Montana Unemployment Benefits 2026: $805 Max, Weeks, How to File

Montana's maximum weekly unemployment benefit is $805 and its minimum is $238 for benefit years that begin on or after July 1, 2026. Those are the figures the Montana Department of Labor & Industry (DLI) uses in its online benefits estimator under its "2026 updates." They also match the statutory formula in MCA 39-51-2201 applied to the state average wage in that same script.

One caution before you rely on the number. The US Department of Labor's July 2026 comparison of state programs still lists Montana at $767 maximum and $227 minimum, which were the prior year's figures, and we found no DLI notice or press release announcing $805 and $238. Your Monetary Determination from DLI is the figure that counts, so check it when it arrives.

Benefits last between 8 and 24 weeks, depending on how evenly your wages were spread across your base period. Claims are filed online through DLI's Unemployment Insurance Division. For how unemployment works across the country, 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 Montana under the Unemployment Insurance Law, Title 39, Chapter 51 of the Montana Code Annotated. 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 Montana

Montana looks at your wages during a base period. The standard base period is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before your claim (MCA 39-51-201). If those wages are not enough, DLI uses an alternate base period made up of the four most recently completed quarters.

There is also a special base period if you could not qualify because of a temporary total disability. It applies when you file within 24 months of the disability.

Your base-period wages must pass one of two tests in MCA 39-51-2105:

• Total wages of at least 1.5 times your highest quarter, and also at least 7% of the state average annual wage; or
• Total wages of at least 50% of the state average annual wage.

DLI's 2026 estimator uses a state average annual wage of $61,987.12. On that figure, 7% is about $4,339 and 50% is about $30,994. Those dollar thresholds are our arithmetic from DLI's wage figure, not amounts DLI publishes as a notice.

Beyond wages, you must be able to work, available for work and looking for work every week you claim (MCA 39-51-2104). The statute also requires registration for work with the job service unless DLI excuses it, and the claimant handbook points you to Job Service Montana. If DLI selects you for reemployment services, attendance can be required.

How much unemployment pays in Montana

Under MCA 39-51-2201, your weekly benefit amount is 1% of your total base-period wages or 1.9% of the wages in your two highest-paid quarters. DLI's estimator takes whichever is larger. The statute rounds the result down to the whole dollar and keeps it between the minimum and maximum. Montana pays no extra amount for dependents.

The maximum and minimum are not set by a fixed dollar amount. MCA 39-51-2201 ties them to the state average weekly wage, recomputed each year by May 31 and applied to new benefit years from July 1. The maximum is 66.5% or 67.5% of that wage and the minimum 19% or 20%, depending on which employer contribution schedule is in effect.

DLI's 2026 average annual wage divided by 52 is $1,192.06. Multiplying gives $804.64 at 67.5% and $238.41 at 20%, which round to $805 and $238. That is consistent with the estimator. DLI's contribution rate explanation says the 2026 rate schedule is Schedule 1, which uses the 67.5% and 20% figures, and a DLI workers' compensation memo gives the state average weekly wage effective July 1, 2026 as $1,192.00. Your Monetary Determination is still the figure that counts.

Example (illustration only). Suppose your base-period wages totaled $40,000, with $23,000 in your two best quarters and $12,000 in your single best quarter. 1% of $40,000 is $400; 1.9% of $23,000 is $437. The larger figure is $437, which sits between $238 and $805, so your weekly benefit would be about $437. Estimate your own amount with our Montana unemployment calculator.

How long unemployment lasts in Montana

Montana pays between 8 and 24 weeks. MCA 39-51-2204 divides your total base-period wages by your highest quarter and reads the result off a table. Your maximum benefit amount for the benefit year is your weekly amount times those weeks.

In the example above, $40,000 divided by $12,000 is about 3.33, which earns 24 weeks. The maximum benefit amount would be $437 times 24, or $10,488. Someone whose earnings were bunched into one or two quarters gets fewer weeks.

Montana does not tie the number of weeks to the state unemployment rate. The weeks must be drawn within a 52-week benefit year that starts the week you file, and weeks with partial earnings use up less of the total, which can stretch it out.

The waiting week

Montana has one unpaid waiting week per benefit year (MCA 39-51-2104). DLI's claimant handbook explains that the first week you are eligible is the waiting week: you must request payment for it and meet every eligibility requirement, but you will not be paid for it. Payments begin with the next week you request.

Quitting or being fired

Quitting. Under MCA 39-51-2302, you are disqualified if you left work without good cause attributable to your employment. The statute lists a few situations that do not disqualify you:

• Leaving because of a personal illness or injury, not tied to misconduct, on the advice of a licensed health care provider, if after certified recovery you returned and offered your services and regular or comparable suitable work was not available.
• Leaving temporary work you took during a lack-of-work layoff, to go straight back to your regular employer.
• Leaving to enter military service of less than 180 days.
• Leaving because your spouse received a mandatory military transfer.

If a quit disqualifies you, you requalify by earning at least six times your weekly benefit amount in new work after the week you quit. The statute also lets you requalify by regularly attending a Montana-accredited educational institution for at least three consecutive months from the date of the quit.

Being fired. A discharge is not a bar by itself. Under MCA 39-51-2303, a firing for misconduct connected with your work disqualifies you until you earn at least eight times your weekly benefit amount in new work.

The statutory definition of misconduct in MCA 39-51-201 includes insubordination, repeated inexcusable tardiness after warnings, repeated inexcusable absences, dishonesty related to the job, false statements on a job application, deliberate illegal acts, and violating a reasonable company rule you knew or should have known about. Gross misconduct, such as a criminal act other than a traffic violation for which you were convicted or admitted, brings a 52-week disqualification. Failing or refusing a drug test given under a compliant written employer policy is also disqualifying, with an exception for a marijuana test of a registered cardholder.

Separately, MCA 39-51-2305 disqualifies you for any week in which your total unemployment is due to a strike at the place where you work or last worked, with exceptions for workers not participating in or directly interested in the dispute. For how Montana law treats firing more generally, see our page on Montana at-will employment and wrongful discharge, and for what your employer owes you when you leave, see Montana final paycheck laws.

Work search requirements

DLI's claimant handbook requires at least one application or resume submitted to an employer who is hiring, each week you claim, during that Sunday to Saturday benefit week. It must be a real application, resume or interview with a person who has hiring authority at an employer that pays into unemployment insurance.

Some activities do not count: browsing job boards, asking whether a business is hiring, and checking in with a temp agency. You cannot use the same employer two weeks in a row unless the employer asks you to or it is a different position. Keep your work search records for three years, because DLI may audit them.

Work search is not required while you are in DLI-approved training (it resumes if the training pauses for more than 30 days). Job-attached and union-attached claimants are excused once DLI verifies the attachment, but must stay in contact with the employer or hall. Self-employment does not satisfy the requirement.

Availability matters too. Under MCA 39-51-2104, if you are unavailable for fewer than three days in a week, your benefit is reduced by one-fifth for each day; if you are unavailable three days or more, that week is not payable.

Working part time while on unemployment

You can collect a partial benefit in a week you work, as long as your hours were cut below your usual hours for lack of work, you earn less than twice your weekly benefit amount and you work fewer than 40 hours (MCA 39-51-2101). At 40 hours or more, you are not considered unemployed that week.

Under MCA 39-51-2202, the partial payment is your weekly benefit amount minus 50% of your earnings above one-fourth of your weekly benefit amount. With a $437 weekly benefit, one-fourth is about $109. If you earned $300, the excess is about $191, half of that is about $95, and your payment would be about $342. Report your gross earnings for the week you did the work.

How to apply and request weekly payments

File with the Montana Department of Labor & Industry, Unemployment Insurance Division, online at uiclaimant.mt.gov. DLI's Claims Processing Center can be reached at 406-444-2545.

• When to file: as soon as you are out of work or your hours are cut. Your claim is effective the week you file, and benefits are not paid for weeks before that.
• Signing in: DLI's FAQ says most new and returning users sign in with Okta, and some new users sign in with Login.gov.
• What to have ready: the names, addresses and dates of your employers in the base period. When your Monetary Determination arrives, check that every base-period employer and wage is listed.
• Weekly payment requests: request payment every week, for each Sunday to Saturday week, reporting your hours, gross earnings and work search. Weeks must be claimed in order.
• Don't let it lapse: your claim goes inactive if four weeks pass without a payment request, and you must reactivate it before benefits restart.

Denials and appeals

If you or your employer disagree with a determination, you have 10 days to act. MCA 39-51-2402 makes a determination final unless a party applies for reconsideration or appeals within 10 days after it was sent to the party's address of record; the 10 days can be extended for good cause. DLI's handbook counts the 10 days from the date of the determination, so read the date on your notice.

Since July 1, 2025, you have two options at this stage:

1. Redetermination by DLI's Claims Processing staff, for example when you have new evidence.
2. Appeal to the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH), where an appeals referee holds a hearing by telephone or videoconference.

DLI's appeals FAQ says that if you appeal to OAH, you cannot then request a redetermination. If you disagree with the OAH decision, you can appeal to the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board no later than ten days from the date of the OAH decision. After the Board's decision, MCA 39-51-2410 allows judicial review: file a petition in the district court of the county where you live within 30 days after the Board's decision was sent to you.

Keep requesting weekly payments while your appeal is pending. DLI says benefits are only considered for weeks that are filed. Under MCA 39-51-2405, filing a redetermination request or an appeal does not delay payment under the most recent decision in your favor.

Overpayments and fraud

If you receive benefits you were not entitled to, you must repay them, directly or by having them withheld from future benefits (MCA 39-51-3206). DLI may waive an overpayment if you did not conceal or misrepresent facts and repayment would cause long-term financial hardship, or if the overpayment was the department's error.

Fraud is treated more harshly. Under MCA 39-51-3201, knowingly making a false statement or hiding a material fact can mean disqualification for up to 52 weeks, repayment of everything wrongly received, and a penalty of 50% of the fraudulently obtained benefits.

Montana income tax on unemployment benefits

Montana taxes unemployment benefits. The Montana Department of Revenue's summary of Form 2 changes lists the subtraction for unemployment compensation among those repealed as of January 1, 2024, so benefits count as Montana income from tax year 2024. Benefits are also federally taxable; DLI lets you have 10% withheld. See our unemployment benefits guide for the federal rules.

Common myths about Montana unemployment

• "Montana pays 26 weeks." It pays 8 to 24 weeks, set by the ratio of your base-period wages to your best quarter.
• "You have 30 days to appeal." You have 10 days from the date of the determination.
• "The maximum is $767." That figure applied to the prior benefit year; DLI's estimator uses $805 for benefit years starting on or after July 1, 2026.
• "The waiting week is paid back later." In Montana it is simply unpaid.
• "Montana doesn't tax unemployment." That stopped with the repeal of the state subtraction for tax year 2024.

What changes next

The maximum and minimum reset every July 1. DLI recomputes the state average weekly wage by May 31, and the new figures apply to benefit years beginning on or after July 1, 2027. We cannot predict them, so check DLI before then.

Disclaimer: This page is general legal information about Montana unemployment insurance, verified on October 7, 2026. It is not legal advice or a benefit determination. Only the Montana Department of Labor & Industry decides whether you are eligible and how much you receive. If your claim is denied, consider talking to a lawyer licensed in Montana or a legal aid office.

Related

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

Last updated: October 7, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the maximum unemployment benefit in Montana in 2026?

For benefit years beginning on or after July 1, 2026, the DLI benefits estimator uses $805 a week, which matches the MCA 39-51-2201 formula at 67.5% of the average weekly wage. The US DOL's July 2026 table still shows $767, so confirm with DLI.

What is the minimum weekly unemployment benefit in Montana?

The DLI estimator uses $238 a week for benefit years beginning on or after July 1, 2026. Your amount can never be set below the minimum if you are monetarily eligible.

How long can you collect unemployment in Montana?

Between 8 and 24 weeks within a 52-week benefit year. MCA 39-51-2204 sets the number from the ratio of your total base-period wages to your highest quarter; a ratio of 3.00 or more earns 24 weeks.

How is Montana unemployment calculated?

DLI takes the larger of 1% of your total base-period wages or 1.9% of the wages in your two highest quarters, rounded down to the dollar and held between $238 and $805 for benefit years starting on or after July 1, 2026.

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

Under MCA 39-51-2105, your base-period wages must be at least 1.5 times your highest quarter and at least 7% of the state average annual wage, or at least 50% of that wage. Using the average wage in DLI's 2026 estimator, those come to about $4,339 and about $30,994.

Does Montana have a waiting week for unemployment?

Yes. The first week you are eligible is your waiting week; you must request payment for it and meet every requirement, but DLI does not pay it.

How many job applications do I need each week for Montana unemployment?

At least one application or resume submitted to an employer who is hiring, during the Sunday to Saturday week you are claiming. Keep your records for three years because DLI may audit them.

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

Only if you left with good cause attributable to your employment, or under one of the narrow exceptions in MCA 39-51-2302, such as a medically advised leave or a spouse's mandatory military transfer. Otherwise you must earn at least six times your weekly benefit in new work to requalify.

How long do I have to appeal a Montana unemployment decision?

10 days from the date of the determination, extendable only for good cause (MCA 39-51-2402). You can ask DLI for a redetermination or appeal to the Office of Administrative Hearings, but once you appeal you cannot then request a redetermination.

Can I work part time and still get unemployment in Montana?

Yes, if your hours were cut for lack of work, you earn less than twice your weekly benefit and you work fewer than 40 hours. Your payment is reduced by half of what you earn above one-fourth of your weekly benefit amount (MCA 39-51-2202).

Does Montana tax unemployment benefits?

Yes. The Montana Department of Revenue lists the unemployment compensation subtraction among those repealed as of January 1, 2024, so benefits are part of Montana taxable income from tax year 2024.