How much money do you get on unemployment from NYS Department of Labor?
I might have to file for unemployment soon and trying to figure out if I can actually survive on the benefits. How much money do you get on unemployment in New York? I was making about $65,000 a year at my last job. Is there like a calculator or something to estimate what my weekly benefit would be? Also wondering how long the payments last - is it still 26 weeks or did that change?
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Omar Fawaz
The NYS Department of Labor calculates your weekly benefit amount based on your highest quarter of earnings in your base period. Maximum weekly benefit is $504 in 2025. Generally you get about 50% of your average weekly wage up to that cap. So if you made $65k annually that's roughly $1,250 per week, so you'd probably get close to the maximum $504 weekly. Benefits last up to 26 weeks during normal economic times.
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Freya Thomsen
•Thank you! So $504 times 26 weeks would be about $13,100 total if I used all my benefits. That's not great but better than nothing I guess.
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Chloe Martin
theres actually a benefit calculator on the ny.gov site somewhere but i could never find it when i needed it lol. your amount depends on what you earned in the base period which is like the first 4 of the last 5 quarters before you file
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Diego Rojas
•The calculator is buried in the NYS Department of Labor website. You need to go to labor.ny.gov and look under 'Unemployment Insurance' then 'Benefit Calculator' - it's not obvious but it's there. Much easier than trying to do the math yourself.
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Anastasia Sokolov
I was making about the same as you and got $480 per week when I filed last year. The maximum changes each year based on the state average wage. One thing to keep in mind is that unemployment benefits are taxable income so you'll owe taxes on it unless you have them withhold federal and state taxes from each payment.
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Freya Thomsen
•Oh wow I didn't know it was taxable! Should I have them withhold taxes or just pay at the end of the year?
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Anastasia Sokolov
•I'd recommend having them withhold. You can elect 10% federal and state tax withholding when you set up your claim. Otherwise you might owe a big chunk in April.
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StarSeeker
Just remember you have to actively look for work and document your job search activities. NYS Department of Labor requires you to make at least 3 job contacts per week and keep records. If you don't do the work search requirements they can disqualify you and you'll have to pay back benefits.
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Sean O'Donnell
•ugh the job search thing is so annoying especially when there arent many jobs in your field. but yeah they do check on it sometimes
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Zara Ahmed
If you have trouble getting through to NYS Department of Labor to ask questions about your benefit amount, I used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me reach an actual agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Was super helpful when I couldn't get through on my own after weeks of trying.
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Freya Thomsen
•Interesting, never heard of that. Did they charge you for it?
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Zara Ahmed
•Yeah there's a fee but it was worth it to actually talk to someone instead of getting hung up on constantly. Way less stressful than hitting redial for hours.
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