Washington Unemployment Benefits Calculator
Washington reads two quarters instead of one: average your two best base-year quarters, take 3.85%, and the department holds the week between $383 and $1,208 — the richest ceiling on this site. Enter your two top quarters below to price the check, the full base-year total for the one-third pot, and any part-time wages for the dollar-for-dollar preview.
Milepost Nº 1 · The calculator
Price the week: two quarters set the rate
The two highest quarters drive everything. The register applies the 3.85% average, the $383 floor, the $1,208 ceiling, the 680-hour gate, the one-third pot that can trim a spiky claim, and the dollar-for-dollar partial rule — in the order RCW 50.20.120 writes them.
Estimates mirror the statute, not the department’s own computation. The wage determination ESD issues after you file is the number that pays.
Milepost Nº 2 · The formula
The 3.85% formula: Washington averages your two best
Under RCW 50.20.120(2), the weekly benefit amount is 3.85% of the average quarterly wages in the two quarters of your base year where you earned the most. Written as a recipe: add your best quarter to your second-best, divide by two, multiply by 0.0385, round down to the dollar. A claimant whose top two quarters hold $19,500 and $17,200 carries an $18,350 average quarter — 3.85% prices that week at $706.
The design sits between the states. Read only one quarter and a single hot stretch of overtime sets the whole rate; read all four like Oregon and the peak disappears entirely. Washington’s two-quarter average keeps strong months in the math while forcing a second quarter to back them up — which is why the second-highest quarter matters as much as the first when the department prices the week. Every extra $1,000 in the two-quarter average adds $38.50 a week.
The weekly check can never exceed the wages you actually earned — the statute caps the benefit at your annualized weekly wage, a guardrail left over from the pre-2021 formula. At 3.85% of the two-quarter average the math never reaches it, but it is why ESD asks for complete wage records on every claim.
| Two highest quarters | Average quarter | Weekly check |
|---|---|---|
| $18,000 / $16,000 | $17,000 | $654 |
| $19,500 / $17,200 | $18,350 | $706 |
| $24,000 / $20,000 | $22,000 | $847 |
| $40,000 / $34,000 | $37,000 | $1,424 → $1,208 (cap holds) |
| $16,000 / $15,000 | $15,500 | $596 |
Milepost Nº 3 · The brackets
$383 to $1,208 — the nation’s richest ceiling, reset every July
Washington’s limits are percentages of the state’s average weekly wage, recomputed each spring for benefit years beginning in the twelve months after June 30. The floor is 20% of that average and the ceiling the greater of $496 or 63% — with the state average weekly wage now $1,919, the ceiling runs to $1,208 (up $56 over the prior year) and the floor to $383 (up $17), per ESD’s June 2026 announcement. No state in the country pays a higher weekly maximum.
The cap catches the aerospace-and-software top of the wage scale: any two-quarter average above $31,378 computes past $1,208 and stays there — a two-quarter haul of $62,800 and one of $90,000 pay the identical check. The floor catches the opposite end and quietly matters for the pot: when the $383 minimum lifts a thin history’s rate above the raw 3.85% figure, twenty-six payments of the lifted rate can outrun one-third of the base wages and shorten the draw. And the brackets freeze at filing: a claim opened before the July reset keeps the prior year’s $366–$1,152 range for its whole benefit year.
A two-quarter average of $40,000 computes to $1,540 raw — $332 a week surrendered to the ceiling, about $8,632 across a full draw. The excess still feeds the one-third pot, so capped claimants usually keep the complete 26-week calendar.
A two-quarter average of $9,000 computes to $346 raw. The floor lifts the check to $383 — and the lift is exactly the mechanism that can make the one-third pot bind on small, lumpy histories, as the pot section shows.
Milepost Nº 4 · The gate
680 hours: Washington qualifies by time, not dollars
Washington is one of the few states that gates monetary eligibility in hours of covered work rather than dollars: 680 hours in your base year, at any wage. A warehouse picker at minimum wage and a software engineer clear the same bar if the hours match — the wage history then prices the check but never decides whether the claim opens. The design exists for exactly the workers wage-tests underserve: part-time caregivers stacking shifts, seasonal crews, students on hourly work.
The non-monetary requirements ride alongside: able and available for full-time work, actively seeking it, registered with a WorkSource employment center if you live in Washington (or a local center if you live elsewhere), and separated through no fault of your own. A vacation week is not an available week — it must be reported and it pays nothing. And the base year itself is standard: the first four of the last five completed quarters before your claim’s effective Sunday, with ESD defaulting to wages employers have already reported.
| Base year (hours / two-quarter haul) | 680-hour test | Rate at 3.85% | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2,080 hrs / $36,700 | pass | $706 | qualifies — full price |
| 900 hrs / $19,000 | pass | $365 → $383 (floored) | qualifies — floor lifts |
| 620 hrs / $41,000 | fail — 60 hours short | n/a | does not qualify |
| 1,540 hrs / $68,000 | pass | $1,208 (capped) | qualifies — cap holds |
Milepost Nº 5 · The pot
The one-third pot — the rule that actually trims Washington claims
Washington’s total entitlement (RCW 50.20.120(1)) is the lesser of 26 times your weekly benefit or one-third of your base-year wages. Unlike Oregon, where the formula’s own math keeps the pot out of reach, Washington’s two-quarter design leaves the door open. Twenty-six weeks of a 3.85%-of-the-average-quarter rate consumes 50.05% of the two-quarter haul — but only about 25% of a base year whose four quarters are even. When the quarters are lumpy, though, the one-third line drops toward the claim and starts cutting.
The arithmetic in practice: a claimant with two strong quarters and two near-empty ones can have a base year whose one-third pot holds fewer than 26 weeks at the priced rate — each week paid comes out of that pot until it empties, and the claim ends with the pot, not the calendar. Steady earners never see it happen: an even base year would need a weekly rate above about 1.28% of total base wages — roughly 5.1% of the average quarter — for the pot to bind, and 3.85% sits well under it. The floor is the other trigger — a $383 lifted rate on a thin base can outrun one-third of the same base.
| Wage shape (HQ1/HQ2/others) | 26-week pot | One-third pot | Weeks payable |
|---|---|---|---|
| $19,500/$17,200/$18,200 | $18,356 | $18,300 | 25 weeks — pot trims one |
| $14,000/$13,800/$27,000 even | $13,910 | $18,266 | 26 weeks — full calendar |
| $30,000/$28,000/$4,000 spiky | $29,016 | $20,666 | 18 weeks — pot binds hard |
| $9,500/$9,000/$5,400 floored | $9,958 | $7,966 | 20 weeks — floor + pot |
Weeks = pot ÷ weekly benefit, rounded down. Leftover pot dollars expire with the benefit year — they do not roll forward.
Milepost Nº 6 · The window
Which quarters count — and why the second-best one matters here
The base year is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before your claim’s effective date — the Sunday of the week you file. File in September 2026 and the window runs October 2024 through September 2025’s completion, exactly as ESD’s benefit-year page lays out. Washington does not offer an alternate base period in the usual sense; the department prices from reported wages, which is why correcting a missing employer report before the determination matters more here than anywhere else.
Because the second-highest quarter carries half the rate, timing pays differently in Washington than in one-quarter states. A bonus that lands inside the window helps only if it lands in one of the two quarters that end up largest — a December payout in a quarter that finishes third does nothing for the check. The 680-hour clock runs on the same window, so hours and dollars move together: a quarter with 200 more hours can lift both eligibility and, if it cracks the top two, the weekly rate.
Milepost Nº 7 · Worked example
Maya in Everett — a full claim, worked line by line
Maya machined composite parts for an Everett aerospace supplier until the August line re-balancing. Her base year is classic Puget Sound manufacturing: strong quarters with overtime, quieter quarters between programs. Here is the whole claim as ESD will compute it.
Maya files the week after the August layoff, so her claim takes effect in September 2026 and the base year is the four quarters before the most recent completed one. Inside it: $19,500, $17,200, $9,800, $8,400 — a $54,900 total with a $19,500 high quarter and 2,140 covered hours.
The two highest quarters average ($19,500 + $17,200) ÷ 2 = $18,350. At 3.85%: $706.47, rounded down to $706. The rate sits between the $383 floor and the $1,208 cap, so it stands as priced.
2,140 hours clear 680 with room to spare, she is registered with WorkSource, and the layoff is a no-fault separation. Every gate opens.
26 × $706 builds $18,356; one-third of $54,900 is $18,300. The one-third side is smaller by $56 — so Maya’s claim runs floor(pot ÷ rate) = 25 paid weeks, one short of the calendar. This is the trim most Washington claimants never see.
Week one is the unpaid waiting week — filed and logged like any other. Weeks two through twenty-six pay $706 with adjustments: a week at $250 in temp wages pays $456 (dollar for dollar, no disregard), a week at $700 pays $6, and anything at or above $706 pays nothing.
$706 a week × 25 weeks = $17,650 over 26 calendar weeks, waiting week included. Elect the 10% federal withholding and $1,765 pre-funds the April bill — and there is no state layer to fund, because Washington levies no income tax on benefits.
Milepost Nº 8 · The hold
The waiting week: one per benefit year, never repaid
Washington holds one unpaid waiting week at the front of every benefit year — ESD’s restart page states the quota plainly: you have only one waiting week each benefit year, and restarting a claim does not buy a second. The week must be claimed through eServices like any other, certified with the same able-and-available answers, and it is served once per benefit year regardless of how many times work ends.
The cost is the largest check in the pot — $706 on Maya’s claim, more on a capped one — and unlike the pot rules there is no arithmetic that gives it back. Filing in the first week unemployed matters as much as it does anywhere: the waiting week burns during ESD’s processing either way, and the claim’s wage determination and any eligibility issues queue behind the first filed week.
Milepost Nº 9 · Working while claimed
Part-time work: the dollar-for-dollar rule with no cushion
Washington’s partial rule is the bluntest on this site: gross wages for the week come off the check dollar for dollar, from the first dollar, with no disregard. Most states ignore a slice of earnings — Utah shields 30%, Oregon up to $155.50 — but ESD’s weekly-claim guidance reduces payment by everything you earned. On a $706 benefit, a week at $250 pays $456, a week at $500 pays $206, and a week at $706 or more pays nothing.
Two qualifiers soften the edge. Part-time work itself is fine — Washington allows claims while working reduced hours, and the 680-hour eligibility gate means many claimants qualify while working. And the reporting rule matters more here than anywhere: report gross wages for the week the work happened, even if the paycheck has not landed — reporting net, or reporting when paid, is Washington’s classic overpayment factory. Temporary layoffs have their own lane: standby status, set up with the department, can waive the work-search requirement for a defined window while the employer holds the job open.
| Week’s gross wages ($706 benefit) | Reduction | Check for the week |
|---|---|---|
| $120 | $120 | $586 |
| $250 | $250 | $456 |
| $500 | $500 | $206 |
| $706 or more | week not payable | $0 — keep claiming if part-time |
Milepost Nº 10 · Staying qualified
Three logged activities: Washington’s weekly search standard
Every week you claim, Washington expects three job search activities, each recorded in a written log — ESD’s own template or a document carrying the same fields. The approved list runs from employer contacts (email, phone, mail, in-person or virtual meetings, kiosks, fax) to WorkSource workshops and reemployment-center activities. The anti-gaming rule is specific: the exact same activity cannot count twice in a week — re-watching the same video or re-applying to the same posting does nothing — though applying to different jobs at the same company counts each time.
The log outlives the claim. ESD conducts reviews on its own schedule and can request the log even after benefits have stopped; the department asks you to keep records at least 30 days past the benefit year or the last paid week, whichever is later. A missing or incomplete log, or activities outside the approved list, can deny the weeks retroactively — and denied weeks become overpayments to repay. Registration with a WorkSource center is itself a standing requirement, and job offers of suitable work must be accepted. One live note from 2026: during the August statewide wildfire emergency, ESD adjusted work-search expectations under emergency rule — claimants in affected counties should read the department’s alert banner rather than assume the standard week applies unchanged.
Mon — applied to two posted machinist roles at different employers (contacts 1–2). Wed — attended a WorkSource resume lab, logged with the center’s sign-in (activity 3). Dated, channeled, distinct. Three entries, no repeats, written the day they happened — the whole standard.
Milepost Nº 11 · Opening the claim
Filing: one portal named eServices
Washington runs the entire claim through eServices, ESD’s online portal: the initial application, the weekly certifications, the withholding election, address changes, and appeals all live in one account. File the week after your last day of work — the claim takes effect the Sunday of that week — with employer names, dates, and wages for the last 18 months at hand. The claims line, 800-318-6022, answers questions and takes some information by phone, but the portal is the filing path.
Payment moves by direct deposit or the U.S. Bank ReliaCard — the choice is made in the portal under “choose how you get paid,” and it can be changed between weekly claims. Certifications open Sunday and the department pays eligible weeks on a rolling schedule after processing. Two habits protect the money: certify every week even while an eligibility issue is pending (issues are resolved week by week, and unclaimed weeks are lost), and keep the mailing address current — determinations, review letters, and hearing notices all run on paper deadlines that start at the mail date.
esd.wa.gov — file, certify weekly, elect withholding, appeal. One account for the whole claim.
800-318-6022 — claim questions and information; technical support for the portal itself.
800-366-0955 — the Office of Administrative Hearings schedules and runs appeal hearings.
Milepost Nº 12 · How claims are lost
Quits, misconduct, and the suitable-work line
Washington’s separation map runs on two questions. A quit needs good cause — a reason of such substance that a genuinely prudent worker would have left, ordinarily tied to the job (or to compelling personal circumstances the employer could not fix). A discharge turns on misconduct connected with employment: willful or wanton disregard of the employer’s interests, or deliberate violations after warning. Ordinary inability to do the work, a poor fit, or a first honest mistake generally is not misconduct; falsified records and safety violations after warnings generally are.
The other edge is the suitable-work line: refusing an offer of suitable work can disqualify the claim, and ESD expects claimants to accept suitable offers that appear during the search. What counts as “suitable” weighs prior training, experience, pay relative to the local market, and how long the claim has run — a bar that shifts as weeks accumulate. Either side’s adverse determination carries the 30-day appeal window covered below, and weeks at issue stay preserved by continuing to certify while the appeal runs.
Layoff for lack of work · hour cuts below full-time · discharge for fit or ability without willful misconduct · quit with documented good cause tied to the job · leaving documented unsafe conditions reported first through channels.
Willful safety or policy violations after warnings · attendance collapse without mitigating cause · quitting over an unaddressed-but-fixable grievance · falsified time records · refusing suitable rehire offers without good cause.
Milepost Nº 13 · Disputing a decision
Thirty days at every rung: OAH and the Commissioner’s review
Washington’s appeal window is thirty days from the mailing date on the decision — file through eServices, by mail, or by fax. Timely appeals go to the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH), the independent agency that runs the docket: OAH schedules the hearing, swears the witnesses, records everything, and mails the administrative law judge’s decision — typically about two weeks after the hearing. Miss the thirty days and the determination stands; the good-cause escape is narrow and evidence-hungry.
OAH hearings are telephonic by default, evidence is exchanged in advance, and credibility is weighed live. Claimants who kept their job-search logs and wage records fare measurably better on this rung. OAH’s line is 800-366-0955.
A Petition for Review to ESD’s Commissioner’s Review Office is due within thirty days of the OAH decision’s mailing date. The Commissioner’s office reviews the record below, may ask for argument, and issues the department’s final administrative decision.
Judicial review of the Commissioner’s decision runs through Washington’s Superior Courts on the record — lawyer territory, deadline-governed, and rare. The rung exists; most claims end at the second. The Unemployment Law Project helps low-income claimants navigate both.
Keep certifying weekly while the appeal runs — a reversal pays the preserved weeks, and a lapsed claim cannot be back-filled.
Milepost Nº 14 · Money that must go back
Overpayments, fraud, and the job-search rule that pays back
An overpayment is any benefit paid beyond what the rules allowed — the unreported temp week, the net-pay report, the vacation payout disclosed late. ESD pursues repayment administratively for honest error, with a calculated monthly minimum payment and interest on outstanding balances for claimants who cannot pay at once. The conversation is much cheaper before the department’s wage-matching finds the discrepancy itself: employer payroll reports flow in quarterly, and unreported earnings surface in batch regardless of intent.
Washington’s distinctive angle is the job-search overpayment: weeks denied because the log was missing, incomplete, or off the approved list must be paid back in full — the department’s job-search page says so in exactly those words. That makes the search log not just eligibility paperwork but liability control. Fraud — benefits obtained by misrepresentation or willful nondisclosure — carries the harder consequences: penalties on top of repayment, potential criminal referral, and disqualification from future claims. The ten seconds of accurate gross-wage reporting in eServices remains the cheapest insurance the system sells.
| Finding | What follows | The posture |
|---|---|---|
| Honest overpayment | repay; monthly minimum + interest arrangements | administrative — repayment plan available |
| Job-search denial | repay every week the log failed | mechanical — the log is the defense |
| Fraud finding | repayment + penalties + disqualification + possible prosecution | punitive — referral exposure |
Milepost Nº 15 · April comes for one
Taxes: the 1099-G — and the state layer that does not exist
The federal layer works like everywhere else: every benefit dollar lands on Form 1099-G, taxed as ordinary income, with an optional 10% federal withholding elected on the claim. Then Washington does something no other state on this site can: nothing. The state levies no personal income tax, benefits never touch a state return, and there is no state withholding election because there is no state tax to withhold. On Maya’s $17,650 claim the whole April question is a federal question — $1,765 if the 10% election runs, the full bill in April if it does not.
The election is adjustable week to week in eServices, which cuts both ways: claimants who decline at filing to keep cash flowing can switch it on later in the year, and claimants who elect can pause it. The 1099-G posts to the eServices account each January, and ESD’s taxes page carries the withholding details. One planning note: the federal exemption that briefly shielded benefits in 2020 is long gone — every 2026 benefit dollar is taxable income.
1099-G for the full year · 10% withholding election, adjustable weekly · taxed as ordinary income alongside any wages earned during the claim year.
Zero. Washington has no personal income tax — no state return, no state election, no state bite. The withholding decision is a one-box choice.
Milepost Nº 16 · The backdrop
Washington’s labor market, September 2026
Washington’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate sat at about 5.0% in mid-2026 — a step above the 4.1–4.3% national read — with the softness concentrated in aerospace re-balancing, timber, and the summer’s wildfire disruption that pushed emergency rules onto the claimant pages in August. The thru-line industries remain the deepest benefit engine in the country: commercial aerospace around Everett and Renton, software and cloud platforms in Seattle’s east suburbs, maritime trades on the Sound, central-Washington agriculture, and a Rocky-and-Cascade tourism corridor that swells and sheds every season.
The employer side funds the richest check in the nation. Covered employers pay on the first $78,200 of each worker’s 2026 wages — the highest taxable wage base in the United States, up from $72,800 — at experience rates payroll guides place between 0.27% and 8.15%, with new employers paying 115% of their industry average. Washington’s trust fund rebuilt fast after the pandemic on exactly this wage-base design, and each June’s average-wage announcement is the document to watch: it re-prices both the following year’s employer tax and the claimant brackets on this page in one stroke.
One structural note: Washington’s Paid Family & Medical Leave is a separate program with separate brackets (its own $1,727 maximum in 2026) — do not confuse the two when a claim starts, and do not expect UI weeks to cover leave the PFML program pays.
Milepost Nº 17 · Avoid these
Seven mistakes that cost Washington claimants real money
Washington averages two quarters. Claimants who track only their peak quarter mispredict the check — and mis-planned withholding — by hundreds of dollars a week.
The brackets freeze at filing. A claim opened before the reset kept $1,152; one opened after rides $1,208. Near the cap, a week of timing is worth $56 a week for a year.
Three distinct logged activities, kept 30 days past the claim — and denied weeks are repaid in full. The log is liability control, not paperwork theater.
Gross wages, when earned. With no disregard to soften the rule, every reporting slip lands dollar for dollar on the overpayment ledger.
Washington does not consider you able and available while on vacation. Report it, claim nothing for it, or risk an overpayment for the week.
The OAH appeal and the Commissioner’s Petition for Review each run 30 days from the mail date — not the day you opened the letter. The mail date starts the fuse.
Registration is a standing eligibility requirement, not a one-time step. Lapsed registration surfaces at review time and can freeze the claim mid-draw.
Milepost Nº 18 · Context
Washington against the typical state
| Feature | Washington, 2026–27 | The typical state |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly formula | 3.85% of the two-highest-quarter average | high-quarter fractions from 1/25 to 1/26 |
| 2026–27 weekly range | $383 to $1,208 — the nation’s richest ceiling | about $235 to $1,033 across all states |
| Eligibility gate | 680 hours of covered work — time, not dollars | dollar-based wage tests in most states |
| Duration | 26-week cap with a one-third pot that can bind | a flat 12–30 weeks, or pot rules that rarely bite |
| Waiting week | yes — one per benefit year, never repaid | roughly half the states hold one |
| Partial rule | dollar-for-dollar from the first dollar — no disregard | flat-dollar or percentage disregards are common |
| Work search | 3 logged activities weekly + WorkSource registration | 2–5 contacts weekly depending on the state |
| Appeal deadline | 30 days to OAH, 30 days to the Commissioner | 10, 21 or 30 days depending on the state |
| State tax on benefits | none — no personal income tax exists | most states tax; a few exempt UI entirely |
| Employer wage base | $78,200 — the highest in the nation | typically $7,000–$25,000 |
In one sentence: Washington pays the nation’s richest weekly check off a two-quarter average, qualifies by hours rather than dollars, and takes an uncompromising dollar-for-dollar posture on part-time earnings — a trade of the strictest reporting discipline on this site for the highest ceiling and a zero-tax April.
Milepost Nº 19 · Questions
Washington unemployment FAQ
How much unemployment will I get in Washington?+
Washington averages your two best quarters: add the two highest base-year quarters together, divide by two for the average quarter, and take 3.85% of that figure. Average quarters of $18,350 and $15,000 make an average of $16,675, and 3.85% prices the week at $641. The result is held between the $383 minimum and the $1,208 maximum for benefit years beginning after June 30, 2026.
Why two quarters instead of one like most states?+
Washington splits the difference between the one-quarter states (Oregon’s neighbors to the south read just the best quarter) and the total-wage states. Reading two quarters softens the reward for one hot quarter while still paying the strong months more than the weak ones — a slow second quarter drags the average down, but a single monster quarter cannot carry the whole claim alone. The result tracks sustained earning power better than a one-quarter snapshot.
How long do Washington unemployment benefits last?+
The maximum entitlement is 26 weeks, but the pot is the lesser of 26 times your weekly benefit or one-third of your base-year wages — and in Washington that one-third rule genuinely bites. Claimants with spiky wage histories can see the pot trim the tail of the claim, while steady earners almost always run the full calendar. The worked example on this page loses one week to the rule.
What are Washington’s eligibility rules?+
Washington is one of the few states that gates eligibility in hours, not dollars: you need at least 680 hours of covered work in your base year. On top of the hours test you must be able and available for full-time work, actively seeking it, registered with WorkSource if you live in Washington, and unemployed through no fault of your own.
Does Washington have a waiting week?+
Yes — the first week of your claim is an unpaid waiting week, and you have only one per benefit year. Restarting a claim does not trigger a second one. The week must be claimed like any other, and it is not repaid at the end of the draw.
How does Washington handle part-time earnings?+
The rule is blunt: gross wages for the week come off the check dollar for dollar, with no disregard. On a $706 benefit, a week at $250 pays $456 and a week at $700 pays $6. Only weeks with gross earnings at or above the weekly benefit pay nothing. Washington is one of the few states that subtracts from the very first dollar — report gross wages the week the work happens, not the week the pay lands.
Does Washington tax unemployment benefits?+
The federal layer applies like everywhere: every dollar lands on Form 1099-G and you may elect 10% federal withholding on the claim. The state layer is zero — Washington has no personal income tax, so no state return ever sees the benefits. That makes the withholding decision simple: 10% to the IRS or nothing, with no state election to weigh.
How do I file for unemployment in Washington?+
Everything runs through eServices, ESD’s online portal: the initial claim, the weekly certifications, the withholding election, and appeals. File the week after your last day of work; the claim takes effect the Sunday of that week. Payment arrives by direct deposit or the U.S. Bank ReliaCard. The claims line at 800-318-6022 handles questions, but the portal does the filing.
How many work searches does Washington require each week?+
Three job search activities every week you claim, each one logged — the department’s own log or a document that carries the same fields. You cannot count the exact same activity twice in a week (the same posting, the same video), though applying to different jobs at one company is fine. Washington also requires registration with a WorkSource center, and the department reviews logs on its own schedule — including after benefits end.
What happens if I miss the appeal deadline in Washington?+
Thirty days from the date ESD mails the decision — the appeal goes to the Office of Administrative Hearings, which runs the hearing and mails the judge’s decision about two weeks afterward. The next rung is a Petition for Review to the Commissioner’s Review Office, also within 30 days of the OAH mailing date. Keep certifying weekly while the appeal runs; a reversal pays the preserved weeks.
Milepost Nº 20 · Paper trail
Sources & verification
Every figure on this page was checked against primary sources in September 2026. This site is not affiliated with the Washington State Employment Security Department; the calculator mirrors the published statute rather than replacing ESD’s own determination.
- 1.RCW 50.20.120 — Amount of benefits: 3.85% two-highest-quarter formula, 26-week / one-third pot, 20%-of-SAWW minimum, greater-of-$496-or-63% maximum, annualized-wage cap — app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=50.20.120
- 2.ESD — New average annual wage estimates (June 2026): 2026–27 maximum $1,208, minimum $383, state average weekly wage $1,919 — esd.wa.gov/unemployment
- 3.ESD — Job search requirements (3 activities weekly, no exact repeats, WorkSource registration, log retention, wildfire emergency note) — esd.wa.gov/unemployment/job-search-requirements
- 4.ESD — Unemployment benefits hub (eligibility, benefit year, waiting week, standby) — esd.wa.gov/unemployment
- 5.ESD — Choose how you get paid (direct deposit, ReliaCard) — esd.wa.gov/unemployment/choose-how-you-get-paid
- 6.ESD — Paying income taxes on unemployment benefits (10% federal election; no state income tax) — esd.wa.gov/unemployment/paying-income-taxes-on-unemploymen
- 7.ESD — Appeal an unemployment benefits decision (30-day window, eServices filing) — esd.wa.gov/unemployment/appeal-an-unemployment-benefits-de
- 8.Office of Administrative Hearings — unemployment hearings, decisions in about two weeks, 800-366-0955 — oah.wa.gov/
- 9.Unemployment Law Project — Petition for Review within 30 days of the OAH mailing date — unemploymentlawproject.org/
- 10.L&I — Washington minimum wage (January 1, 2026: $17.13) — lni.wa.gov/workers-rights/wages/minimum-wage/
- 11.Seattle Office of Labor Standards — 2026 minimum wage ($21.30 large employers) — seattle.gov/laborstandards/overview/minimum-wage
- 12.Nolo — Collecting Unemployment Benefits in Washington — nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/collecting-unemployment-benefi
- 13.IRS — Topic 418: Unemployment compensation (federal taxation, 1099-G) — irs.gov/taxtopics/tc418
- 14.BLS / ESD — Washington employment situation (mid-2026 unemployment near 5.0%) — bls.gov/regions/west/washington.htm
- 15.CBPP — How Many Weeks of Unemployment Compensation Are Available — cbpp.org/research/economy/how-many-weeks-of-unemployment-c
- 16.CareerOneStop — Washington unemployment benefits directory — careeronestop.org/
Keep reading while the claim runs
These guides from our own desk cover the steps Washington shares with every state — base periods, first-check timing, and the appeal playbook.
Washington’s neighboring calculators
Two states share Washington’s borders and neither prices a claim the same way — Idaho’s ratio table, Oregon’s total-wages formula with its flat 26-week calendar. Cross-border workers from the Palouse to the Columbia qualify from combined wages, and the all-states index covers the rest.
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