New Hampshire Unemployment Benefits Calculator
New Hampshire skips the formula entirely: your weekly benefit comes off a table carved into the state’s statutes, where total base-period earnings map straight to a dollar figure from $32 up to $427. Total the four quarters below, add your second quarter for the two-legged earnings test, and the ledger reads you your row.
Notch Nº 1 · The calculator
Find your row: total the quarters, mind the second one
The engine below carries the entire statutory table from RSA 282-A:25 — all 52 rows from $2,800 to $41,500 — and reads you the one your earnings buy. The second-quarter input runs the $1,400 leg of the eligibility test, and the part-time field previews the 30% line from RSA 282-A:14.
Estimates track the published table, not NHES’s own computation engine. The Monetary Determination that arrives after you file is the figure that pays, and the appeal window on it runs fourteen days.
Notch Nº 2 · The table
A rate carved in statute — the table, not a formula
Most states multiply your wages by a fraction and let an annual bulletin move the maximum. New Hampshire instead writes the whole benefit schedule into RSA 282-A:25 itself: 52 rows pairing total base-period earnings with a weekly benefit and a maximum total for the benefit year. There is no division to run and no annual reset to wait for — the legislature adjusts the table only when it chooses to, which is why the $427 ceiling has stood still while other states’ caps have climbed.
The table’s shape tells you the practical rules. The rate works out to a bit more than one percent of total base wages — $10,500 earns $115 a week, $20,500 earns $217, $30,500 earns $311 — with steps of roughly $10 per $1,000 of earnings at the bottom and thinning to $11 per $1,000 near the top. The maximum total column is exactly 26 weeks of the weekly rate at every row: $832 at the floor, $11,102 at the ceiling. Read the excerpts:
| Total base-period earnings | Weekly benefit | Maximum total benefits (26 wks) |
|---|---|---|
| $2,800 | $32 | $832 |
| $5,100 | $59 | $1,534 |
| $10,000 | $110 | $2,860 |
| $19,500 | $206 | $5,356 |
| $30,500 | $311 | $8,086 |
| $41,500+ | $427 — top row | $11,102 |
Between the excerpt rows, the calculator above interpolates exactly — it carries every threshold, so a $17,500 year reads $188 and a $28,500 year reads $290, straight off the statute.
Notch Nº 3 · The gate
$2,800 overall, $1,400 in each of two quarters — both legs required
NHES states the monetary test in one sentence, and both halves matter: a New Hampshire worker needs at least $2,800 earned during the four-calendar-quarter base period and at least $1,400 earned in each of two separate quarters. The second leg is the one that surprises seasonal workers. A landscaping year that piles $12,000 into the growing season and leaves the winters empty can clear the total with room to spare and still fail, if the money concentrates in fewer than two quarters at the $1,400 mark.
After you submit the claim, NHES reviews the base-period wages its employer files reported and mails a Monetary Determination — a summary of the earnings it counted and the weekly rate they bought. Read it the week it arrives, because the appeal clock in Notch Nº 10 runs from issue, and a missing employer or a mistyped quarter is fixed on paper, not by hoping the next determination guesses better.
The money tests sit inside a standard frame of non-monetary conditions: unemployed through no fault of your own, physically and mentally able, substantially available, actively looking unless exempt, filing timely weekly claims, disclosing child-support obligations, reporting any refused work referral, and joining re-employment services if NHES selects you. Each one is checked weekly, not once.
Notch Nº 4 · The waiting week
One unpaid week, served before anything pays
The NHES glossary gives the waiting week its plainest description anywhere on this site: before any benefits can be paid, an unpaid waiting period equivalent to one full week of unemployment benefits must be served. State rule Emp 502.08 runs the mechanics, and the week only counts once it is claimed — which means filing the initial claim and certifying that first week is what starts it running.
Practically, the week shifts every number on this page one column to the right: a 26-week draw takes 27 calendar weeks, and the first deposit lands after the second certification. Claimants who file late in the week they lose the job sometimes lose part of the waiting week to paperwork; filing early in the week keeps the calendar tight.
Notch Nº 5 · Working part-time
The 30 percent line — wages past it come off the check
RSA 282-A:14 fixes the partial-week rule in one clause: a claimant’s weekly benefit is reduced by all wages and earnings in excess of 30 percent of the weekly benefit amount, rounded to the nearest dollar. Wages at or under the 30% line are invisible to the calculation; wages above it reduce the check dollar for dollar until, at the benefit rate itself, the week pays nothing. RSA 282-A:26 completes the picture from the other side — the partial benefit is whatever amount, added to your wages, brings the week back up to your full rate.
| Gross wages this week | Excess over $61.80 (30% of $206) | Benefit that pays |
|---|---|---|
| $40 | — (under the line) | $206 — full check |
| $62 | $0.20 → $0 | $206 — full check |
| $110 | $48.20 → $48 | $158 |
| $160 | $98.20 → $98 | $108 |
| $206 | at the rate itself | $0 — no payment |
Two edges of the rule deserve attention. Working full time ends eligibility for the week outright, regardless of pay. And the statute shields one specific income stream: payments from a supplemental unemployment plan — the kind some employers and unions fund — do not reduce the partial benefit, and a week paid only from such a plan still counts as total unemployment.
Notch Nº 6 · The weekly search
A search every claimed week, proven on the claim itself
New Hampshire wires its work-search requirement directly into eligibility: the department requires claim filers to conduct a weekly work search as a condition of being considered eligible, and the proof travels on the weekly unemployment claim itself. The requirement covers both contacting hiring employers and reemployment activities — the preparatory kind, classes and workshops included — and the orientation workshop explains what satisfies it. Some claimants are exempted by the circumstances of their separation, but NHES’s own advice is to proceed as if the search were required until told otherwise in writing.
Support infrastructure is unusually visible for a small state. Every NHWorks office fields questions and hosts the computer banks for searching, the employment hotline at (603) 271-7700 runs Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., the state’s nhjobs.nh.gov portal aggregates in-state hiring, and the WorkReadyNH program offers tuition-free courses at the community colleges that double as documented reemployment activities. Selected claimants also owe participation in re-employment services — attendance is a condition, not an invitation.
Keep the search record even though the proof files with the weekly claim — determinations, audits and re-employment sessions all tend to ask for history, and reconstructing a month of contacts from memory is a losing exercise.
Notch Nº 7 · Opening the claim
Nine screens through Workforce Connect
New Hampshire files unemployment claims through Workforce Connect, the portal at nhuis.nh.gov, and the state publishes the whole journey screen by screen: create the account and log in; select File for Benefits from the dashboard; pick your location from the dropdown into the NHUIS system; open Apply for Unemployment Insurance Benefits and answer the pop-up; then work the five-step initial claim application, reviewing each section — the guide flags that inaccurate submissions delay payment, and that willful false statements carry consequences. Certify, print the confirmation, and the claim is live.
The same dashboard is where determinations appear, where weekly claims get certified, and where job-search information lives. Claimants who prefer paper or need help can visit any NHWorks office or call the employment hotline — and school employees should read the next section before filing at all, because the calendar decides their case.
Notch Nº 8 · The school rule
Reasonable assurance — the rule that decides school-worker claims
Between terms, school employees face a different test than the rest of the workforce. If you worked for a school in the spring semester and have reasonable assurance of returning to that school job after the break — a contract, a standing offer, a customary rehire — you are not eligible for benefits across the summer, no matter how thin the intervening months get. The rule applies between every term, not just summer, and it applies to substitutes and support staff the same as teachers.
The escape hatch is a second separation. A school worker who had another non-school job from which they were also separated can claim from that base employment — the assurance only silences the school wages. And when the promised return falls through, the denial itself becomes appealable on the facts. Check the contract before filing; the answer is usually in it.
Notch Nº 9 · A worked claim
Dana in Laconia — a tourist-year claim, read off the table
Dana managed a lakeside rental office through the 2025 season and a ski-shop counter each winter until the shop cut staff in March. Her four base-period quarters: $6,800 / $4,900 / $5,300 / $2,500. Here is the whole claim, notch by notch:
$6,800 + $4,900 + $5,300 + $2,500 = $19,500 in covered earnings.
Total clears $2,800 easily. The two best quarters — $6,800 and $5,300 — each clear $1,400, so the second leg holds too.
$19,500 lands on the RSA 282-A:25 row that pays $206 a week. The maximum total column reads $5,356 — exactly 26 weeks of it.
The first claimed week is unpaid; the first deposit follows the second certification.
Dana picks up a 12-hour week at the rental office for $110 gross. Thirty percent of $206 is $61.80, so $48.20 rounds to $48 off the check: $158 payable.
The season of it: if the ski shop had stayed open and her year totaled $21,500 instead, the table would have paid $227 — twenty-one dollars a week for a two-thousand-dollar year of extra wages. That is the table’s bargain: predictable, but every step is earned the hard way.
Notch Nº 10 · The appeal window
Fourteen calendar days — and the tribunal chair decides first
Every determination — monetary, eligibility, disqualification — can be appealed within 14 calendar days of the day it is issued, in writing, at no cost. The number appears on the NHES appeals pages for individuals and employers alike. After the appeal is filed, an Appeal Request Notice confirms it, and the hearing runs before an Appeal Tribunal Chairperson, with notice to all interested parties at least eight days ahead. An appeal hotline — 1-800-685-6588 or (603) 228-4017 — handles the procedural questions.
Fourteen days is tight — tighter than the 30-day windows most of the country allows, tighter even than Massachusetts’s ten business days of slack — and it runs from issuance, not from the day you checked the dashboard. The discipline that saves claims: open the dashboard weekly, calendar every determination the day it appears, and keep certifying while the appeal runs so a reversal pays the preserved weeks.
Notch Nº 11 · Taxes
The IRS taxes the check — New Hampshire does not
Federal law treats unemployment compensation as ordinary income, and NHES issues the 1099-G each January covering the prior calendar year. Electing voluntary withholding — 10% to the IRS — is the standard move for claimants who want the liability paid as they go rather than settled in April.
The state side is the easy one. New Hampshire levies no tax on wage income at all, and the one broad tax it did have on individuals — the interest and dividends tax — was fully repealed effective January 1, 2025. A Granite State claimant therefore owes exactly one government on these benefits, which makes the net-to-gross math the simplest of any New England state: the 1099-G is the whole story.
Notch Nº 12 · The employer ledger
Who pays for it: the $14,000 base and a rate that moves with the fund
New Hampshire finances benefits from employer contributions on the first $14,000 of each employee’s annual wages. New employers start at a 2.7% rate — reduced, in any quarter, by the current balance of the unemployment compensation fund, a feature that has often taken the effective new-employer rate below face value. Experience-rated employers ride a range that has run from near zero for the most stable accounts up to 7.5% at the top, keyed to their benefit history against the fund’s health.
One change belongs on every small employer’s calendar: under H.B. 2570, the fixed $14,000 wage base stops being fixed starting in 2026 and adjusts annually as a percentage of statewide average wages. Employers coming from states with floating wage bases know the drill — the number will drift, and payroll systems need to track it. WorkShare, the alternative to layoffs, exists here too: approved plans make up reduced hours out of the fund pro rata, keeping crews attached to payrolls through slow seasons.
Notch Nº 13 · The market you are searching in
Granite State labor, late summer 2026
New Hampshire’s unemployment rate stood at 2.8% in July 2026, seasonally adjusted — among the lowest readings in the country and a full point and a half under the recent national rate. County rates in June ranged from 2% to 2.7%, and the state closed 2025 at 3.2% before easing through the spring. This is the tightest labor market any state page on this site describes, and it cuts both ways: jobs are findable, but the weekly-search requirement is correspondingly strict, because the fund assumes a search can succeed.
The wage floor beneath it all is the federal $7.25 — New Hampshire is one of the dozen states that sets no higher number, a fact that keeps the statutory table’s lower rows relevant: a full year at $7.25 an hour lands near $15,000 of base earnings, which the table prices at $167 a week. The tourism-heavy economy — lakes in summer, slopes in winter — also explains the two-legged $1,400-quarter gate: seasonal swings are the norm here, and the test is built to find wages in at least two of them.
Notch Nº 14 · The expensive seven
Seven mistakes that cost New Hampshire claimants real money
The $1,400-in-each-of-two-quarters leg kills more seasonal claims than the $2,800 total does. Wages have to land in two quarters separately.
The waiting week only counts once it is claimed. Filing Monday instead of Friday can save a week of calendar at the front of the draw.
Appeals run from issuance, not from when you saw the letter. Two weeks is the shortest frame in New England — calendar the determination the day it posts.
The benefit is a table, not a formula. Estimating 50% of wages like the big states overprices most Granite State claims.
Forty or more hours ends the week’s eligibility even if wages stayed low. Track hours, not just dollars.
The workshop explains the search rules and counts as a documented reemployment activity. Missing scheduled sessions risks the weeks around them.
School employees with reasonable assurance get denied across breaks by rule. File on the non-school separation, or appeal the assurance question on the facts.
Notch Nº 15 · The comparison
New Hampshire against the typical state
| Feature | New Hampshire, 2026 | The typical state |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly rate | statutory table — $32 to $427 on total base wages | formulas and fractions, 1/25 to 1/26 of quarters |
| Rate adjustments | only when the legislature rewrites the table | annual recalculations from wage data |
| Monetary gate | $2,800 total plus $1,400 in each of two quarters | high-quarter or total-wage tests of similar size |
| Dependent allowance | none — family size never moves the check | roughly a dozen states pay add-ons |
| Waiting week | yes — one unpaid week before anything pays | about half the states hold one |
| Partial rule | wages over 30% of the rate deducted dollar-for-dollar | flat disregards from $25 to $100 are common |
| Work search | weekly search proven on the claim, exemptions narrow | 1–5 contacts weekly depending on the state |
| Appeal deadline | 14 calendar days from issuance | 15, 21 or 30 days in most states |
| State tax on benefits | none — no wage tax, dividends tax repealed | most states tax benefits at ordinary rates |
| Wage base | $14,000, index-linked starting 2026 | $7,000 federal floor to $15,000 in the big states |
The one-sentence version: New Hampshire trades generosity for predictability — a statute-fixed table, a strict two-quarter gate, no family extras and no state tax, all inside the tightest labor market in the country.
Notch Nº 16 · Questions
New Hampshire unemployment FAQ
How much unemployment will I get in New Hampshire?+
New Hampshire does not run a formula the way most states do — the weekly benefit comes off a table written directly into RSA 282-A:25, keyed to your total base-period earnings. Total $19,500 and the table pays $206 a week. The table starts at $32 for $2,800 in earnings and stops at $427 once base wages reach $41,500. Roughly speaking, the rate runs a bit over one percent of what you earned across the base year.
What are the earnings requirements to open a New Hampshire claim?+
Two legs, both from the NHES eligibility page: at least $2,800 earned across the four-quarter base period, and at least $1,400 earned in each of two separate quarters. A single strong quarter cannot carry the claim — the wages have to show up in at least two of them. NHES reviews the earnings after you file and mails a Monetary Determination summarizing what it found.
Does New Hampshire have a waiting week?+
It does. The NHES glossary states it directly: before any benefits can be paid, an unpaid waiting period equivalent to one full week of unemployment benefits must be served. State administrative rule Emp 502.08 runs the mechanics. File and certify during that first week anyway — the certification is what starts the clock.
How do part-time earnings affect the check?+
New Hampshire ignores the first 30% of your weekly benefit when it counts wages for the week; everything above that line reduces the payment dollar for dollar, rounded to the nearest dollar, under RSA 282-A:14. At the $206 rate, wages up to $61 pay no penalty; $110 in wages trims the check by $49. A week whose earnings reach the full benefit rate pays nothing, and 40 or more hours worked ends eligibility for that week.
Does New Hampshire pay anything extra for dependents?+
No. New Hampshire is one of the states without any dependency allowance — the table amount is the whole check regardless of family size. The wage-loss arithmetic only recognizes your own covered earnings, which is worth remembering when comparing offers against Massachusetts, the state next door, where children add $25 a week each.
How long do New Hampshire benefits last?+
Up to 26 weeks — the maximum total benefits column of the statutory table equals 26 times the weekly amount, from $832 total at the $32 rate to $11,102 at the $427 rate. There is no extension program layered on top in ordinary times, and the state’s 2.8% unemployment rate sits far below any extended-benefit trigger.
What are the work-search rules in New Hampshire?+
Every week you claim, you must conduct a weekly work search and provide proof of it on your weekly claim, unless NHES specifically exempted you — the requirement is written into the basic eligibility conditions. Contacting hiring employers and reemployment activities both count, and the details are covered in the orientation workshop. The employment hotline at (603) 271-7700 and the NHWorks offices answer questions, and selected claimants must participate in re-employment services when asked.
What if I disagree with a determination?+
You have 14 calendar days from the day the determination is issued to file an appeal in writing — every NHES appeals page repeats the figure. After filing, an Appeal Request Notice arrives and an Appeal Tribunal Chairperson conducts the hearing; interested parties get at least eight days’ notice of it. Keep certifying your weekly claims throughout, because a win pays the weeks you preserved.
Does New Hampshire tax unemployment benefits?+
The federal government does: benefits are ordinary income to the IRS, reported on a 1099-G each January. New Hampshire takes nothing — the state has no tax on wage income, and its tax on interest and dividends was fully repealed effective January 1, 2025. A Granite State claimant owes the IRS and nobody else.
How do I file the claim?+
Online through New Hampshire’s Workforce Connect dashboard at nhuis.nh.gov: create the account, log in, select File for Benefits, choose your location into the NHUIS system, and work through the five-step initial claim application before certifying it. The filing guide on the NHES site walks each screen with the exact button names. Help exists by phone at (603) 271-7700, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., or in person at a NHWorks office.
Notch Nº 17 · Paper trail
Sources & verification
Every figure on this page was checked against primary sources in September 2026. This site is not affiliated with New Hampshire Employment Security; the calculator mirrors the published statute rather than replacing NHES’s own determination.
- 1.RSA 282-A:25 — Weekly Benefit Amount for Total Unemployment: the full statutory table, $32 at $2,800 to $427 at $41,500, maximum totals at 26× — law.justia.com/codes/new-hampshire/title-xxiii/chapter-282
- 2.RSA 282-A:14 — wages definition: partial-week reduction by all earnings in excess of 30 percent of the weekly benefit amount — gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXIII/282-A/282-A-14.htm
- 3.NHES — Unemployment Eligibility: the $2,800 and two-$1,400-quarters test, weekly work-search condition, re-employment services — nhes.nh.gov/individuals/unemployment-eligibility
- 4.NHES — Unemployment Appeals: 14-calendar-day window, Appeal Request Notice, Tribunal Chairperson hearings, eight-day hearing notice — nhes.nh.gov/individuals/unemployment-appeals
- 5.NHES — File for Unemployment Benefits: the Workforce Connect / NHUIS nine-step filing walkthrough and weekly search requirements — nhes.nh.gov/individuals/file-unemployment-benefits
- 6.NHES — Glossary: Waiting Period or Waiting Week (one full unpaid week before any benefits pay) — nhes.nh.gov/resources/glossary
- 7.NHES — main site: employment hotline hours, NHWorks offices, WorkShare, forms and publications — nhes.nh.gov/
- 8.NHUIS / Workforce Connect — claimant portal (file, certify, determinations dashboard) — nhuis.nh.gov/
- 9.NHWorks — office network and job-search support — nhworks.org/
- 10.NH Jobs Portal — state-run in-state hiring board referenced in the filing FAQ — nhjobs.nh.gov/
- 11.IRS — Topic 418: Unemployment compensation (federal taxation, 1099-G, voluntary 10% withholding) — irs.gov/taxtopics/tc418
- 12.BLS / NH ES — New Hampshire employment situation (2.8% July 2026, seasonally adjusted) — bls.gov/regions/northeast/newhampshire.htm
- 13.CBPP — How Many Weeks of Unemployment Compensation Are Available (New Hampshire among the uniform-26 states) — cbpp.org/research/economy/how-many-weeks-of-unemployment-c
- 14.U.S. DOL — State minimum wage laws: New Hampshire at the federal $7.25 — dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/state
Keep reading while the claim runs
These guides from our own desk cover the ground New Hampshire shares with every state — base periods, first-check timing, the appeal path, and documenting the search.
New Hampshire’s neighboring calculators
The Granite State borders exactly three states — Maine to the east, Vermont to the west, Massachusetts to the south — and cross-border commuters from the Seacoast and the Monadnock region often build base-period wages in two of them. Each of those three keeps its own calculator page on this site, with the fifty-state index one click beyond.
The homepage calculator prices every state’s weekly range side by side, and each state’s dedicated page carries its own verified rules.
Open the national calculator