What is highest unemployment benefits by weekly benefit rate in NYS - trying to understand maximum amounts
I'm trying to figure out what the highest unemployment benefits are calculated by for weekly payments in New York. My sister in California was telling me about their rates and now I'm wondering if I'm getting the right amount. I made about $68,000 last year working in tech sales and my weekly benefit amount seems lower than what I expected. Does anyone know what factors determine the maximum weekly benefit rate? Is it based on your highest earning quarter or your total annual income? I want to make sure NYS Department of Labor calculated everything correctly before I file my next weekly claim.
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Mateusius Townsend
The maximum weekly benefit rate in NY for 2025 is $504 per week. It's calculated using your highest earning quarter from your base period, not your total annual income. NYS Department of Labor takes your highest quarter earnings, divides by 26, then applies their benefit formula. With your $68k income, you should be getting close to the maximum unless your earnings weren't evenly distributed throughout the year.
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Demi Hall
•Thanks! That makes sense. Most of my income was commission-based so it varied a lot by quarter. I'll check my quarterly breakdown on the my.ny.gov portal.
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Kara Yoshida
yeah the max is 504 but you have to have made like 13k+ in your highest quarter to get that amount, I made 45k last year and only get 320 per week
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Philip Cowan
•That sounds about right. The benefit calculation is roughly 1/26th of your highest quarter earnings up to the maximum. So if you made $8,320 in your best quarter, that would give you around $320 weekly.
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Caesar Grant
I've been trying to get through to NYS Department of Labor for weeks to verify my benefit calculation but can never reach anyone! The phone lines are always busy and when I do get through I get disconnected. Has anyone found a way to actually talk to someone about benefit amounts?
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Lena Schultz
•I had the same problem until I found claimyr.com - they help you get through to NYS Department of Labor agents. There's a demo video at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Saved me hours of calling and getting nowhere. Finally got my benefit questions answered in one call.
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Caesar Grant
•Interesting, I'll check that out. At this point I'm willing to try anything to get some answers.
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Gemma Andrews
The whole system is ridiculous. They make these calculations so complicated and then make it impossible to get help understanding them. I've been dealing with NYS Department of Labor for months and still don't fully understand how they came up with my numbers.
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Mateusius Townsend
•I understand the frustration, but the calculation is actually fairly straightforward once you know the formula. Your base period wages determine everything, and you can view all that information in your online account.
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Pedro Sawyer
omg same question! been wondering this for weeks, glad someone finally asked
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