South Dakota Unemployment 2026: $575 Max, Eligibility, How to File

South Dakota pays a maximum of $575 a week in regular unemployment benefits, which the state calls Reemployment Assistance (RA), and a minimum of $28. The South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation (DLR) states: "Effective July 5, 2026, South Dakota Reemployment Assistance weekly benefit amounts range between $28 and $575 per week." The maximum is reset each year at 50% of the state's average weekly wage, so check DLR's figure for claims after the next July reset.

Benefits last up to 26 weeks, but your total is capped at one-third of your base-period wages, so many people receive fewer weeks. The first week of every claim is an unpaid waiting week.

DLR's Reemployment Assistance Division takes claims online and by phone. For how unemployment works nationally, including federal tax on benefits, see our guide to unemployment benefits by state.

Information last verified on October 6, 2026. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This page covers regular state Reemployment Assistance (unemployment insurance) in South Dakota under South Dakota Codified Laws chapters 61-6 and 61-7. It does not cover federal programs for federal civilian employees or veterans (UCFE/UCX), Disaster Unemployment Assistance, extended benefits, or claims filed in other states.

Who is eligible for unemployment in South Dakota

Eligibility starts with the wages you earned in your base period. DLR uses two base periods:

• Standard base period: the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before the effective date of your claim.
• Alternative base period: the last four completed quarters before you file.

There is also a special base period for people who are not monetarily eligible because they were off work for an extended time with a work-related injury. The claim must be filed within 24 months after the injury.

The earnings tests

Under SDCL 61-6-4 and DLR's wage requirements, you need all of the following:

• At least $728 in wages in the highest-paid quarter of your base period.
• Wages in two or more quarters of your base period, from an employer that pays unemployment taxes, from federal civilian work, or from active military duty.
• Wages outside your highest quarter equal to at least 20 times your weekly benefit amount.

SDCL 61-6-4: "No individual is entitled to benefits unless the individual's base period wages paid in other than the individual's highest quarter equal or exceed twenty times the individual's weekly benefit amount, and unless the wages paid for insured work in the individual's quarter of highest earnings in the individual's base period equal or exceed seven hundred twenty-eight dollars."

Able, available and registered

Wages are only the first test. Under SDCL 61-6-1, you must register for work and be able to work and available for work in each week you claim. DLR lists registering for work as one of your responsibilities as a claimant. If you live in South Dakota, filing registers you with SDWORKS automatically; if you live in another state, you must register with that state's workforce agency and send DLR proof within 14 days of filing. You must also attend any reemployment services DLR schedules, or your benefits stop until you report to your local Job Service office. Part-time workers must still apply for work.

How much unemployment pays in South Dakota

SDCL 61-6-2 sets your weekly benefit at "one twenty-sixth of the wages paid for insured work in the individual's quarter of highest earnings in the individual's base period, but not to exceed an amount equal to fifty percent of the average weekly wage in covered employment in South Dakota for the calendar year preceding that fiscal year." Any amount that is not a whole dollar is lowered to the next lower dollar.

DLR's July 2026 range of $28 to $575 applies to weekly benefit amounts effective July 5, 2026. DLR describes the formula the same way: "Your weekly benefit is 1/26th of the wages paid in the highest quarter of your base period, up to a maximum weekly benefit amount determined by the state's average weekly wage."

Worked example

Say your highest base-period quarter paid $10,400. Divide by 26 and your weekly benefit is $400.

A highest quarter of $14,950 or more works out to $575 or above, so a claimant at that level receives the $575 maximum. You can estimate your own amount with our South Dakota unemployment calculator, but only DLR decides your actual benefit.

How long unemployment lasts in South Dakota

The most you can collect in a benefit year is one-third of your total base-period wages, but not more than 26 times your weekly benefit (SDCL 61-6-8). DLR states: "The maximum amount payable in your benefit year is one-third your total base period wages, but not more than 26 times your weekly benefit."

Continuing the example above, suppose your total base-period wages were $24,000 with $10,400 in the highest quarter. Twenty-six weeks at $400 would be $10,400, but one-third of $24,000 is $8,000. Your total is capped at $8,000, which is 20 weeks of full payments.

The number of weeks is not tied to the state's unemployment rate. A 2026 bill to cut the cap was tabled and did not become law (see recent changes below).

The waiting week

South Dakota has an unpaid waiting week. SDCL 61-6-1 requires that you have "been unemployed for a waiting period of one week" before any week you claim benefits for. DLR's claimant handbook explains: "The first week of your claim is considered a waiting week. You must file a payment request and meet all eligibility requirements during this week, but you will not be paid. Your payments will start the following week, assuming you are still eligible for benefits and fulfill all requirements."

That means you still request payment for the waiting week and, unless DLR has waived your work search, make your job contacts for it.

Quitting and getting fired

South Dakota does not use a fixed number of disqualification weeks. Instead, if you quit without good cause or are fired for misconduct, you must requalify by working: at least six calendar weeks in insured employment during your current benefit year, earning at least your weekly benefit amount in each of those six weeks. For the rules on when an employer can end your job, see our page on South Dakota at-will employment laws.

If you quit

Under SDCL 61-6-9, the quit disqualification applies when you voluntarily left your most recent employer without good cause after working there at least 30 calendar days. South Dakota restricts "good cause" to a closed list in SDCL 61-6-9.1. You left for good cause only if:

• Continued work presented a hazard to your health, and before you left, a licensed healing-arts practitioner examined you, advised you, and certified that in writing. DLR may ask for a second certificate.
• Your employer required you to move your residence to keep the job.
• Your employer's conduct showed substantial disregard of the standards of behavior you could expect, or your employer breached or substantially changed your employment contract.
• You took other work while laid off and then quit it to return to your regular employer.
• Your religious beliefs required you to leave, unless the employer offered a reasonable accommodation before you left.
• Leaving was necessary to protect you from domestic abuse, but only if you reported the abuse to law enforcement within 48 hours of any occurrence and cooperate fully, you have left and stay separate from the abusive situation, and you made reasonable efforts to keep the job. Returning to the abusive situation makes you ineligible.
• You moved to accompany a spouse reassigned from one military assignment to another.
• You were a corporate officer with substantial control who had no alternative but to leave.

If you were fired

SDCL 61-6-14.1 defines misconduct as any of these:

1. Failure to obey orders, rules or instructions, or failure to do the duties you were hired for.
2. Substantial disregard of the employer's interests or of your duties and obligations to the employer.
3. Willful or wanton disregard of the employer's interests, such as deliberate violations of the standards of behavior the employer may expect.
4. Carelessness or negligence of such degree or recurrence that it shows equal culpability or wrongful intent.

Mere inefficiency, unsatisfactory conduct, failure to perform because of inability or incapacity, a good-faith error in judgment, and conduct your religious beliefs require that cannot reasonably be accommodated are not misconduct. If you were discharged or suspended for misconduct after at least 30 calendar days on the job, SDCL 61-6-14 denies benefits until you complete the same six-week requalification.

Whatever the reason you left, your employer still owes your earned wages; see South Dakota final paycheck laws.

Work search requirements

DLR's claimant handbook states: "A minimum of two job contacts must be made each week." The rules for counting a contact:

• Contacts must be made within the week you are claiming.
• Use the employer's customary application method; an in-person contact must be with someone who has hiring authority.
• You can contact the same employer again only for a different position or after 30 days.
• Registering with a temporary staffing agency does not count as a contact.
• The requirement applies during the unpaid waiting week too.

Keep a record of your contacts. DLR verifies them and may audit you.

DLR notifies you if your work search is waived. Common reasons are job attachment (for example, an employer recall to full-time work within 10 consecutive weeks, with a recall date from the employer) and department-approved training.

Working part-time while on unemployment

You can work part-time and still receive a reduced benefit. Under SDCL 61-6-5, "the benefit paid is reduced by seventy-five percent of the amount by which the wages or earnings exceed twenty-five dollars per week, and no benefit payment is made if the wages or earnings equal or exceed the weekly benefit amount."

For example, with a $400 weekly benefit, if you earn $125 in a week, the amount above $25 is $100. Seventy-five percent of that is $75, so your benefit for the week is $325. If you earn $400 or more that week, no benefit is paid.

How to file for unemployment in South Dakota

File as soon as you lose your job or your hours are cut; waiting can cost you benefits. You can file:

• Online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through the RA Benefits Portal on DLR's Reemployment Assistance page.
• By phone, through the Claims Call Center at 605.626.3179, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:20 p.m. Central Time.

DLR's customer service line is 605.626.2452 (Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central). TTY users can call 711 or 800.877.1113.

Report all work you did in any state in the last 18 months, including federal civilian work and military service. For employers outside South Dakota, have their names, addresses, phone numbers and your dates of work ready. DLR usually mails your monetary determination within five days.

Requesting payment every week

After you file, request payment each week through the RA Benefits Portal or by phone. DLR's handbook says: "Your first payment will be made three to four weeks after you apply for benefits. Weekly payments are made two business days after filing your request if no issues are raised."

Denials and appeals

DLR states: "You must file an appeal within 15 days of the date we mailed your determination." The statute, SDCL 61-7-5, makes a determination final unless you appeal "within fifteen days after notice has been mailed." A late appeal is accepted only for good cause.

Your appeal must be in writing. Send it by mail, fax it to 605.626.2322, or deliver it in person at any job service office. DLR does not accept appeals by phone or email. The RA Appeals office can be reached at 605.626.2310.

South Dakota's appeal levels:

1. Administrative law judge. An administrative law judge in DLR's RA Appeals office (an appeal referee under the statute) holds a hearing, usually by telephone. You receive notice at least 7 days before the hearing.
2. Secretary of Labor and Regulation. This review is optional. Request it within 15 days of the date of the judge's decision (SDCL 61-7-10, 61-7-12).
3. Circuit Court. You can appeal to Circuit Court within 30 days after the date of the decision, either directly from the judge's decision or from the Secretary's decision (SDCL 61-7-14). Further appeal goes to the South Dakota Supreme Court.

Keep filing while you appeal. DLR says: "If you appeal a determination, you should continue to file your requests for payment for each week you are unemployed." Weeks you do not claim are not paid even if you win. If your employer appeals and wins, you must repay the benefits you received.

Overpayments and fraud

If you received benefits you were not entitled to, you must repay them unless the overpayment is waived (SDCL 61-6-38 to 61-6-42). DLR can demand repayment, offset it against future benefits, or collect it like delinquent employer contributions. Under SDCL 61-6-44, interest applies from the determination date on fault overpayments, and on non-fault overpayments only to a balance still unpaid six months after the determination.

Waiver. DLR may waive an overpayment that was not your fault when recovery would defeat the purpose of benefits or be against equity and good conscience (SDCL 61-6-42). DLR explains: "An overpayment may be waived, provided the overpayment was without fault of the claimant and where the claimant's family gross income for the preceding 12 months does not exceed a set standard." The income limits effective July 1, 2026 are:

Extraordinary hardship, such as high medical expenses, can also support a waiver.

Fraud. If you obtain benefits by willful or fraudulent misrepresentation, you are denied benefits from the time it is discovered, and DLR imposes "a penalty equal to fifty percent of the amount of benefits obtained by willful or fraudulent misrepresentation for the first offense and a penalty equal to one hundred percent of the amount of benefits for each subsequent offense" (SDCL 61-6-39). Criminally, fraud of $200 or less is a Class 1 misdemeanor and more than $200 is a Class 6 felony, with amounts in a 12-month period added together (SDCL 61-6-40). DLR's claimant handbook adds that fraud can disqualify you from benefits for up to 52 weeks.

Is unemployment taxable in South Dakota?

Not by the state. The South Dakota Department of Revenue states: "South Dakota is one of seven states that does not impose a state income tax."

Benefits are taxable by the federal government. DLR's handbook says: "You can have 10% withheld from your weekly payment for tax purposes." DLR issues Form 1099-G for your federal return. For more on federal tax, see our unemployment benefits by state guide.

Recent changes

• New benefit range, July 5, 2026. DLR reset the weekly benefit range to $28 to $575 effective July 5, 2026.
• Senate Bill 6 (2026) is not law. As introduced, SB 6 would have cut the maximum benefit from 26 times to 12 times the weekly benefit amount; a committee amendment adopted on January 22, 2026, changed that to 22 times. The Senate Commerce and Energy Committee tabled it on February 19, 2026, by a 6-0 vote, and SDCL 61-6-8 still allows up to 26 times the weekly benefit.

The weekly benefit range is recalculated each year from the prior year's average weekly wage, so expect a new figure in July 2027.

Common myths about South Dakota unemployment

• "South Dakota cut benefits to 12 weeks in 2026." SB 6 as introduced would have; a committee amended it to 22 weeks and then tabled it on February 19, 2026. The 26-week cap stands.
• "Everyone gets 26 weeks." Your total is the lesser of 26 times your weekly benefit or one-third of your base-period wages.
• "You have 30 days to appeal." You have 15 days from the mailing date for the first appeal and 15 days for the Secretary's review. The 30-day window is for Circuit Court.
• "Quitting means a set number of weeks off benefits." South Dakota uses a requalification test instead: six weeks of insured work, each with earnings of at least your weekly benefit.

Disclaimer: This article is general legal information about South Dakota Reemployment Assistance, verified on October 6, 2026. It is not legal advice and not a benefit determination. Only the South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation decides whether you are eligible and how much you receive. If your claim is denied or you are found overpaid, consult a lawyer licensed in South Dakota or a legal aid office.

Related

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

Last updated: October 7, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the maximum unemployment benefit in South Dakota?

$575 a week for benefit amounts effective July 5, 2026, according to DLR. The minimum is $28 a week, and the range is reset each July.

How is unemployment calculated in South Dakota?

Under SDCL 61-6-2, your weekly benefit is 1/26 of the wages paid in the highest quarter of your base period, rounded down to the dollar, but no more than 50% of the state average weekly wage, which sets the $575 cap.

How many weeks of unemployment can you get in South Dakota?

Up to 26 weeks. SDCL 61-6-8 caps your total at one-third of your base-period wages, not more than 26 times your weekly benefit, so some claimants get fewer weeks.

Did South Dakota cut unemployment to 12 weeks?

No. Senate Bill 6 (2026) as introduced would have cut the cap from 26 to 12 times the weekly benefit (a committee amendment changed that to 22), but a Senate committee tabled it on February 19, 2026. The 26-week cap in SDCL 61-6-8 still applies.

Does South Dakota have a waiting week?

Yes. The first week of your claim is an unpaid waiting week. You must still request payment and meet every requirement, including job contacts, for that week.

Can you get unemployment in South Dakota if you quit?

Only if your reason is on the closed list in SDCL 61-6-9.1, such as a certified health hazard, a required relocation, serious employer misconduct or breach of contract, or a military spouse's reassignment. Otherwise you must work six weeks in insured employment, earning at least your weekly benefit each week, before you can collect.

How much can I earn and still get unemployment in South Dakota?

The first $25 you earn in a week does not count. Your benefit is reduced by 75% of earnings above $25, and nothing is paid in a week when you earn your full weekly benefit amount or more.

How long do I have to appeal a South Dakota unemployment decision?

15 days from the date DLR mailed the determination, under SDCL 61-7-5. The appeal must be in writing by mail, fax or in person; DLR does not take appeals by phone or email.

Is unemployment taxed in South Dakota?

Not by the state, because South Dakota has no state income tax. Benefits are federally taxable, and DLR will withhold 10% for federal tax if you ask.