Connecticut Unemployment Benefits 2026: $721 Max, Rules, How to File

Connecticut's maximum weekly unemployment benefit is $721, and it is not moving soon. The Connecticut Department of Labor (CTDOL) says the maximum "remains at $721" because state law freezes it for benefit years starting from the first Sunday in October 2024 until the first Sunday in October 2028. The minimum is $44 a week for benefit years starting on or after January 1, 2026.

Connecticut also pays a dependency allowance of $15 per qualifying dependent, up to five dependents, on top of the weekly rate. That makes the highest possible weekly payment $796. Benefits last up to 26 weeks under C.G.S. 31-231b.

CTDOL takes claims through its ReEmployCT system. This page covers Connecticut's own rules; 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 Connecticut, administered by the Connecticut Department of Labor. 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 Connecticut

Connecticut measures your work history over a base period. Under C.G.S. 31-230(a), the standard base period is the first four of the five most recently completed calendar quarters before your benefit year.

If you do not qualify using the standard base period, CTDOL uses an alternate base period: the four most recently completed calendar quarters (C.G.S. 31-230(b)). A special base period also exists for people who were out of work on workers' compensation or on an approved employer sick or disability leave. It uses the four quarters just before the last quarter you worked, if that quarter falls within 12 quarters of your claim. If your job loss involves a work injury, our guide to Connecticut workers' compensation laws covers that separate claim.

The earnings test is simple. C.G.S. 31-235(a)(3) requires base-period wages from covered employers "in an amount at least equal to forty times the individual's benefit rate for total unemployment." CTDOL's 2026 figure for the minimum is $44 times 40, or $1,760 (it was $1,680 in 2025). In practice the test scales with your own rate: a claimant whose rate would be $423 needs at least $16,920.

You must also be "physically and mentally able to work," available for work, and "making reasonable efforts to obtain work" (C.G.S. 31-235(a)(2)). Registration with the state employment service is a condition of eligibility, and CTDOL registers you in CTHires.com automatically when you file and agree to share your information. If CTDOL selects you for reemployment services (RESEA), you must take part.

How much unemployment pays in Connecticut

Under C.G.S. 31-231a, your weekly benefit rate is "one twenty-sixth, rounded to the next lower dollar, of the average of the individual's total wages" in the two base-period quarters in which you earned the most. The rate cannot be less than the minimum ($44 in 2026) or more than the maximum ($721).

Example. Say your two highest base-period quarters paid $12,000 and $10,000. Their average is $11,000. One twenty-sixth of $11,000 is about $423.08, which rounds down to $423 a week. To reach the $721 maximum, the average of your two highest quarters must be at least $18,746 (26 times $721).

Construction workers, identified by their workers' compensation class code, are calculated differently: one twenty-sixth of the single highest quarter.

Dependency allowance. C.G.S. 31-234 adds $15 a week for:

• A nonworking spouse living in your household.
• Each child or stepchild you wholly or mainly support at the start of your benefit year who is under 18, or under 21 and a full-time student, or who has a mental or physical disability.

The allowance covers no more than five dependents ($75), cannot exceed your weekly benefit rate, and is paid only for weeks in which benefits are payable. If both spouses collect, neither gets an allowance for the other, and only one can claim each child. In the example above, a claimant with two qualifying children would receive $423 plus $30, or $453 a week.

How the minimum and maximum change. The minimum is re-indexed every January 1 by the change in the federal Employment Cost Index. The statute normally caps the maximum at 50% of the state's average wage and limits yearly increases, but the current freeze overrides that until the first Sunday in October 2028. The maximum cannot rise before then.

You can estimate your amount with our Connecticut unemployment calculator. Only CTDOL determines your actual benefit.

How long unemployment lasts in Connecticut

CTDOL says "Unemployment benefits are paid for up to 26 weeks." The statute, C.G.S. 31-231b, says no one may receive benefits in a benefit year "in excess of twenty-six times his or her total unemployment benefit rate." The dependency allowance is paid on top of that rate.

Connecticut does not cut the number of weeks based on how much you earned in the base period, and it does not tie duration to the unemployment rate. If you collect partial benefits or have a pension, CTDOL says "you may receive the same total amount but over a longer period of time." Your benefit year lasts 52 weeks.

Is there a waiting week in Connecticut?

Connecticut's unemployment statute, chapter 567 of the General Statutes, contains no waiting-week provision, and CTDOL's claimant guide does not describe one. The guide says "The Sunday after you initially apply for benefits is the first day that you can submit a weekly claim."

Your claim is effective the Sunday of the week you file, so file the day you lose work or any day that week.

Quitting a job and collecting unemployment in Connecticut

Under C.G.S. 31-236(a)(2)(A), you are ineligible if you "left suitable work voluntarily and without good cause attributable to the employer, until such individual has earned at least ten times such individual's benefit rate." The bar is not a fixed number of weeks; it ends when you have earned enough in new work.

The statute recognizes several reasons for leaving that do not disqualify you:

• Good cause attributable to the employer, including changes in conditions the employer created.
• Caring for your spouse, child or parent with an illness or disability diagnosed by a health care provider, when you need more time than your employer will allow as leave.
• Losing transportation you used to get to work (other than your own) with no reasonable alternative.
• Protecting yourself, your child, your spouse or your parent "from becoming or remaining a victim of domestic violence," provided you "made reasonable efforts to preserve the employment."
• Accompanying a spouse "on active duty with the armed forces of the United States" who is required to relocate.
• Accompanying a spouse whose job moved to a place from which commuting is impractical.
• Leaving part-time work for full-time work, leaving to return to a regular apprenticeable trade, or leaving solely because of a government regulation.

CTDOL decides each case on its facts. Connecticut is an at-will state, so an employer can usually end the job without giving a reason; see Connecticut at-will employment laws. Whatever the reason you left, your employer still owes your earned wages, covered in Connecticut final paycheck laws.

Being fired for wilful misconduct in Connecticut

Being let go is not by itself a bar to benefits. Under C.G.S. 31-236(a)(2)(B), you are ineligible if you were discharged or suspended for:

• Felonious conduct.
• Larceny of property or services worth more than $25, or larceny of currency of any value.
• Wilful misconduct in the course of your employment.
• Participating in an illegal strike.

The statute defines "wilful misconduct" as "deliberate misconduct in wilful disregard of the employer's interest, or a single knowing violation of a reasonable and uniformly enforced rule or policy of the employer, when reasonably applied, provided such violation is not a result of the employee's incompetence."

Repeated unexcused absence can also count. The statute treats three separate instances of absence without good cause or reasonable notice within 12 months as wilful misconduct, and for absences on or after January 1, 2024, each single day absent counts as a separate instance.

The disqualification lasts until you earn at least 10 times your weekly benefit rate. Separate provisions cover a discharge after failing a mandated drug or alcohol testing program and a discharge during imprisonment of 30 days or more. Refusing suitable work without sufficient cause, or failing to apply for it when directed, makes you ineligible until you return to work and earn at least six times your weekly rate (C.G.S. 31-236(a)(1)).

Work search requirements

CTDOL's claimant guide says: "Every week, you must complete at least three (3) work search activities and one (1) of these activities must be contacting an employer about a job." That allows three employer contacts, two employer contacts plus one other activity, or one employer contact plus two other activities.

CTDOL says to "Keep all documents related to your work search for at least three (3) years from the start of your claim, as you could be audited at any time."

The guide lists situations in which the work search does not apply:

• You are a trade-union member attached to a union hiring hall.
• You are in an approved shared-work program.
• You have a date to return to work within 13 weeks of your initial claim.
• You have a new job starting within 13 weeks of the week-ending date.
• You are on jury duty.
• You are in training or education approved by CTDOL.

Working part time while on unemployment

You can collect a partial benefit in a week you work. Under C.G.S. 31-229, your weekly rate is reduced by "two-thirds, rounded to the next higher whole dollar," of your total earnings for the week, rounded to the nearest dollar.

There is a ceiling. You count as partially unemployed only if your earnings for the week are "less than one and one-half times his benefit rate for total unemployment rounded to the next highest dollar." At or above that amount, no benefit is paid for the week.

For example, with a $423 weekly rate, earning $300 in a week reduces the benefit by $200 (two-thirds of $300), so you would receive $223. One and one-half times $423 is $634.50, which rounds up to $635, so earnings of $635 or more would mean no payment that week. Report your gross earnings for every week you claim.

How to file for unemployment in Connecticut

File your initial claim with CTDOL online through ReEmployCT the day you lose work or any day that week. Your claim is effective the Sunday of the week you file. Have your wage and employer information for the base period ready, and give accurate information about any dependents so CTDOL can set the dependency allowance.

If you need help, CTDOL's lines are 203-941-6868, 860-967-0493 and 800-956-3294, Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (closed weekends and holidays). TTY users can call 711 or 800-842-9710.

File a weekly claim every week. You can submit your first weekly claim the Sunday after you apply. CTDOL says "Weekly claims must be completed by 11:59 p.m. on Saturday of each week you are claiming benefits." Each weekly claim confirms that you were able and available for work, completed your work search, and reported your gross earnings.

Denied unemployment in Connecticut: how to appeal

Under C.G.S. 31-241, a CTDOL decision becomes final unless you appeal "within twenty-one calendar days after such notification was provided." If the last day falls when the offices are closed, the deadline moves to the next business day, and a mailed appeal counts if it is received or postmarked within the period. A late appeal may be accepted for good cause.

The appeal levels are:

1. Referee, Employment Security Appeals Division. A referee holds a hearing on your appeal. The referee's decision becomes final on the 22nd calendar day unless someone appeals (C.G.S. 31-248).
2. Employment Security Board of Review. Appeal within 21 days of the date the referee's decision was provided (C.G.S. 31-249).
3. Connecticut Superior Court. File a petition through the Board of Review within 30 days of the date the Board's decision was provided (C.G.S. 31-249a and 31-249b). A further appeal goes to the Appellate Court (C.G.S. 31-249b).

Keep filing while you wait. CTDOL tells claimants to "continue to search for work, file your weekly claims, and report any money you earned during the claim week while your appeal is pending. If your appeal is decided in your favor, you will only be paid for the weeks for which you met these requirements."

Overpayments and fraud

If CTDOL overpaid you through an error and brings it to your attention within one year, C.G.S. 31-273(a) lets it require repayment, recover it by deducting from your future benefits (no more than 50% of your weekly benefit amount), or waive it. A waiver is possible when repayment "would defeat the purpose of the benefits or be against equity and good conscience." CTDOL's guide says to request that review within the fourteen days given in your CTDOL notice.

Fraud is treated far more harshly. For an overpayment caused by fraud, wilful misrepresentation or wilful nondisclosure, you must repay the full amount, 100% of your weekly benefits can be withheld until it is recovered, and CTDOL charges interest of 1% a month. The statute adds "a penalty of fifty per cent of the amount of overpayment for the first offense and a penalty of one hundred per cent of the amount of overpayment for any subsequent offense." A fraud overpayment cannot be waived, and federal tax refund offsets and criminal prosecution are possible.

Is unemployment taxable in Connecticut?

Yes. CTDOL says "If you are required to file a tax return, unemployment benefits are fully taxable by the federal government (IRS) and the State of Connecticut." Its claimant guide says you can elect to have tax withheld from your payments. Our unemployment benefits by state guide covers the federal rules.

Recent and pending changes

• January 1, 2026: the minimum weekly benefit rose from $42 to $44, and the minimum base-period earnings from $1,680 to $1,760, according to CTDOL. The maximum stayed at $721.
• January 1, 2024: for wilful-misconduct absence cases, a single day's unexcused absence now counts as a separate instance.
• Next minimum change: January 1, 2027, when the minimum is re-indexed. The 2027 figure has not been published.
• End of the maximum freeze: the freeze covers benefit years starting before the first Sunday in October 2028. The maximum cannot rise before then.
• Striking workers (not law): Connecticut's statute, C.G.S. 31-236(a)(3), makes a person ineligible during any week in which unemployment "is due to the existence of a labor dispute other than a lockout." In 2025 the General Assembly passed SB 8 (Public Act 25-64), which would have extended benefits to some striking workers, but the Governor vetoed it on June 23, 2025. Two other striking-worker bills, HB 6904 in 2025 and SB 440 in 2026, were tabled for the calendar after favorable committee reports, with no record of passage. Check the bill status on the General Assembly website before relying on any report that this has changed.

Common myths about Connecticut unemployment

• "The maximum goes up every October." It cannot rise above $721 for benefit years starting before the first Sunday in October 2028.
• "The minimum benefit is $15." That figure applies only if the federal government pays a fully federally funded supplement. The 2026 minimum is $44.
• "You only need about $600 in base-period wages." You need at least 40 times your weekly rate, and never less than $1,760 in 2026.
• "A quit disqualification lasts a set number of weeks." It lasts until you earn 10 times your weekly benefit rate in new work.

Disclaimer: This article provides general legal information about Connecticut unemployment insurance, not legal advice or a benefit determination. Only the Connecticut Department of Labor 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 Connecticut or a legal aid office.

Related

• Unemployment benefits by state
• Connecticut unemployment calculator
• Connecticut at-will employment laws
• Connecticut final paycheck laws
• Connecticut workers' compensation laws

Last updated: October 7, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the maximum unemployment benefit in Connecticut?

$721 a week, plus up to $75 in dependency allowances, for a top payment of $796. CTDOL says the $721 maximum is frozen by statute for benefit years starting before the first Sunday in October 2028.

What is the minimum unemployment benefit in Connecticut in 2026?

$44 a week for benefit years starting on or after January 1, 2026, according to CTDOL. It rose from $42 and is re-indexed each January 1.

How is Connecticut unemployment calculated?

CTDOL averages your wages in the two highest quarters of your base period and pays one twenty-sixth of that average, rounded down (C.G.S. 31-231a). Top quarters of $12,000 and $10,000 average $11,000, which gives $423 a week.

How many weeks of unemployment can you get in Connecticut?

Up to 26 weeks. Total benefits in a benefit year cannot exceed 26 times your weekly benefit rate (C.G.S. 31-231b); partial weeks can stretch that total over a longer period.

Does Connecticut pay extra for dependents on unemployment?

Yes. C.G.S. 31-234 adds $15 a week for a nonworking spouse in your household and for each qualifying child, up to five dependents ($75), and never more than your weekly benefit rate.

Is there a waiting week for unemployment in Connecticut?

Connecticut's unemployment chapter, C.G.S. chapter 567, has no waiting-week provision, and CTDOL's claimant guide describes none. You can submit your first weekly claim the Sunday after you apply.

How many job searches do I need for Connecticut unemployment?

At least three work search activities every week, and at least one must be contacting an employer about a job. CTDOL says to keep your records for at least three years from the start of your claim.

Can I get unemployment in Connecticut if I quit?

Only if you left with good cause attributable to the employer or for a reason the statute lists, such as caring for a seriously ill family member, domestic violence or a spouse's relocation. Otherwise you are ineligible until you earn 10 times your weekly rate in new work.

How much can I earn and still get unemployment in Connecticut?

CTDOL reduces your weekly benefit by two-thirds of your gross earnings (C.G.S. 31-229). Once your earnings reach one and one-half times your weekly rate, the week is not one of partial unemployment and no benefit is paid.

How long do I have to appeal a Connecticut unemployment denial?

21 calendar days after the decision was provided to you (C.G.S. 31-241). After a referee decides, you have 21 days to go to the Board of Review, then 30 days to go to Superior Court.

Is unemployment taxable in Connecticut?

Yes. CTDOL says that if you are required to file a tax return, unemployment benefits are fully taxable by the IRS and the State of Connecticut.

What is the Connecticut unemployment phone number?

CTDOL's lines are 203-941-6868, 860-967-0493 and 800-956-3294, Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. TTY users can call 711 or 800-842-9710.