 6, 2025.2New York State Department of Labor. What Is the Maximum Benefit Rate? The state legislature adjusts these figures periodically based on changes in average wages across New York.
There is also a $143 calculation floor built into the formula. If dividing your high quarter wages by 26 produces a number below $143, the state bumps your rate up to $143. The $140 statutory minimum applies in the narrow situations where the formula and the $143 floor do not come into play, such as when your high quarter wages were $3,575 or less and the 1/25th divisor is used.1New York State Department of Labor. How Your Weekly Unemployment Insurance Benefit Payment Is Calculated
How Many Weeks You Can Collect
You can collect up to 26 weeks of full benefits within your one-year benefit year. Weeks of partial unemployment, when you work part-time and receive a reduced check, count toward this 26-week limit at the same dollar value.3New York State Department of Labor. Before You File a Claim for Unemployment FAQs Once you exhaust those 26 weeks, regular state benefits stop even if your benefit year has not ended.
During periods of unusually high unemployment, a federal Extended Benefits program may provide up to 13 additional weeks, or up to 20 weeks in states that have opted into a voluntary extension. Extended Benefits pay the same weekly amount as your regular benefits. Whether the program is active depends on the state’s unemployment rate meeting specific federal triggers.4Employment and Training Administration – U.S. Department of Labor. Unemployment Insurance Extended Benefits
How Part-Time Work Reduces Your Check
If you pick up part-time work while collecting, your weekly amount is reduced based on hours worked rather than dollars earned. The sliding scale works like this:5New York State Department of Labor. Partial Unemployment Eligibility
- 10 hours or fewer: full weekly benefit, no reduction
- 11 to 16 hours: 25% reduction
- 17 to 21 hours: 50% reduction
- 22 to 30 hours: 75% reduction
- 31 or more hours: no benefit paid that week
There is also an earnings ceiling. If your gross weekly pay from part-time work exceeds the maximum benefit rate of $869, you receive no unemployment payment that week regardless of hours. When reporting hours, round up to the nearest whole hour and cap any single day at 10 hours.5New York State Department of Labor. Partial Unemployment Eligibility
What Comes Out Before You Get Paid
The weekly figure the formula produces is not necessarily what hits your bank account. A few deductions can shrink it.
Unemployment benefits are taxable at both the federal and state level. The IRS requires you to report all unemployment compensation on your federal return.6Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 418, Unemployment Compensation New York State also taxes these benefits.7New York State Department of Labor. 1099-G Tax Form Withholding is optional. You can submit IRS Form W-4V to have federal income tax taken out of each payment and separately request state withholding. If you skip withholding, you may owe at tax time and could face underpayment penalties unless you make quarterly estimated payments. In January, you will receive a Form 1099-G showing the total benefits paid during the prior year and any taxes withheld.
Child support is deducted automatically if you owe it. Federal law under 42 U.S.C. § 503(e) requires every state to ask new unemployment applicants whether they owe child support and to withhold the appropriate amount, sending it directly to the enforcement agency.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 503 – State Laws You cannot opt out, and the deduction reduces the net amount deposited to your account or loaded on your Way2Go debit card.
One more timing note worth factoring in: New York has a one-week unpaid waiting period at the start of a claim, so your first week of unemployment produces no payment even if you are fully eligible.9New York State Department of Labor. The Unemployment Claimant Benefit Process