Maryland Unemployment Calculator: Up to $430/Week, 26 Weeks

Find your place in the Maryland wage table

Maryland Labor and Employment §8-803 contains 381 benefit lines. The first assigns $50 weekly to high-quarter wages from $1,176.01 through $1,200. Each following $24 band adds $1 to the weekly amount, ending at $430 for a high quarter of $10,296.01 or more. Each line also has its own required total wages.

This calculator follows those exact bands. For wages stated to the cent, dividing the highest quarter by 24 and rounding up reproduces the schedule, with the $50 floor and $430 ceiling applied only after qualification. A $1,200 quarter selects $50; $1,200.01 selects $51. A $1,176 quarter is below the first eligible band.

Use covered wages in all four quarters of the base period accepted by the Maryland Division of Unemployment Insurance. The standard period is the four completed quarters that precede the most recent one; an approved alternate period can use the most recent four completed quarters. The calculator does not decide which period applies.

Worked example: one schedule line, two children

A benefit year beginning October 13, 2026, with base-period wages of $5,600, $6,240, $4,900, $0 and two children the agency has approved for the allowance. The calculator on this page returns each amount below for those inputs.

The $16 allowance is paid with each payable week but is not drawn from the $6,760 account; over 26 full weeks it would add at most $416. The allowance count is fixed on the first day of the benefit year. Enter the quarters, 2 dependents and the date in the worksheet to see the same figures.

A lower table line can resolve a wage shortfall

The total wage requirement is 36 times the base weekly amount shown on the line, with wages in at least two quarters. The statute permits consideration of up to six lower lines when the initial high-quarter line does not qualify. A seventh lower line is outside that fallback.

Consider $2,000 in the high quarter and $808 in another, with zero in the remaining quarters. The high quarter initially selects $84, whose line needs $3,024 in total wages. The actual $2,808 qualifies six lines lower at $78. With $807.99 in the second quarter, total wages are one cent below the $2,808 requirement; a further move to $77 would exceed six lines, so this wage record fails the modeled test.

At the bottom of the table, $1,176.01 plus $623.99 gives the $1,800 total needed for $50. A missing quarter stays unresolved; it is not treated as zero. Your agency determination controls any wage corrections or exclusions.

Child allowances stay outside the base balance

Section 8-804 provides $8 per approved child, up to five, while combined base pay and the child allowance cannot exceed $430 in a week. An eligible child must meet Maryland's support and relationship rules and be under age 16 on the first day of the benefit year. The same child cannot be assigned to overlapping claimants under the statutory timing rule.

Enter the approved count, including zero when none. The worksheet shows the allowance separately because it is not deducted from the claimant's base benefit account. Blank dependents leave the allowance unknown while the base calculation remains visible.

A $78 base rate and five approved children give a separate $40 weekly allowance. At a $420 base rate, five children can add only $10 because of the combined ceiling. At a $430 base rate, there is no room for an additional allowance.

Model the base account over 26 full weeks

Under §8-808, the regular base balance is 26 times the base weekly amount. A $78 rate gives $2,028 in the base account; ten full eligible weeks use $780. The separately displayed child allowance is excluded from the balance, modeled total and withholding illustration.

The base maximum is $11,180 at $430 for 26 full payments. This is an amount ceiling, not a promise that every calendar week is payable. Partial benefits, weekly earnings, offsets and continued eligibility can change payment timing. A dependent allowance is payable only for qualifying benefit weeks and is subject to its own limits.

Prepare wages rather than copying every payment

Maryland's monetary-eligibility regulation treats holiday, vacation and special pay as wages when paid, while excluding severance, dismissal pay, pay instead of notice and pensions from this base-period wage calculation. Their treatment when claiming a particular week is a separate question.

It excludes special programs, weekly deductions, separation decisions and tax liability. If the agency has already issued an award, use the agency-award planner. See input preparation for incomplete records.

Maryland source record

• §8-803: complete benefit schedule and six-line fallback
• §8-802: monetary eligibility
• §8-804: child allowances and separate account treatment
• §8-808: regular base balance
• COMAR 09.32.02.15: wage inclusions and exclusions
• Maryland claimant guide

Verified October 1, 2026. See methodology and calculation sources.

Supported claim periods and annual handoff

The Maryland wage-estimate calendar supports 2026-01-01 to the current statutory schedule, subject to amendment. 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.