Kentucky Unemployment Calculator: Up to $746/Week, 16 Weeks

All four quarters determine Kentucky's weekly amount

The Kentucky Office of Unemployment Insurance states that claims starting July 5, 2026 use a $39 minimum and $746 maximum. The calculation is 1.1923% of total covered base-period wages, rounded to the nearest whole dollar and limited to that range.

Four $5,000 quarters give $20,000 total wages and approximately $238 weekly. The current ordinary 16-week account is $3,808. Ten modeled full weeks draw $2,380; optional 10% withholding shows $214.20 per weekly payment. Withholding reduces cash paid, not the gross benefit account.

Four $20,000 quarters reach the $746 cap. Their ordinary account is $11,936. A high quarter alone cannot determine Kentucky benefits: both the total year and the distribution of earnings matter.

Pass each of Kentucky's four monetary tests

• At least $1,500 in the highest covered quarter.
• At least $1,500 combined in the other three quarters.
• Total wages at least 1.5 times the highest quarter.
• Wages in quarters three and four combined at least eight times the computed weekly amount.

Quarter order matters for the fourth test. Enter the agency's oldest selected quarter as quarter one and its newest as quarter four. Reordering wages just to improve the result changes the wage record.

A record of $10,000, $8,096, $1,000 and $904 still totals $20,000. Its last two quarters exactly meet eight times $238, or $1,904. Reducing the final quarter by one cent fails that test even though the total-year weekly calculation still rounds to $238.

A $1,500 quarter followed by three $500 quarters passes the current published thresholds and receives the $39 minimum. The $624 ordinary account equals 16 weekly amounts. Reducing the high quarter to $1,499.99 fails its independent minimum; increasing other wages cannot repair a high quarter below $1,500.

A record of $10,000, $5,000, zero and zero meets the 1.5-times distribution test but fails the last-two-quarter condition. A zero estimate means the entered record fails a modeled monetary condition; the agency decides whether another accepted base period applies.

Sixteen weeks is the current ordinary classification

KRS 341.385 sets 16 weeks when the applicable state average unemployment rate is at most 6.5%. Higher classifications increase one week per half percentage point, up to 24 weeks above 10%. Published seasonally adjusted Kentucky rates remain below 6.5% across the reviewed period, and the current agency calculator uses 16.

The classification stays fixed during the benefit year. A later change in the statewide unemployment rate does not automatically add payable weeks to an existing claim. Approved job training can create a separate additional five-week entitlement; this ordinary worksheet does not decide that approval.

Under KRS 341.380, the ordinary maximum account is the greater of 12 weekly amounts and the smaller of the applicable duration times the weekly amount or one-third of base-period wages. The statute rounds the account to the nearest dollar. The 16-week ceiling is a payment limit within the benefit year, not a promise of 16 paid weeks.

How the weekly amount is rounded to a whole dollar

KRS 341.380(2) fixes the rate at 1.1923% of total base-period wages but does not say what happens to the cents. The benefits calculator the Office of Unemployment Insurance now runs at ui.ky.gov rounds the result to the nearest whole dollar, and this worksheet does the same. It works in whole cents, so a result a fraction of a cent under 50 cents rounds down and one a fraction under a whole dollar rounds up.

Steady pay shows why that matters. Thirteen equal weeks per quarter make total wages 52 times weekly pay, and 1.1923% of that is 0.619996 times the weekly figure. At $500 a week, $26,000 gives $309.998, so the rate is $310 and the 16-week account $4,960. At $525, $27,300 gives $325.4979, so the rate is $325. At $1,000, $52,000 gives $619.996: $620 a week and $9,920 over 16 weeks. At $75 or $100 a week, a 13-week quarter stays under $1,500 and the first monetary test is not met.

Cents count too: total wages of $20,003.36 compute just above $238.50 and give $239, while $20,003.35 falls just below and gives $238, when the other tests pass. The older calculator page on kcc.ky.gov rounds each quarter up to a whole dollar first and, at round weekly pays like these, can show a rate one dollar higher or lower ($309 at $500 a week). The monetary determination is the amount Kentucky pays. Do not raise wages or remove cents to force qualification.

Kentucky ordinarily selects the four completed calendar quarters that precede the most recent one. Blank inputs remain unknown; enter zero only for a confirmed zero-wage quarter. Separation eligibility, work search, waiting weeks, earnings deductions and extensions require separate agency decisions.

Primary Kentucky sources

• Kentucky OUI benefits calculator: nearest-dollar weekly rate, current $39–$746 range, four wage tests and 16 weeks.
• Kentucky Career Center calculator page: base period and the July 5, 2026 range.
• KRS 341.380: weekly percentage and ordinary account limits.
• KRS 341.385: rate classifications and training entitlement.
• BLS Kentucky seasonally adjusted unemployment rates through FRED: observed rates below the 6.5% transition.

Rounding and the calculator range reviewed October 28, 2026; other sources reviewed October 1, 2026. Compare this full-week estimate with the approved monetary determination.

Supported claim periods and annual handoff

The Kentucky wage-estimate calendar supports 2026-07-05 to 2027-07-03. 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.