How Much Unemployment Will I Get in Oregon?

If you are wondering how much unemployment you will get in Oregon, the state pays 1.25% of your total gross wages during your base period each week, with the weekly amount landing somewhere between $204 and $872 for claims filed on or after June 29, 2025.¹ What you actually receive depends on how much you earned during a specific one-year window, whether you pick up any part-time work, and whether you ask the state to withhold taxes.

The Wages That Count

Oregon calculates your benefit from your base period, which is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you file your claim.² Because it skips the most recent completed quarter, the standard base period usually reflects wages from roughly six to eighteen months before you file.

If your earnings in that standard window are too low to qualify, the state will automatically check an alternate base period made up of the four most recently completed quarters.² You don’t need to request it. Wages from every employer during those quarters are added together, and the figure the state uses is gross wages — the amount before taxes and other payroll deductions.

Employers report your wages to the state through quarterly payroll tax filings, and those records drive the calculation. If the department’s records look wrong to you, pay stubs or W-2 forms can be submitted to challenge them. Every dollar in your base period matters because the weekly amount is a fixed percentage of that total.

How the Weekly Amount Is Calculated

The formula is simple: multiply your total base period gross wages by 0.0125.³ The result is your weekly benefit amount.

A worker who earned $48,000 across their four-quarter base period would calculate to $600 per week. Someone who earned $30,000 would get $375. The formula doesn’t change by industry, job title, or how the wages were distributed across the quarters. All reported wages count, with no cap on any single quarter.

The Floor and Ceiling

State law limits how high or low the weekly payment can go, regardless of what the formula produces. For claims filed on or after June 29, 2025, the minimum is $204 and the maximum is $872.¹ The minimum equals 15% of Oregon’s average weekly wage and the maximum equals 64%, both rounded down to the nearest dollar. These limits adjust each year.

So if your base period wages were $16,000, the formula produces $200, but you would receive the $204 minimum. If you earned $80,000, the formula produces $1,000, but you would be capped at $872. Claims opened before June 29, 2025, stay on the prior schedule ($196 minimum and $836 maximum) for the entire life of that claim.

Total Dollars Available Over the Claim

Your maximum benefit amount — the total dollars available across the claim — is the lesser of 26 times your weekly benefit amount or one-third of your total base year wages.² For a worker with a $600 weekly amount, 26 times that is $15,600, which is the cap unless one-third of their base year wages comes out lower.

Payments have to be drawn down within a 52-week benefit year that starts the week you file the initial claim.² Whichever runs out first, the total dollar cap or the 52 weeks, ends the claim. A full run at the weekly amount works out to roughly six months of payments.

What Reduces the Weekly Check

If you work part-time while claiming, you can earn a certain amount each week without your benefit being reduced. The earnings allowance is the greater of one-third of your weekly benefit amount or ten times Oregon’s highest minimum wage.² As of July 2025, the highest minimum wage in Oregon is the Portland metro rate of $16.30 per hour, making the minimum-wage-based threshold $163.⁴

For a $600 weekly benefit, one-third is $200, which beats $163, so the allowance is $200. Any gross earnings above $200 reduce the check dollar for dollar. If your gross earnings for the week hit or pass your full weekly amount, no benefit is paid for that week. Report gross earnings for the week you did the work, not the week you were paid; the calendar week runs Sunday through Saturday.³ Bonuses follow the same rules.

Other income sources are treated differently:

Social Security payments do not reduce your benefits and are not reported on the weekly claim.⁵
Severance pay does not reduce your benefits and is not reported on the weekly claim.³
Pensions, annuities, and other retirement payments from a plan your base year employer maintained or contributed to may reduce your weekly benefit. All retirement income other than Social Security must be reported on your initial claim.²
Vacation, holiday, and sick pay from a current employer must be reported for the calendar week you were absent. Accrued leave paid out after you separate from an employer does not need to be reported.³

Child support obligations work separately. A court can order the Employment Department to garnish child support directly from your payment before the rest is deposited.

What Actually Hits Your Bank Account

Unemployment benefits are taxable income federally and in Oregon. You can elect to have taxes withheld from each payment when you file your claim. The federal withholding rate is a flat 10%⁶ and Oregon withholds 6%.⁷ Both are voluntary. Skip them and you’ll owe the tax at filing time instead.

With both withholdings on, 16% comes off the top. A $600 weekly benefit becomes $504 deposited. The actual tax you owe depends on your total annual income, filing status, and deductions, so those withholding percentages are estimates rather than an exact settlement.

1
Oregon Employment Department. Minimum and Maximum Weekly Benefit Amounts
2
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statute Chapter 657 – Unemployment Insurance
3
State of Oregon Employment Department. Frequently Asked Questions
4
Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries. Minimum Wage Increase Schedule
5
Oregon Employment Department. Unemployment Insurance Claimant Handbook
6
U.S. Department of Labor. Withholding Tax Information on UI Benefit Payments
7
State of Oregon Employment Department. 1099-G Tax Information