Weekly benefit amount and weeks in California

The weekly benefit

Weekly benefit

$40–$450

Maximum: new claims beginning on or after January 1, 2005

How it is figured

Your weekly benefit amount is based on the quarter of your base period with your highest wages. EDD reads it from a table for highest-quarter wages from $900 to $1,832.99 ($40 to $70 a week). Above that, it is half of your highest-quarter wages divided by 13, rounded up to the next dollar, with a $450 maximum.

Official

Official table or notice

Law: Cal. Unemp. Ins. Code sec. 1280(c)

The wage test

You must have been paid at least $1,300 in the quarter of your base period with your highest wages, or at least $900 in that quarter and total base-period wages of at least 1.25 times that quarter's wages.

Your base period is a 12-month period. It is usually the first four of the last five full calendar quarters before your claim starts. If your wages in that period are too low, EDD automatically checks the alternate base period: the last four full calendar quarters.

The state's wage tests

• $1,300 in your highest quarter
• $900 in your highest quarter and total base-period wages at least 1.25 times that quarter

Law: Cal. Unemp. Ins. Code secs. 1275, 1281(a)

Official source: Source page

Estimate your weekly benefit

Enter the gross wages (before taxes) you were paid in each quarter of your base period. We apply the state's own table and formula to your numbers.

The state's formula: a table up to $1,832.99; above that, your highest quarter × 50% ÷ 13, rounded up; at least $40 and at most $450

How long it lasts

Up to 26 weeks.

The most you can get in one benefit year is the lower of 26 times your weekly benefit amount or half of your total base-period wages. So most claims last up to 26 weeks; claims with lower total wages run out sooner.

Extra weeks and training

If you qualify for the California Training Benefits program, you can keep getting benefits while in approved training, and you may get extra weeks if you contact EDD before your sixteenth week of payments.

Law: Cal. Unemp. Ins. Code sec. 1281(b), (c)

Official source: Source page

Waiting week

You serve one unpaid waiting week before payments start. You must certify and meet all requirements for that week. Your first certification usually covers the waiting week and one paid week. The waiting week does not reduce the total you can receive.

Law: Cal. Unemp. Ins. Code secs. 1253(d), 1254

Official source: Source page

Working part time

You can get partial benefits in a week you work part time. Report your gross wages for each week. EDD subtracts your wages from your weekly benefit amount after leaving out the first $25 or 25% of those wages, whichever is more. The result is rounded up to the next dollar.

Earnings not deducted (as the data states it)

The amount not deducted is the greater of $25 or 25% of your earnings that week.

Law: Cal. Unemp. Ins. Code sec. 1279

Official source: Source page

What applies in every state

• You must have earned enough wages, or worked enough, during a period called the base period. In most states it is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you file.
• It generally takes two to three weeks after you file to get your first payment. Some states require a one-week waiting period, so the second week you claim is the first week paid.
• Unemployment benefits count as income for federal income tax. You must report them on your federal tax return.

  Law: 26 U.S.C. 85(a)

Free help

Call 1-800-300-5616. Legal aid and other free help in California → Official sources →