Minnesota Unemployment Calculator: Half Your Wage, Up to $948 a Week

Minnesota unemployment pays roughly half of your recent wages, within a $38-to-$948 weekly band.

Your money lives in a benefit account, not an open-ended promise. The account equals one-third of your base wages.

A second cap holds too: the account can never exceed 26 times your weekly rate. Both limits are statute.

Divide the account by your weekly rate and you have your week count. Twenty-six is the hard ceiling.

Every new claim also serves one nonpayable week before the first check arrives. Minnesota is one of the few states that keeps it.

Method one takes half of your total base-period wages spread across 52 weeks. Steady earners score well here.

Method two takes half of your high-quarter wage across 13 weeks. A strong best quarter pulls this number up.

DEED computes both and pays the higher one. Each method also carries its own ceiling tied to the statewide average wage.

The ladder below assumes even wages, four equal quarters with the quarter shown as the best one.

With wages spread evenly, both methods always agree, because four equal quarters make the two ratios identical.

Even wages also ride the 26-times cap, so the account lands on your best quarter and pays the full 26 weeks.

Concentrated wages split the pattern. A fat quarter lifts the check but shortens the run, as the worked claims below show.

Each June 30, the labor commissioner totals the prior year's covered wages from employer wage reports.

That sum produces the state's average annual wage and, divided by 52, the average weekly wage.

On the last Sunday of October, new accounts start using the fresh figures. The cycle repeats every year.

The 2025-26 cycle put the maximum at $948, up from $914 the year before. Once your account is set, the number locks.

Later October changes never reach into a running claim. A claim filed in November rides its own figure all year.

Your base period is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters. The newest quarter sits out.

Apply in January, April, July, or October and the calendar shifts. DEED then reads the four most recently completed quarters.

The entry gate is a wage-credit floor. Minnesota requires at least 5.3 percent of the state average annual wage.

The figure rounds down to the next lower $100, and it works out to roughly $4,000 in base-period earnings today.

Clear the gate and your weekly rate still has a floor. The smallest checks Minnesota pays run about $38.

Start with one-third of your total wage credits. That product is the first candidate for your account.

Now multiply your weekly rate by 26. The smaller of the two becomes your benefit account.

Divide the account by your weekly rate to get your weeks. The quotient can land anywhere up to 26.

A near-minimum account produces the longest run at a small rate. A fat quarter produces a rich check that burns faster.

Extended Benefits would add 13 weeks nationally if unemployment spiked. Minnesota's trigger is cold, and DEED confirms no extensions are active.

Minnesota law requires a nonpayable week before benefits can start. The first week you are eligible goes unpaid.

For most applicants, the second week is the first payable one. You request it during the third week of the account.

Only one nonpayable week exists per 52-week benefit year. Returning to work and requalifying does not reset it.

First payments can still slip past week three. Earnings above your rate, or 32-plus work hours, both delay the clock.

Part-time hours do not end a claim. Minnesota reduces the check instead, by a fixed statutory formula.

Earn less than your weekly rate, and DEED deducts 50 percent of those earnings. The rest of your check survives.

Earn your full weekly rate or more, and the week simply pays nothing. The week still counts as requested.

Some pay never counts against you. National Guard and reserve duty, volunteer fire and ambulance service, jury duty, and election-judge pay are exempt.

File online at ui.mn.gov, Sunday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. The system schedules your request day automatically.

Prefer a voice? Call 651-296-3644 in the Twin Cities or 1-877-898-9090 across greater Minnesota, weekdays 8 to 4:30.

Have the last 18 months of employers ready: names, addresses, dates, pay rate, and the reason each job ended.

Your account effective date is the week you file, not the week you lost the job. File early to protect the week.

DEED mails a benefit determination afterward. It shows your rate, your account, and your weekly request schedule.

Minnesota runs on calendar weeks, Sunday through Saturday. Each weekly request covers exactly one of those weeks.

Your account assigns a request day. Log in at ui.mn.gov, answer the week's questions, and confirm before the deadline.

The questions cover work and earnings, other income, availability, and your work-search effort for the week.

Request benefits every week even while an appeal is pending. Won weeks only pay if you requested them.

Approved money moves by direct deposit or a reloadable prepaid card, usually a couple of business days after processing.

Each week you request benefits, DEED asks whether you actively sought suitable work and remained available.

Keep a running log of every contact: the employer, the date, the method, and the outcome. DEED audits those records.

When it is reasonable, you must also ask your former employer about recall. Layoff rehires count as real leads.

Restrict yourself to full-time openings only, and expect a questionnaire. Minnesota expects reach that matches your market.

Suitable work follows your training and your labor market. Distance, hazards, and your prospects all factor in.

CareerForce locations run across the state, near fifty of them, with workshops, listings, and staff who review resumes.

Quitting without a statutory reason disqualifies you. The strongest exception is good reason caused by the employer.

Good reason means the average worker would have quit too, and the employer knew, or should have known, the situation.

Other recognized quits include serious illness, family safety concerns such as domestic abuse, and verified moves with a spouse.

Firings turn on misconduct. Minnesota defines it as intentional, negligent, or indifferent conduct that seriously violates workplace standards.

Ordinary mistakes, poor fit, and honest inability do not meet that bar. Employers carry the burden of proving it.

An overpayment is money DEED paid that the law later says you owed back. Most start with honest reporting mistakes.

DEED recovers nonfraud debts by holding back future benefits, commonly half or all of each check, until the balance clears.

A waiver exists for nonfraud debts. If repayment would be against equity and good conscience, DEED can absorb the loss.

Fraud is a different universe. A finding means full repayment plus a penalty equal to 40 percent of the overpaid amount.

Willful misrepresentation can also bring criminal charges under Minnesota law. Intent is the line between debt and penalty.

A determination arrives by mail with a mail date. Your appeal window runs 45 calendar days from that date.

File online, by fax, or by mail, and say plainly what the determination got wrong. Attach anything that proves it.

An unemployment law judge hears the case, usually by phone, with both sides sworn and exhibits on the record.

The written decision typically follows within about 20 days of the hearing. Either party can then request reconsideration.

Beyond that sits the Minnesota Court of Appeals, but most disputes end at the judge. Keep certifying throughout.

Unemployment counts as income for the IRS and for Minnesota's income tax. A 1099-G arrives each January.

At application, DEED offers three withholding choices: 15 percent for federal plus state, 10 percent federal only, or none.

You can change the election later from your online account. Many claimants raise it once they see the January total.

A full year at the cap is $948 times 26, about $24,648, before any withholding. Set aside a share if you chose none.

Between two academic terms, workers with reasonable assurance of return generally cannot use school wages.

The 2023 law change moved the line for support staff. Hourly employees outside instructional, research, and administrative roles can qualify between years.

Paras, cafeteria staff, custodians, and transportation workers file like anyone else now, if no reasonable assurance exists.

Seasonal hospitality runs on its own rule. A designated seasonal employee works 150 days or fewer across any 52-week stretch.

Seasonally unemployed claimants can also be offered lower-skilled temporary work paying about their weekly rate. Refusing it risks disqualification.

These are the errors that turn approved claims into delays, denials, or surprise debts. All seven are avoidable.

The 2026 taxable wage base is $44,000 per employee, about 60 percent of the state average annual wage.

Experience-rated accounts run from 0.0 to 8.9 percent. The rating period for 2026 covers July 2021 through June 2025.

New employers start at 1.0 percent outside construction, with construction rates set higher by industry group.

Benefit charges follow layoffs, so contested separations move your rate. Answer DEED notices on time, every time.

Minnesota's $948 ceiling leads the neighborhood by a wide margin. Iowa and North Dakota trail near $790 and $786.

Duration matters too. Iowa now runs 16 weeks on new claims, while Minnesota holds the full 26.

Neighbor figures were verified in September 2026 against each state's agency or legislature. Caps drift every season.

Minnesota Paid Leave started January 1, 2026, and it is not unemployment insurance.

It covers your own serious health condition and family care, up to 12 weeks each and 20 combined per year.

Wage replacement is partial, and the job is protected once you clear 90 days with the employer.

Self-employed Minnesotans can opt in, something regular unemployment never offered here.

Losing work is a UI claim. Stopping for health or family is Paid Leave. Pick the right door before you apply.

1. Minnesota Statutes 268.07 — benefit accounts, the two-method formula, and the account caps
2. Minnesota Statutes 268.035 — average wage computation and the October cycle
3. Minnesota Statutes 268.085 — deductible earnings, school employees, and work search
4. Minnesota Statutes 268.095 — quits and discharges
5. Minnesota Statutes 268.105 — appeals and the 45-day window
6. Minnesota Statutes 268.18 — overpayments and the 40 percent fraud penalty
7. UIMN handbook — After You Apply (the $948 maximum)
8. UIMN handbook — Your First Payment and the nonpayable week
9. UIMN — Eligibility requirements and wages used to establish an account
10. UIMN — Seeking suitable employment
11. UIMN — Reasons you are unemployed, including the $1,950 requalification wage
12. UIMN — Appeal hearings and decisions
13. UIMN — Benefit overpayments and fraud
14. UIMN — Tax withholding options and year-end 1099-G
15. UIMN — Extended benefits status
16. UIMN — Unemployment tax rates, 2026 wage base and experience ranges
17. Minnesota Paid Leave — program basics and self-employed opt-in
18. Minnesota DLI — 2026 minimum wage rates
19. Joint Economic Committee — Minnesota Employment Update, September 18, 2026
20. Wisconsin 2025 Assembly Act 532 / Senate Bill 515 — the $497 cap
21. Iowa Workforce Development — process changes and maximum amounts
22. South Dakota DLR — wage requirements and benefit amounts, July 2026
23. Nolo — Collecting unemployment in North Dakota (2026 update)
24. CBPP — How many weeks of unemployment compensation are available
25. IRS — Topic 418, unemployment compensation