Maryland Unemployment Calculator

Maryland unemployment insurance

How Maryland figures your weekly benefit amount

Maryland does not use a percentage formula. State law prints a schedule of benefits with 381 lines, and your weekly benefit amount comes from the line that holds your high quarter wages, meaning the gross pay from the calendar quarter of your base period in which you were paid the most. Line 1 covers a high quarter of $1,176.01 to $1,200.00 and pays $50 a week. Each further $24 of high quarter pay moves you up one line and adds $1, until line 381, which covers $10,296.01 and over and pays the $430 maximum. Put simply, the weekly amount equals your high quarter wages divided by 24, rounded up to the next dollar, between $50 and $430.

In the default example the standard base period runs from July 2025 through June 2026 and the best quarter is $7,800. That falls on line 276, $7,776.01 to $7,800.00, which pays $325 a week. You reach the $430 maximum once your best quarter passes $10,296, which is about $41,184 a year of steady pay. The schedule in effect on the first day of your benefit year applies for the whole benefit year.

Source: Maryland Code, Labor and Employment 8-803(b), selected lines of the schedule of benefits. The calculator reproduces all 381 lines.

Do you qualify?

Two wage tests apply. Your high quarter must be at least $1,176.01, the bottom of line 1, and you must have been paid wages in at least two quarters of the base period that together reach 1.5 times the upper limit of your line. That is the third column of the schedule: a $7,800 high quarter needs $11,700 in the base period. If your total falls short, Maryland can assign a line up to six steps lower whose wage test you do meet. For example, a $5,000 high quarter sits on line 160 and needs $7,524, but $7,400 in total still qualifies for line 156, a $205 weekly amount. Six lines lower is the limit.

The standard base period is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before your claim. If you do not qualify with it, Maryland uses the alternate base period, the four most recently completed quarters. The calculator checks both and relabels the wage boxes when you change the date. You must file in the state or district where you worked, not where you live, and you must be unemployed through no fault of your own.

Your claim date and monetary determination

Your benefit year begins on your claim's effective date, which is the Sunday of the week you file your initial claim. The claimant guide's example is a claim filed on Wednesday, March 4, with an effective date of Sunday, March 1, and the calculator uses the same Sunday to pick your base period. After you file, the Division sends a Statement of Wages and Monetary Determination that lists your base period, your employers, the wages each one reported and your weekly benefit amount. Review it carefully. If an employer is missing or a wage amount is wrong, contact a claims agent and file a monetary eligibility dispute, also called a wage dispute, with proof such as W-2 forms or pay stubs. The Division also considers whether you are receiving deductible pay, such as vacation pay, severance pay or pension payments.

Dependents allowance

Maryland adds $8 a week for each child, adopted child or stepchild under 16 whom you support, for up to five children. Grandchildren and foster children do not count, only one parent can claim a child, and you must list dependents when you file your initial claim. The benefit plus the allowance can never exceed $430 a week, so the allowance shrinks near the top of the schedule. In the default example, three children would raise $325 to $349 a week.

Working part time while you collect

You can earn up to $50 in a week before anything is taken off. After that, earnings come off your benefit dollar for dollar, and the result is rounded down to the dollar. In the default example, $150 of pay in a week means $100 comes off $325, leaving $225. A week in which your earnings reach your weekly benefit amount, plus any dependents allowance, is not a week of unemployment, so nothing is paid for it. Report your gross earnings on your weekly claim certification for the week you did the work.

How long benefits last

Regular Maryland benefits last up to 26 weeks in a benefit year. Partial weeks can stretch your claim past 26 calendar weeks, but you will never receive more than the equivalent of 26 weeks of your weekly benefit amount. In the default example that is 26 times $325, or $8,450. To stay eligible you file a weekly claim certification, register in the Maryland Workforce Exchange and complete at least three valid reemployment activities each week, including at least one job contact.

Taxes on Maryland unemployment benefits

Maryland unemployment benefits are subject to federal and state income tax. When you file you can choose 10 percent federal withholding, 7 percent Maryland withholding, both or neither, and you can change the choice later. The Division sends Form 1099-G by January 31. See are unemployment benefits taxable and the unemployment benefits tax calculator for the federal side, and Maryland county income tax rates for the local rates on your paycheck once you are back at work. If you received a severance or vacation payout, the severance pay tax calculator and the PTO payout calculator show what those checks net, and final paycheck laws by state covers when your last check is due. When you go back to work, the Maryland salary calculator and the Baltimore salary calculator show your take-home pay. Worked in another state? Compare the New Jersey, New York and North Carolina unemployment calculators.