Texas unemployment benefits in 2026: how much a week, for how long
Texas pays one twenty-fifth of the wages of your best quarter, between $75 and $605 a week. Enter your pay to see the weekly amount, the weeks and the total.
Unemployment in Texas
$360
a week, for up to 26 weeks · $9,360 in all
| Weekly benefit | $360 |
| Weeks payable | 26 weeks |
| Total if you stay unemployed | $9,360 |
| Federal income tax on it, about | $936 |
| 10% federal withholding, if you ask (W-4V) | $36 a week |
| State income tax on it | check your state |
| Your take-home pay now, a week | $598 |
| Share of take-home pay replaced | 60 % before tax |
Texas: 1/25 HQW, capped at 47.6% of AWW in covered employment in TX, calculated annually; $75 to $605 a week.
Compiled by Radif Partners · How the estimates are built · state laws and agency pages read October 20, 2026
The Texas Workforce Commission computes your weekly benefit as one twenty-fifth of the wages paid in the best quarter of your base period, rounded down, with a floor of $75 and a ceiling of $605 for claims in 2026; the ceiling is tied to 47.6% of the average weekly wage in Texas and is reset each year. A worker who earned $10,000 in the best quarter gets $400 a week, and anyone with $15,125 or more in that quarter reaches the maximum. The total you can draw is the lesser of 26 weekly payments and 27% of everything you earned in the base period, so $605 a week on $60,000 of pay adds up to $15,730, while $240 a week on $20,000 stops at $5,400, after about 23 weeks. To qualify, base-period wages must reach 37 times the weekly amount, earned in at least two quarters.
The Texas formula, step by step
Texas looks at a base period of four calendar quarters, normally the first four of the last five completed before you file. It takes the quarter where you earned the most and divides it by 25. That gives $400 a week for $10,000 in the quarter, $480 for $12,000. The result is then held between $75 and $605: anything above $15,125 in the best quarter changes nothing, because the ceiling already applies. Overtime, commissions and bonuses count in the quarter they were paid, which is why a seasonal worker with one strong quarter can reach the cap on a modest yearly salary.
The ceiling itself is not a number written once in the law. The Labor Code ties it to 47.6% of the average weekly wage in covered employment in Texas, recomputed each year, which is how it reached $605 for 2026 in the Department of Labor table of July 2026.
Your Texas weekly benefit
Unemployment in Texas
$360
| Weekly benefit | $360 |
| Weeks payable | 26 weeks |
| Total if you stay unemployed | $9,360 |
| Federal income tax on it, about | $936 |
Why the total can run out before 26 weeks
Texas caps the whole claim at 27% of base-period wages. At the ceiling, 26 weeks of $605 would be $15,730, which only someone with about $58,260 of base-period pay can draw in full. Below that, the money runs out first: a claimant who earned most of the year's pay in one quarter gets a high weekly amount but fewer weeks, and one with steady but low pay gets a lower amount for longer. The calculator shows which of the two limits applies to you.
Extended benefits, paid in some recessions on top of the 26 weeks, depend on federal triggers and are not counted here.
What it replaces, and what it costs in tax
At $60,000 a year, a single filer in Texas takes home about $969 a week after federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare. The maximum benefit of $605 replaces 62 % of that before tax. Unemployment is federal taxable income (IRS Topic 418); the commission withholds 10% only if you ask for it, otherwise the bill arrives with the return.
Working part time while you claim
You can earn a little during a week of benefits. Texas ignores the greater of $5 or a quarter of your weekly amount, then subtracts every dollar above that from the check. On a $400 benefit, the first $100 of earnings costs nothing and $200 of earnings brings the check down to $300. The partial unemployment page compares this rule with other states.
Texas unemployment rules in force in 2026
| Rule | Texas |
|---|---|
| Earnings needed in the base period | 37 x WBA; wages in at least 2 qtrs |
| Weekly benefit formula | 1/25 HQW, capped at 47.6% of AWW in covered employment in TX, calculated annually |
| Weekly benefit, 2026 | $75 to $605 |
| Most you can draw in a benefit year | Lesser of 27% BPW or 26 x WBA |
| Weeks payable | 10 to 26 |
| Pay you can earn in a week without losing benefits | Greater of $5 or 1/4 WBA |