Montana Unemployment Benefits Calculator
Montana claimant entry
Montana agency-award worksheet
For Montana, enter the weekly award, maximum balance, and payable weeks issued by Montana Department of Labor and Industry; this route asserts no state-law formula.
Montana Department of Labor and Industry controls Montana eligibility and the monetary record; this worksheet only mirrors Montana values for review and never awards benefits.
Montana claimant source: https://uid.dli.mt.gov/Claimants/ — checked 2026-09-14 by this implementation.
Montana: filing and evidence
Montana is presented here in award-entry mode. Montana Department of Labor and Industry reference material lists a Montana ceiling of $767 weekly and 24 reference weeks, a pairing worth $18,408; neither figure proves monetary eligibility, payable weeks, or approval.
Montana filing desk
Montana unemployment benefits belongs with Montana Department of Labor and Industry; this is the claimant-facing starting point.
https://uid.dli.mt.gov/Claimants/Montana wage record boundary
Montana’s base-period quarters and monetary eligibility are resolved by the department from employer reports, not from a national formula.
Montana claimant next action
Submit the Montana claim and compare the claimant wage record with year-end pay documentation. For Montana, keep employer names, pay-stub dates, gross wages, separation details, and work-search records together; Montana Department of Labor and Industry needs the Montana record when checking base-period quarters and the monetary determination.
Montana agency source link (https://uid.dli.mt.gov/Claimants/) checked 2026-09-14; the federal comparison table is listed on the shared sources page.
Montana measures your eligibility against the statewide average wage
Montana's qualifying test is not a fixed dollar figure. It is written as a share of the state average annual wage, so the threshold moves every year with statewide earnings rather than being frozen until the legislature revisits it.
- Two routes, both indexed. Either base-period wages above 1.5 times high-quarter wages with total wages above 7% of the state average annual wage, or base-period wages above 50% of that average annual wage.
- The weekly amount has two formulas too: 1% of base-period wages, or 1.9% of wages in the two high quarters. The range runs $227 to $767, and that $227 floor is one of the highest minimums in the country.
- Duration comes from a weighted schedule of base-period to high-quarter wages, the same even-work-record principle Idaho uses, giving 8 to 24 payable weeks.
- An employer is covered after $1,000 in the current or preceding year, a low threshold that pulls small and seasonal Montana employers into the system.
- Part-time work: a quarter of the weekly amount is ignored.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Significant Provisions of State Unemployment Insurance Laws, effective January 2026. The report states it is not an official interpretation of state UI laws, so treat these provisions as a cross-check on the Department of Labor and Industry determination rather than a replacement for it.
Weekly maximums nearest Montana
States whose maximum weekly benefit is closest to Montana: