North Carolina Unemployment Calculator: Up to $350/Week

North Carolina uses the last two base-period quarters

Add wages from the last two completed quarters of the applicable base period, divide by 52 and round down to a whole dollar. A result below $15 does not qualify for a weekly benefit; the maximum is $350. Quarter 1 is the oldest of the four wage entries and quarter 4 is the most recent.

This rule can give a different result from a highest-quarter calculator. With quarterly wages of $9,000, $3,000, $4,000 and $4,000, the relevant sum is $8,000. Dividing by 52 gives a $153 weekly formula component after rounding, even though an earlier quarter contained $9,000.

Confirm the base period on your Wage Transcript and Monetary Determination. The agency may consider an alternative base period when the regular period does not qualify; changing that period changes which wages belong in the last two boxes.

A positive weekly amount does not complete the wage test

G.S. 96-14.1 also requires wages in at least two quarters and total base-period wages of at least six times the applicable average weekly insured wage. That indexed benchmark is not your personal average wage, the $15 weekly floor or a fixed $780 total-wage requirement.

Enter the required base-period wage amount supplied by DES in the separate threshold field. If you have not confirmed it, leave it empty: the weekly formula can still be shown conditionally, but wage-test status and the claim balance stay unresolved. A total should not be presented as payable simply because a divisor produced a number.

For a transparent hypothetical, suppose DES has supplied an $8,000 required-wage threshold, your quarters contain $1,000, $1,000, $4,000 and $4,000, and the determination allows 12 weeks. Total wages are $10,000, the two-quarter condition is met, and the weekly rate is $153. The modeled full-benefit balance is then $1,836. The $8,000 threshold in this example is an input for illustration, not a published statewide 2026 threshold.

Use the duration shown by DES

Regular duration ranges from 12 to 20 weeks under the applicable unemployment-rate schedule. DES reassesses the schedule on January 1 and July 1. This worksheet requires the authorized whole-week duration for your claim instead of assuming that the maximum 20 weeks applies to everyone.

Do not enter the length of the 52-week benefit year as the payable duration. The benefit year is the period in which an eligible claim can be used, not a promise of 52 benefit payments. A waiting week, disqualified weeks and the timing of certifications affect actual payments.

Requested weeks can be lower than the authorized limit. For the $153 hypothetical above, eight eligible full-benefit weeks model $1,224; zero requested weeks model zero. The total remains conditional on the confirmed monetary screen and the agency's weekly eligibility decisions.

Earnings, deductions and the official record

Current-week work can reduce a payment under the separate partial-unemployment provision. G.S. 96-14.2 describes an earnings allowance of 20% of the full weekly amount before the reduction. This worksheet does not apply that rule to a week of part-time work; it models the full weekly rate and identifies its monetary limits.

Optional withholding is a separate budgeting entry, not a tax return calculation. Review the actual DES determination for employers, wages, benefit year and duration. Separation issues, work search, availability, pension treatment and other nonmonetary conditions remain with DES.

North Carolina source checks

• G.S. 96-14.1: two-quarter and six-times-insured-wage requirements.
• G.S. 96-14.2: last-two-quarter formula and partial-benefit rule.
• Current DES benefits FAQ: monetary determination, indexed wage condition and 12–20 week range.

Reviewed October 1, 2026. How the worksheet handles unknowns · Florida's different duration calculation.