How much does NYS Department of Labor unemployment pay in weekly benefits?

NYS Department of Labor calculates your weekly benefit rate using your base period wages, which is typically the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you filed. They take your highest quarter earnings and divide by 26 to get your weekly amount. The maximum weekly benefit for 2025 is $504, and you need to have earned at least $2,400 in your base period to qualify.

You can check your exact benefit amount by logging into your my.ny.gov account and looking at your monetary determination once you file your claim. NYS Department of Labor will show you exactly what quarters they're using and how they calculated your weekly rate. Just remember you have to be able and available for work and actively searching to keep getting payments.

Word of warning - getting through to NYS Department of Labor on the phone to ask questions about your claim is nearly impossible these days. I spent weeks trying to get someone to explain why my benefit amount seemed wrong. Finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me get connected to an actual agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Saved me so much frustration trying to call myself.

Don't forget you can get up to 26 weeks of benefits in NY, so even if you're getting the maximum $504 weekly that's over $13,000 total if you need the full duration. Just make sure you file your weekly claims every week and keep up with the job search requirements or they'll cut you off.