Alaska Unemployment Benefits 2026: $370 Max, Eligibility, Filing

Alaska's weekly unemployment benefit runs from a minimum of $56 to a maximum of $370, the figures the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development publishes for claims today. Claimants with dependents can receive $24 more per dependent, up to $72, so the most anyone can collect in a week right now is $442 (AS 23.20.350).

Benefits last 16 to 26 weeks, depending on how your base-period wages were spread across the year, not on the state's unemployment rate. Claims are filed online through myAlaska and handled by the department's UI Claim Centers in Anchorage, Juneau and Fairbanks.

The legislature has enacted a raise to a $470 maximum, but it is not in force. Under HB 302 (Chapter 52 SLA 26), the higher figures take effect no earlier than January 1, 2027, and only if the U.S. Secretary of Labor approves the change by July 1, 2027. For how the federal-state system works nationally, see our guide to unemployment benefits by state.

Information last verified on October 7, 2026. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This page covers regular state unemployment insurance in Alaska under Chapter 20 of Title 23 of the Alaska Statutes (AS 23.20). It does not cover federal programs for federal workers and veterans (UCFE/UCX), Disaster Unemployment Assistance, extended benefits, or claims filed in other states.

Who is eligible for unemployment in Alaska

Alaska measures eligibility by the wages you were paid during a base period. Under AS 23.20.520, the regular base period is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before your benefit year starts.

The wage test is short. AS 23.20.350(a) says a person "who is paid at least $2,500 in wages during the individual's base period for employment covered by this chapter is eligible to receive benefits under this chapter if those wages were paid in at least two of the calendar quarters of the individual's base period."

If the regular base period leaves you ineligible, Alaska uses an alternate base period: the four most recently completed calendar quarters before your claim. The department's FAQ describes it as "the last four completed quarters prior to the effective date of your new claim." If you were incapacitated during the base period, AS 23.20.376 allows the base period to be extended by up to four quarters.

Your benefit year is 52 consecutive weeks starting the Sunday before the day you first file. The department notes it is typically 52 weeks and sometimes 53.

Meeting the wage test is only the first step. For each week you claim, you must be able to work and available for full-time work in an occupation that fits your training and experience, with transportation and child care in place, and you must meet the work search rules below.

How much unemployment pays in Alaska

Alaska does not use a divisor or a percentage. AS 23.20.350(d) sets out a table: you find your base-period wages in one column and read your weekly benefit amount from the other. The table starts at $56 for base-period wages of $2,500 to $2,749 and tops out at $370 for base-period wages of $42,000 or more.

One adjustment applies before the lookup. Under AS 23.20.350(c), if 90% or more of your base-period wages were paid in a single quarter, the department uses the wages from your other quarters multiplied by 10 instead of your total. This keeps one large quarter from driving the weekly amount on its own.

You can estimate your amount with our Alaska unemployment calculator. Only the department sets your actual benefit, on your monetary determination.

Dependents' allowance

Alaska adds $24 a week for each dependent, up to $72 a week in total, on top of the weekly benefit (AS 23.20.350(f)). That makes $442 the highest weekly payment available today.

A dependent is an unmarried child, stepchild, adopted child or legal ward under 18 who is in your physical custody or relies on you for more than half of their support. A dependent of any age also counts if they rely on you for more than half of their support and an infirmity prevents them from working (AS 23.20.350(g)).

You can add a dependent from the week you claim them, but not after your benefit year ends or your regular benefits run out. If your weekly benefit is reduced to zero by earnings, no dependent allowance is paid that week (AS 23.20.360).

How long unemployment lasts in Alaska

You can receive 16 to 26 weeks of benefits. The department puts it this way: "The duration of benefits is 16 to 26 weeks depending on the amount and distribution of wages paid in the base period."

The number of weeks comes from an earnings ratio: your total base-period wages divided by the wages in your highest quarter (AS 23.20.350(e)). Steadier earnings across the year produce a higher ratio and more weeks.

For example, if you earned $30,000 in the base period and $10,000 of it in your highest quarter, your ratio is 3.0, which falls in the 24-week row. Your maximum benefit for the year is your weekly amount multiplied by that number of weeks.

Alaska does not adjust the number of weeks for the state's unemployment rate.

The waiting week

The first eligible week of your claim is unpaid. The department explains: "The first eligible week of your claim is called a waiting week. You do not receive payment for this week, yet you must file to get credit for the week before benefits can be paid."

AS 23.20.375 adds that no benefits are payable for any week in the benefit year until the waiting week is completed. If you skip filing for that first week, payment for the weeks after it is held up.

Quitting a job and collecting unemployment in Alaska

You are disqualified if you "left the insured worker's last suitable work voluntarily without good cause" (AS 23.20.379(a)). The department's regulation, 8 AAC 85.095(c), lists the only factors it will consider as good cause:

• A disability or illness that makes the work impossible, when you have no other reasonable alternative but to leave.
• Caring for an immediate family member with a disability or illness.
• Safety or other working conditions, or an employment agreement directly related to the work, when you have no reasonable alternative.
• Moving with a spouse to a new location when commuting is impractical and the move results from the spouse's discharge from military service or from employment.
• Leaving unskilled work to attend vocational training approved by the director, if you enter the course immediately.
• Protecting yourself or your immediate family from harassment or violence, which covers domestic violence.
• Accepting a real offer of better work that then does not materialize, through no fault of your own.
• Other factors listed in AS 23.20.385(b).

A quit without good cause disqualifies you for the first week you are unemployed and the next five weeks, six weeks in all. The disqualification ends early if you go back to work and earn at least eight times your weekly benefit amount (not counting dependents). Your maximum potential benefits are also reduced by three times your weekly benefit amount (or by your remaining unpaid benefits, if that is less), and disqualified weeks do not count toward the waiting week (AS 23.20.379).

Alaska is an at-will state, so an employer can usually end the job without a stated reason; see Alaska at-will employment laws. Whatever the reason you left, your employer still owes you your earned wages, covered in Alaska final paycheck laws.

Being fired for misconduct in Alaska

Being let go does not by itself disqualify you. The disqualification applies only if you were "discharged for misconduct connected with the insured worker's last work" (AS 23.20.379(a)(2)).

The regulation defines misconduct as on-the-job conduct showing "a wilful and wanton disregard of the employer's interest," for example "gross or repeated negligence, wilful violation of reasonable work rules, or deliberate violation or disregard of standards of behavior that the employer has the right to expect of an employee" (8 AAC 85.095(d)). It does not include inefficiency, poor performance from inability, inadvertence, ordinary negligence in isolated instances, or good-faith errors in judgment.

Conduct off the job counts only if it shows that same wilful and wanton disregard and either directly harms the employer's interest or makes you unfit for an essential part of the job. Violating an employer drug and alcohol policy that follows AS 23.10.620 is also treated as misconduct (AS 23.20.379(f)).

For the felony or theft disqualification, the regulation requires that charges were filed or the matter was reported to law enforcement, and that the facts are shown by a preponderance of the evidence. Theft here means theft under AS 11.46.100 of property or services worth $50 or more (8 AAC 85.095(e), (g)).

Work search requirements

The number of weekly work search activities depends on where you live, according to the department's work search page:

• Two activities each week if you live in Alaska within 55 road miles of a job center, or you live in another state, Canada, Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
• One activity each week if you live more than 55 road miles from the nearest job center in rural Alaska.

The requirement starts with the week you file your claim, unless the department instructs you otherwise. Contacting a private employment agency that charges a fee does not count, and neither does calling the UI Claim Center. The department may audit the activities you report.

If the department tells you to, you must register on the Alaska Job Center Network (jobs.alaska.gov) and post an online resume within seven days of filing a new or reopened claim, and keep it online. AS 23.20.378(a) treats you as unavailable for work unless you are registered as the department's regulations require.

AS 23.20.378 also allows limited, conditional exceptions to the availability rule, such as illness or disability (up to six consecutive weeks), medical travel, subsistence hunting or fishing, jury service, and attending an immediate family member's funeral (up to seven days). Ask a Claim Center before you assume one applies.

Working part time while on unemployment

You can earn $50 in a week without any reduction. Under AS 23.20.360, your benefit (not counting dependents) is reduced by 75% of your wages above $50, and it cannot go below zero.

For example, with a $300 weekly benefit and $150 in wages, the $100 above $50 reduces your benefit by $75, leaving $225. At the $370 maximum, the benefit reaches zero once weekly wages pass about $543.

Report wages for the week you earned them, even if you have not been paid yet. Severance, pay in lieu of notice, and vacation, sick or holiday pay attributable to a week are also deducted, as is an employer-funded pension except the part tied to your own contributions (AS 23.20.362).

How to file for unemployment in Alaska

File as soon as you are out of work or working less than full time. Your claim is effective the Sunday of the week you file.

• Online: log in at myAlaska and select Unemployment Insurance Benefits. A myAlaska account is required.
• By phone: Claim Center technicians answer from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Alaska Standard Time, Monday through Friday: Anchorage (907) 269-4700, Juneau (907) 465-5552, Fairbanks area (907) 451-2871. The toll-free line (888) 252-2557 is only for areas with underserved broadband. Relay users can dial 711 or (800) 770-8255.

Have ready your Social Security number; your alien registration or work permit information if you are not a U.S. citizen; your last employer's name, address, phone number and work location; your first and last days worked; your hours and gross wages in the last week; and any holiday, vacation, severance or bonus pay from that last week. Former federal workers need an SF-8 or SF-50, and former service members need DD-214 copy 4, for service or employment in the past 18 months.

After you file, claim each week to get paid. The department says: "Once you have opened a claim, you need to file every week to receive payments. Each week starts on Sunday and ends at midnight on Saturday." If you cannot file online, the department's FAQ says you may file claims every two weeks by phone through VICTOR, its automated telephone system; the Claim Center page lists the VICTOR numbers.

Denied unemployment in Alaska: how to appeal

You can appeal a determination "not later than 30 days after the claimant is notified in person of the determination or redetermination or not later than 30 days after the date the determination or redetermination is mailed to the claimant's last address of record" (AS 23.20.340(e)). The period can be extended for a reasonable time if the delay was beyond your control.

The appeal levels are:

1. Appeal Tribunal. An appeals officer holds a hearing. You can file by calling the tribunal toll-free at (800) 232-4762.
2. Department review. The tribunal's decision is final unless further review starts within 30 days after it is mailed or delivered (AS 23.20.430, 23.20.435). Review is a matter of right if the tribunal reversed or modified the department's determination; otherwise the department decides whether to take it.
3. Superior Court. A final decision can be appealed to the Alaska Superior Court under the Alaska Rules of Appellate Procedure (AS 23.20.445), which set that filing deadline. Check the rule before you rely on any date.

Keep filing your certifications during the appeal. The department's appeals FAQ is direct: "If you are successful on appeal, you will not get paid for any weeks for which you did not file." Benefits for disqualified weeks are not paid while the appeal is pending, but are paid promptly if you win.

Overpayments and fraud

If you are paid benefits you were not entitled to, you must repay them, and unpaid amounts can be deducted from future benefits (AS 23.20.390). You can appeal a determination of liability within 30 days; after that it becomes final and can be entered as a court judgment.

The department may forgive all or part of an overpayment if you acted in good faith and recovery would be against equity and good conscience, or if the person has died. This waiver is discretionary.

Fraud is treated more harshly. A knowing false statement or failure to disclose a material fact to get or increase benefits brings a disqualification for the week involved plus an additional 6 to 52 weeks (AS 23.20.387), plus a penalty equal to 50% of the benefits obtained that way (AS 23.20.390(f)). The department also states that fraud cases are subject to criminal prosecution.

Is unemployment taxable in Alaska?

Not by the state. The Alaska Department of Revenue's Tax Division states that "The State of Alaska currently does not have an individual income tax."

Benefits are still taxable on your federal return, and the department says you may request that 10 percent of benefits be withheld. Our unemployment benefits by state guide covers the federal rules.

HB 302: a higher maximum that is not in effect yet

In 2026 the legislature passed HB 302, which carries amendments to Alaska's unemployment law. The legislature's bill record shows it became law without the governor's signature as Chapter 52 SLA 26. The enacted changes include:

• Raising the top of the benefit table to $470 a week, for base-period wages of $49,000 or more.
• Raising the dependent allowance to $72 per dependent, up to $216 a week in total.
• Adjusting the table every January 1 to follow increases in the state's unemployment-contribution tax base.

These changes are conditional. The act says the unemployment sections "take effect only if, and to the extent that, on or before July 1, 2027, the United States Secretary of Labor approves the changes" under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, or determines approval is not necessary. If that happens, they take effect on January 1, 2027, or the day after the approval, whichever is later.

Until then, the current figures on this page apply: a $370 maximum, a $56 minimum and $24 per dependent. Watch the department's pages for the date the new table starts.

Common myths about Alaska unemployment

• "Alaska already pays up to $470 a week." Not yet. The $470 maximum is enacted but takes effect no earlier than January 1, 2027, and only with federal approval. Today's maximum is $370.
• "Everyone gets 26 weeks." Duration is 16 to 26 weeks, set by how your base-period wages were distributed.
• "The raise isn't law because the governor didn't sign it." HB 302 became law without the governor's signature. What is still pending is its effective date and federal approval.
• "The first week gets paid later." The first eligible week is an unpaid waiting week, though you must still file for it.

Disclaimer: This article provides general legal information about Alaska unemployment insurance, not legal advice or a benefit determination. Only the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development decides whether you are eligible and how much you receive. Information verified October 7, 2026. If your claim is denied, consider consulting a lawyer licensed in Alaska or a legal aid office.

Related

• Unemployment benefits by state
• Alaska unemployment calculator
• Alaska at-will employment laws
• Alaska final paycheck laws

Last updated: October 7, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the maximum unemployment benefit in Alaska?

$370 a week today, with a $56 minimum, under the AS 23.20.350 benefit table. With the dependent allowance of $24 per dependent, capped at $72, the highest weekly payment is $442.

Is Alaska unemployment going up to $470?

HB 302 (Chapter 52 SLA 26) raises the maximum to $470, but only if the U.S. Secretary of Labor approves the change by July 1, 2027. It would then start on January 1, 2027, or the day after approval, whichever is later.

How is Alaska unemployment calculated?

The department looks up your total base-period wages in the table in AS 23.20.350(d), which runs from $56 at $2,500 to $370 at $42,000 or more. If 90% or more of your wages came in one quarter, it uses your other quarters times 10 instead.

How many weeks of unemployment can you get in Alaska?

16 to 26 weeks. The number depends on your total base-period wages divided by your highest quarter's wages: less than 1.50 gets 16 weeks, and 3.50 or more gets 26 (AS 23.20.350(e)).

How much do I need to earn to qualify for unemployment in Alaska?

At least $2,500 in base-period wages, paid in at least two calendar quarters of the base period (AS 23.20.350(a)). If you fall short, the department checks an alternate base period of your four most recent completed quarters.

Does Alaska have a waiting week for unemployment?

Yes. The first eligible week of your claim is unpaid, and you must still file for it to get waiting-week credit before any benefits are paid (AS 23.20.375).

Can I get unemployment in Alaska if I quit my job?

Only with good cause as the department defines it in 8 AAC 85.095, such as unsafe conditions with no reasonable alternative, caring for an ill family member, or escaping harassment or violence. Otherwise you face a six-week disqualification and a cut of three times your weekly benefit.

How many job contacts do I need for Alaska unemployment?

Two work search activities a week if you live within 55 road miles of a job center or outside Alaska, and one if you live more than 55 road miles from a job center in rural Alaska.

How much can I earn and still collect unemployment in Alaska?

The first $50 a week does not reduce your benefit. Above that, your benefit drops by 75 cents per dollar earned (AS 23.20.360), so at a $370 benefit it reaches zero once wages pass about $543.

How long do I have to appeal an Alaska unemployment denial?

30 days from the date the determination is mailed to your last address, or 30 days from being notified in person (AS 23.20.340). Call the Appeal Tribunal at (800) 232-4762 and keep filing your certifications.

Does Alaska tax unemployment benefits?

No. Alaska has no individual income tax. Benefits are federally taxable, and the department lets you ask for 10% federal withholding.

What is the phone number for Alaska unemployment?

Claim Centers answer 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Alaska time, Monday through Friday: Anchorage (907) 269-4700, Juneau (907) 465-5552, Fairbanks (907) 451-2871. You can also file online at my.alaska.gov.