How much are unemployment benefits in New York?

NYSDOL works out your weekly benefit rate when you file, from the wages your employers reported, and mails you a Monetary Benefit Determination that shows the rate and how it was calculated. That notice shows only whether your wages are enough for a weekly benefit, and the other eligibility rules still apply.

How NYSDOL calculates your weekly benefit rate

Your base period is a year of wages counted in calendar quarters, and the eligibility guide explains which quarters count. The formula depends on how many of those quarters you were paid in.

Then these rules adjust the result:

• If your highest quarter paid $3,575 or less, your rate is that quarter's pay divided by 25 instead, whether you were paid in every quarter or only 2 or 3.
• If you were paid in only 2 or 3 quarters and your highest quarter paid more than $3,575 but no more than $4,000, your rate is that highest quarter divided by 26, with no averaging.
• If your highest quarter paid more than $3,575, your rate is at least $143.
• Any cents are dropped, so the rate is always a whole dollar.
• No rate is lower than $140 or higher than $869.

Examples of weekly benefit rates

Each example assumes you were paid in every quarter of your base period.

The first row is the floor for new claims: a claim filed in 2026 needs at least $3,500 paid in one quarter, and that pays the $140 minimum.

The maximum and minimum weekly benefit rates

State law can raise the maximum each October and never lowers it, but it skips an increase in any year the state's unemployment fund is below the level the law sets. NYSDOL's maximum benefit rate page shows the current figure and links to a benefit rate calculator. The calculator gives an estimate only, and your actual rate comes on the Monetary Benefit Determination after you file.

What can lower a week's payment

Your weekly benefit rate is the most you can be paid for one week. These can reduce what you receive:

• Separation pay: a severance package, pay in lieu of notice, or continued pay with full benefits from your employer may affect your benefits. Report any separation payments when you claim weekly benefits.
• Retirement income: Social Security, disability, or survivor payments may affect your weekly benefit rate. Tell NYSDOL if you receive, or apply for, payments from a retirement plan.
• Money you owe: some or all of your benefits may go to court-ordered child support, or to an earlier overpayment you did not repay. NYSDOL tells you if your benefits will be applied to either debt.
• A day you cannot work: each day you are not available for work, or receive vacation or holiday pay, cuts that week's payment by a quarter of your rate.
• Part-time work: the next section shows how your hours cut a week's payment.

Income tax withholding, if you choose it, also comes out of each payment, as taxes on unemployment explains.

Can you work part time and collect unemployment in New York?

Yes, for a week in which you work 30 hours or fewer and earn less than the maximum benefit rate in gross pay. NYSDOL cuts that week's payment in steps set by your total hours, however many days you spread them over, up to 7.

The weekly claim asks how many days you worked. Add up your hours for the week, then report the number of days NYSDOL's chart gives for that total, even if you worked on more days than that.

Round your hours up to the nearest hour, and count no more than 10 hours for any one day. Pay is a separate test, and you still report your total earnings for the week. If your gross pay for the week, before taxes and deductions, is more than the maximum benefit rate of $869, that week pays nothing, however few hours you worked. Earnings from self-employment are left out of that test.

NYSDOL's partial unemployment page has a calculator that works out the days to report. Claiming weekly benefits covers the rest of the weekly questions. A week with a partial payment also uses up less of your claim, as how long benefits last explains.

If your benefit rate looks wrong

Your Monetary Benefit Determination lists each employer in your base period and the wages each one reported for every quarter, so check it against your own records. If wages are missing or wrong, NYSDOL's Request for Reconsideration page explains how to send pay stubs or other proof of your pay. If your last completed quarter paid more than the high quarter on your notice, the Alternate Base Period may raise your rate, and the eligibility guide explains how to ask for it and the deadline.