The maximum unemployment benefit in Virginia is $430 per week for claims filed on or after January 4, 2026, up from $378 for earlier claims.1Virginia Employment Commission. Benefits Information Collected across the longest possible benefit period of 26 weeks, that works out to $11,180 in a single benefit year. Whether you actually receive the $430 ceiling depends on what you earned before you lost your job.
What You Need to Earn to Hit the $430 Cap
Virginia calculates your Weekly Benefit Amount from the two highest-paying quarters of your base period. To qualify for the full $430, your combined earnings from those two quarters must total at least $18,900.01.1Virginia Employment Commission. Benefits Information That’s roughly $9,450 in each of your two best quarters, or about $727 a week sustained across a six-month stretch.
Earn less than that threshold and your weekly check falls somewhere between the $112 minimum and the $430 maximum. Earn more and you still get $430. The statutory table sets a hard ceiling that higher wages cannot push past.
Only wages from “covered employment” count toward the calculation. Work for employers not subject to Virginia’s unemployment tax laws, such as certain religious organizations, is excluded from your base period wages even if the paychecks were substantial.1Virginia Employment Commission. Benefits Information
How Many Weeks You Can Collect
The weekly maximum tells you only half the story. Virginia pays benefits for 12 to 26 weeks depending on your total base period wages.2Virginia Employment Commission. Benefits Eligibility Higher earners generally qualify for more weeks; lower earners can be cut off after 12.
At the $430 weekly ceiling, that range produces very different totals:
- 26 weeks at $430 = $11,180
- 12 weeks at $430 = $5,160
A 2025 bill (HB1767) tried to set the duration at a flat 26 weeks for everyone but did not pass.3Virginia General Assembly. HB1767 – 2025 Regular Session SB760, introduced in the 2026 session, proposes the same flat 26 weeks for claims effective on or after July 1, 2026.4Virginia General Assembly. SB760 – 2026 Regular Session Unless it becomes law, the variable 12-to-26-week structure stays in place.
Your Statement of Wages and Potential Entitlement, which the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) sends after you file, lists both your weekly amount and the number of weeks you qualify for.1Virginia Employment Commission. Benefits Information
Why the Maximum Went Up in 2026
The jump from $378 to $430 came from HB1766, enacted as Chapter 640 and identical to SB1056. The law raised every weekly benefit amount in the statutory table by $52 for claims effective January 1, 2026.5Virginia General Assembly. HB1766 – 2025 Regular Session The same legislation directed a study group to examine tying future adjustments to the state average weekly wage, which could produce periodic increases going forward.6Virginia General Assembly. SB1056 – 2025 Regular Session
For now, $430 holds. Claims filed before January 4, 2026 remain capped at the old $378 figure for the life of the claim.
What Can Reduce Your Weekly Maximum
Two things commonly shrink what you actually keep from a $430 check: part-time earnings and federal taxes.
If you work part-time while collecting, you must report gross earnings for the week they’re earned, not the week you get paid. Virginia applies a $100 earnings disregard. When your gross weekly earnings are less than your WBA, the VEC subtracts $100 from those earnings and deducts the rest from your benefit. At a $430 WBA, earning $200 in a week leaves $100 ($200 minus the $100 disregard) to deduct, so your check that week drops to $330. Earn $430 or more in a week and you get nothing for that week.2Virginia Employment Commission. Benefits Eligibility
Unemployment compensation is taxable at the federal level, and you’ll receive a Form 1099-G reporting the full amount.7Internal Revenue Service. Unemployment Compensation You can ask the VEC to withhold 10% of each payment for federal taxes. Virginia itself does not tax unemployment benefits.8Virginia Employment Commission. 1099-G Tax Form A full 26 weeks at $430 means federal tax on $11,180 and no state tax on that income.
Checking the VEC’s Math
Read the Statement of Wages and Potential Entitlement closely when it arrives. If your employer reported wages incorrectly or failed to report them, your weekly amount can come in lower than it should.1Virginia Employment Commission. Benefits Information The two-quarter calculation is unforgiving to missing wages, since a single underreported quarter can drop you below the $18,900.01 threshold for the maximum.
If the VEC denies your claim or awards less than you expected, you have 30 days from the mailing date of the deputy’s decision to file an appeal. That deadline is firm. The first-level appeal is a telephone hearing before an Appeals Examiner where you can present testimony, call witnesses, and submit documents. If you lose there, you can appeal to the Commission level, where a Special Examiner typically reviews the existing record and issues a written decision that becomes final 10 days after mailing.9Virginia Employment Commission. Appeals After that, the only remaining step is Circuit Court within 30 days.10Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 60.2-620 – Hearing and Decision on Appeal