UTUnemployment insurance worksheet
Utah Unemployment Calculator: Up to $806/Week, 26 Weeks
In Utah, unemployment pays up to $806 a week for up to 26 weeks; your weekly amount is your highest quarter divided by 26, minus $5.
Checked against primary sources · updated See the sources
How Utah works out your amount
Utah 2026: divide the highest quarter by 26, subtract $5 and round down. The dated DWS schedule and federal comparison list an $806 cap. Duration depends on 27% of base-period wages and ends at a whole week.
Weekly earnings reduction is not modeled here unless your state source gives a rule. Optional withholding is separate from the gross estimate.
The Utah Department of Workforce Services decides eligibility, base-period wages, payable weeks, reductions, withholding and the final award. Use the official record below to verify this scenario.
Utah: DWS January–December 2026 schedule: $5,500 earnings minimum and $806 weekly cap, corroborated by U.S. DOL July 2026. Utah Code §35A-4-401 sets the $5 subtraction and 10–26 whole-week duration. https://jobs.utah.gov/ui/UIShared/PDFs/BenefitCalculation.pdf (verified 2026-10-01)
Utah unemployment for someone paid the same each week
DWS divides the best quarter by 26 and takes $5 off. $1,000 a week means $13,000 ÷ 26 = $500, less $5: $495. The $806 maximum of the 2026 schedule is reached at $1,622 a week, and the largest balance a claim can hold is $20,956. Each row is a claim filed October 25, 2026 with level pay in all four quarters.
| Pay every week | Each quarter | Weekly benefit | Share of pay | Weeks | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $500 | $6,500 | $245 | 49% | 26 | $6,370 |
| $1,000 | $13,000 | $495 | 50% | 26 | $12,870 |
| $1,500 | $19,500 | $745 | 50% | 26 | $19,370 |
| $3,000 | $39,000 | $806 (cap) | 27% | 26 | $20,956 |
Use the dated 2026 benefit schedule
Utah DWS's January–December 2026 schedule lists a maximum weekly benefit of $806 and a maximum regular balance of $20,956. The U.S. Department of Labor's July 2026 comparison also lists $806. Utah's general FAQ currently gives a conflicting $801 figure; this calculator uses the dated schedule, corroborated by the federal publication.
The cap applies to supported 2026 effective dates. A ceiling is not an automatic award. Your covered wages and monetary determination establish the individual amount.
Subtract $5 before using the weekly amount
Under Utah Code §35A-4-401, take the highest quarter in the base period, divide it by 26, subtract $5, then discard the dollar fraction. Apply the $806 ceiling after that calculation.
A $10,000 high quarter gives $384.615… before the subtraction. Subtracting $5 and rounding down gives $379 weekly. The top schedule boundary is $21,086: divided by 26, minus $5, it produces $806. At $21,085.99 the formula produces $805. The statutory arithmetic controls this worksheet where intermediate printed table rows contain inconsistent ranges.
Wages must satisfy both monetary thresholds
Utah requires covered earnings in at least two base-period quarters, at least $5,500 total wages and total wages at least 1.5 times the highest quarter. Enter all four quarters from the agency record. A blank quarter keeps the result unknown; enter zero only when you know it contains no covered wages.
With $10,000 in one quarter and $5,000 in another, total wages of $15,000 exactly meet the 1.5-times requirement. Reducing the second quarter to $4,999.99 fails. Equal wages of $1,375 in each of four quarters meet the $5,500 threshold and produce a $47 weekly estimate. The minimum earnings test prevents a tiny high-quarter result from becoming an unsupported award.
Duration is calculated in whole weeks
Multiply total base-period wages by 27% and discard the dollar fraction. Divide that amount by the weekly benefit and discard the fractional week. The regular duration is limited to at least 10 and at most 26 weeks. The balance is the weekly benefit multiplied by that duration.
For the $10,000 plus $5,000 wage example, 27% of $15,000 is $4,050. Division by $379 gives 10.686… weeks, which becomes 10 weeks. The base balance is therefore $3,790. It is not $4,050, and the remaining fraction does not create an extra partial week under this duration calculation.
Four $50,000 quarters reach the $806 weekly cap and the 26-week duration limit, giving $20,956. Requested weeks are capped by the calculated duration; zero requested weeks gives a zero modeled total.
Worked example: a claim filed October 13, 2026
A claim that takes effect in October 2026 uses wages paid from July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026. Suppose the DWS wage record shows $12,480, $16,120, $9,750, $11,700 for those four quarters, oldest first. The table follows each step of the statute; the worksheet above returns the same figures for those entries and that date.
| Stage | Calculation | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| Highest quarter | October–December 2025 | $16,120 |
| Total base-period wages | $12,480 + $16,120 + $9,750 + $11,700 | $50,050 |
| Monetary test | At least $24,180 (1.5 × the highest quarter, never under $5,500), wages in two or more quarters | Met |
| Weekly benefit amount | $16,120 ÷ 26, minus $5, dollar fraction dropped; under the $806 cap | $615 |
| Duration pool | 27% of $50,050, dollar fraction dropped | $13,513 |
| Weeks payable | $13,513 ÷ $615 = 21.97, cut to whole weeks (10 to 26) | 21 weeks |
| Benefit-year total | 21 × $615 | $12,915 |
The $16,120 quarter sits on the DWS schedule row that starts at that amount, which lists the same $615 weekly figure. Because 21.97 weeks is not a whole number, the last part-week of the pool is not paid; a higher total in the other three quarters would add weeks without changing the weekly amount.
Keep the estimate separate from a claim decision
Use the base period DWS selected, normally the four completed quarters that precede the most recent one, or the approved alternate period shown on your record. This calculator does not decide which period applies or include self-employment as covered wages. It assumes full eligible weeks and does not apply current earnings, retirement deductions, separation decisions, waiting-week timing or offsets.
Check missing wages with DWS before relying on a result. The optional withholding field illustrates your entered percentage and does not calculate tax liability. Read how to prepare the inputs or model an existing agency award.
Utah source record
- DWS benefit schedule, January–December 2026
- Utah Code §35A-4-401: weekly formula and whole-week duration
- U.S. DOL July 2026 comparison, Utah row
- DWS claimant FAQ and eligibility requirements
- DWS claimant guide
Verified October 1, 2026; the statute and the DWS schedule were read again on October 13, 2026 for the worked example. See methodology and calculation sources.
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 Utah 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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