Texas Unemployment Calculator (2026)
Texas pays between $75 and $605 per week in unemployment benefits, for 10 to 26 weeks. Your weekly amount is your highest-quarter wages divided by 25. The current $605 maximum took effect October 5, 2025, and the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) resets the range every October.
How Texas calculates it
Texas takes your highest-earning quarter in the base period and divides it by 25, rounding to the nearest dollar. Earn $10,000 in your best quarter and your weekly benefit is $400. The result is capped between $75 and $605 per week. (We tested this formula against the official TWC Benefits Estimator — it matched on every case.)
The $605 maximum equals 47.6% of the state average weekly wage and is recalculated every October, so it usually inches up each year. The numbers on this page reflect the benefit year that began October 5, 2025.
Your total benefit pool is the lesser of 26 times your weekly amount or 27% of your total base period wages, also rounded to the nearest dollar. That's why some people get the full 26 weeks and others as few as 10 — the steadier your earnings were across the year, the more weeks you get.
Do you qualify in Texas?
To qualify on wages, your total base period wages must be at least 37 times your weekly benefit amount, and you need wages in at least two of the four base period quarters.
You also must be unemployed through no fault of your own (a layoff counts), able and available for work, and actively looking. TWC makes the final decision on every claim.
Maximum total benefit: Lesser of 27% BPW or 26 x WBA.