How much is unemployment checks in New York - what's the weekly payment amount?

The NYS Department of Labor calculates your weekly benefit rate based on your highest quarter of earnings in your base period. For 2025, the maximum weekly benefit is $504. Your benefit rate is roughly 50% of your average weekly wage during your highest earning quarter, but it can't exceed that maximum. With your salary, you'll probably get close to the max unless your earnings were uneven throughout the year.

depends on when you worked and how much you made each quarter, its not just your yearly salary that matters

You can actually estimate your benefit amount before you even file. When you log into your my.ny.gov account, there's a benefit calculator tool that NYS Department of Labor provides. It will give you a more accurate estimate based on your actual wage history rather than guessing. Just make sure you have your Social Security statement or pay stubs handy when you use it.

I was in a similar situation last year and had trouble getting through to NYS Department of Labor to ask about my benefit calculation. The phone lines are always busy and I kept getting disconnected. I ended up using a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me get connected to an actual agent who explained exactly how my benefits were calculated. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Made the whole process way less stressful than trying to call repeatedly.

The whole system is so confusing! I got laid off 3 months ago and I'm still not 100% sure how they calculated my weekly amount. NYS Department of Labor sent me a monetary determination letter but the math doesn't seem right to me. I think they might have missed some of my wages from when I had two jobs last year.