HIUnemployment insurance worksheet
Hawaii Unemployment Calculator: Up to $868/Week, 26 Weeks
In Hawaii, unemployment pays up to $868 a week for up to 26 weeks; your weekly amount is your highest quarter divided by 21.
Checked against primary sources · updated See the sources
How Hawaii works out your amount
Hawaii 2026: highest-quarter wages divided by 21, rounded upward, with a $5 minimum and $868 maximum. Qualification requires two paid quarters and total wages of at least 26 weekly amounts. The regular balance is 26 weekly amounts.
Weekly earnings reduction is not modeled here unless your state source gives a rule. Optional withholding is separate from the gross estimate.
The Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations decides eligibility, base-period wages, payable weeks, reductions, withholding and the final award. Use the official record below to verify this scenario.
Hawaii: Agency 2026 UI cap of $868 (the separate disability figure, $871, is not used). HRS 383-22: high-quarter wages divided by 21, rounded up, minimum $5. HRS 383-29 requires wages in two quarters and total wages of 26 weekly amounts; HRS 383-24 sets the account at 26 weekly amounts. Applies January 1–December 31, 2026. https://labor.hawaii.gov/ui/tax-rate-schedule-and-weekly-benefit-amount/ (verified 2026-10-01)
Hawaii divides the highest quarter by 21 and rounds up
For 2026 Hawaii unemployment insurance claims, the maximum weekly benefit is $868. HRS 383-22 uses the highest covered wage quarter divided by 21. A fractional weekly amount rounds to the next whole dollar, subject to the $5 minimum and current annual maximum.
A $4,200 high quarter gives exactly $200. Adding one cent raises the calculated rate to $201 before the wage test. A $10,000 high quarter gives $476.1905, rounded upward to $477. Dividing that same quarter by 26 would understate Hawaii's result.
The $868 ceiling begins at a $18,207.01 high quarter. At $18,207 exactly, the uncapped result is $867; one cent more rounds to $868. The state's $871 disability maximum belongs to a different program and is not this unemployment cap. Employer taxable wage bases are also separate from the gross covered wages used here.
Two paid quarters and total wages of 26 weekly amounts
HRS 383-29 requires covered earnings in at least two base-period quarters and total wages of at least 26 times the computed weekly benefit. Apply this test after the weekly rate's rounding and annual cap. A positive formula result alone is not a passed wage test.
With $4,200 and $1,000 quarters and two zeros, total wages are $5,200. The weekly rate is $200 and the requirement is 26 × $200 = $5,200, so this record reaches the monetary boundary. Reducing the second quarter to $999.99 fails. A single $20,000 quarter fails the two-quarter condition even though its raw weekly calculation reaches the cap.
Rounding can change qualification: a $4,200.01 quarter and $1,000 outside wages total $5,200.01, but the upward-rounded $201 weekly rate requires $5,226. That record falls short. Another $25.99 in outside wages reaches the new threshold.
Use covered wages from the department's selected four-quarter record. The regular base period generally uses the four completed quarters that precede the most recent one; an alternative period may be considered when that record fails. This worksheet evaluates your selected quarters and does not select a period or classify noncovered work.
The regular account is 26 times the weekly benefit
HRS 383-24 fixes the regular maximum potential benefit at 26 times the weekly rate. The $200 example has a $5,200 ordinary account. Ten modeled fully unemployed weeks use $2,000. Optional 10% withholding shows $180 per week separately from that gross draw.
Four $10,000 quarters produce $477 weekly and a $12,402 ordinary account. At the $868 ceiling, the maximum ordinary account is $22,568. This wage test funds the 26-rate monetary balance; an approved claimant may receive fewer payable weeks because of weekly eligibility, work or other deductions.
No dependent supplement is added in this Hawaii worksheet. Waiting weeks, partial earnings, retirement payments, repeat-claim work requirements and extensions are outside the full-unemployment calculation. The model does not add disaster assistance to ordinary UI.
Annual rates and claim timing
The verified $868 cap applies to calendar-year 2026 claims. The department's annual table lists $835 for 2025, so a prior-year claim should not be silently raised to the 2026 maximum.
Keep unknown wage quarters blank until the covered record is available. A failed monetary test returns zero; a missing quarter leaves the calculation unknown. Filing and ongoing eligibility still require the department's determination and certifications.
Primary Hawaii sources
- DLIR's annual UI rate table: the 2026 $868 unemployment maximum.
- HRS 383-22: the divisor, rounding and minimum.
- HRS 383-29: two-quarter and 26-times wage qualification.
- HRS 383-24: the ordinary account ceiling.
- DLIR claimant questions: base periods, filing and continuing eligibility.
Reviewed October 1, 2026. Use the Hawaii unemployment division for the actual monetary determination.
Worked in a nearby state too?
Each state pays from the wages reported to it, so a claim follows where the covered work was done. If some of your base-period wages were earned in one of these states, open its worksheet, or compare every state on the unemployment benefits calculator.
Supported claim periods and annual handoff
The Hawaii wage-estimate calendar supports 2026-01-01 to 2026-12-31. Source dates describe when evidence was checked; they do not create a legal expiration. A blank claim date uses the current local date. After a finite schedule ends, the form shows an explicit official-award worksheet. Enter the weekly award, maximum account and authorized weeks from the determination. An unverified successor rate is never copied from the previous annual table.
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