Texas Unemployment Benefits 2026: $619 Max, Eligibility, How to File

In Texas, the weekly unemployment benefit ranges from $76 to $619. The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) lists those figures in the row of its benefit table dated October 4, 2026; the prior row, dated October 5, 2025, was $75 to $605. Under Tex. Lab. Code § 207.002(e), you keep the maximum that was in force on the effective date of your valid claim until you start a new benefit year.

Benefits last up to 26 weeks, but TWC caps your total at 26 times your weekly amount or 27 percent of your base-period wages, whichever is less (§ 207.005). TWC runs the program, and you apply and request payment through its Unemployment Benefit Services (UBS) system or by phone.

This page covers the Texas rules: who is eligible, how the weekly amount is figured, how long it lasts, the waiting week, what can disqualify you, the work-search rules, how to file and how to appeal a denial. To compare Texas with other states, 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 article covers regular state unemployment benefits in Texas under the Texas Labor Code, administered by the Texas Workforce Commission. It does not cover federal programs (UCFE for federal workers, UCX for former service members, Disaster Unemployment Assistance), extended or emergency federal benefits, or other states' programs.

Who is eligible for unemployment in Texas

You may be eligible if you lost your job or had your hours cut through no fault of your own, earned enough wages in your base period, and are able to work, available for work and actively seeking work each week. TWC decides eligibility on each claim.

Your base period

Texas uses the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before your claim starts. The Labor Code defines the base period as "the four consecutive completed calendar quarters, prescribed by the commission, in the five consecutive completed calendar quarters preceding the first day of an individual's benefit year" (§ 201.011).

Texas has no general alternate base period. Its alternate base period is limited to medical situations. TWC says you may be able to use one if you were out of work for at least seven weeks in one base-period quarter because of a medically verifiable illness, injury, disability or pregnancy, and you filed your initial claim no later than 24 months after the condition began. In that case the statute uses the first four of the five quarters before the quarter in which the illness or injury began.

The earnings test

TWC lists three monetary conditions, which track § 207.021(a)(6)-(7):

• You have wages in more than one of the four base-period quarters.
• Your total base-period wages are at least 37 times your weekly benefit amount.
• If you qualified for benefits on a prior claim, you have earned at least six times your new weekly benefit amount since then.

Example (illustration only): a claimant whose weekly amount is $400 needs at least $14,800 in total base-period wages (37 x $400).

Able, available and seeking work

Each week you request payment, you must be able to work, available for work and actively seeking work under TWC's rules (§ 207.021). TWC's ongoing eligibility page also sets a suitable-work standard: "During your first eight weeks of unemployment, you must be willing to accept a suitable job that pays at least 90 percent of your normal wage. After you have been unemployed for eight weeks," the threshold drops to at least 75 percent of your normal wage.

The current text of § 207.021, as amended by H.B. 3698 effective September 1, 2025, also requires you to take part in reemployment services if TWC selects you, either through profiling or because it finds participation furthers the goals of its reemployment services program (§ 207.021(a)(9)).

How much unemployment pays in Texas

Your weekly benefit amount (WBA) is based on your highest-paid base-period quarter. Under § 207.002, you receive "1/25 of the wages received by the individual from employment by employers during that quarter in the individual's base period in which wages were highest." TWC puts it plainly: "we divide your base period quarter with the highest wages by 25." The result is a whole-dollar amount, never less than the minimum or more than the maximum. Texas pays no dependents' allowance.

Worked example (illustration only): a worker paid $10,000 in their best quarter would receive $10,000 divided by 25 = $400 a week. A worker whose result would come out above $619 is paid $619.

To estimate your own amount, use our Texas unemployment calculator. The figure on TWC's notice to you is the one that controls.

How the maximum is set each year

Section 207.002(b) ties the maximum to 47.6 percent and the minimum to 7.6 percent of the average weekly wage in covered employment in Texas. The same section limits any yearly increase to $14 for the maximum and $1 for the minimum, and increases take effect in the fall. That is how the range moved from $75 to $605 in the October 5, 2025 row to $76 to $619 in the October 4, 2026 row.

How long unemployment lasts in Texas

The maximum is 26 weeks of full benefits in a benefit year. Texas does not link the number of weeks to the state unemployment rate.

Your maximum benefit amount (MBA) is, in TWC's words, "26 times your weekly benefit amount or 27 percent of all your wages in the base period, whichever is less." The 27 percent limit affects people whose earnings were concentrated in one quarter.

Example (illustration only): a claimant with a $400 WBA and $30,000 in total base-period wages could receive at most the lesser of $10,400 (26 x $400) or $8,100 (27 percent of $30,000). The $8,100 total is about 20 weeks at $400.

The Texas waiting week

You must serve a waiting period of at least seven consecutive days of total or partial unemployment before benefits begin (§ 207.021(a)(8)). A week counts as your waiting week only if it falls after your initial claim, you have registered for work, and you request payment for it.

The waiting week is unpaid at first, but Texas pays it later in two situations. Under § 207.021(c), you become eligible for the waiting-week payment once you have been paid benefits in the current benefit year equal to at least two times your weekly amount and you either:

1. Return to full-time work after being unemployed for at least seven consecutive days, or
2. Exhaust your regular benefits for the benefit year.

TWC lists requesting your waiting week as a step you take yourself, through UBS or its Tele-Serv line (800-558-8321).

The governor may also suspend the waiting period by executive order after a presidentially declared natural disaster (§ 207.0212).

Can you get unemployment if you quit or were fired in Texas

A quit or a firing does not automatically end your claim, but each can disqualify you. Whether your employer could lawfully end the job is a separate question; see Texas at-will employment laws.

Quitting: good cause connected with the work

Under § 207.045, "An individual is disqualified for benefits if the individual left the individual's last work voluntarily without good cause connected with the individual's work." TWC's examples of work-connected good cause include unsafe working conditions, significant changes in the hiring agreement and not getting paid.

The Labor Code also protects people who leave for these reasons:

• Medical reasons. A medically verified illness, injury, disability or pregnancy of your own, or the illness of your minor child, does not disqualify you as long as you are available to work. The child exception applies only if no reasonable alternative care was available and your employer refused you reasonable time off (§ 207.045(d)).
• Violence, stalking and sexual assault. Leaving to protect yourself from family violence or stalking, or to protect yourself or your immediate family from violence related to sexual assault, is treated as an involuntary separation when it is documented by a protective order, police record, physician's statement or documentation from a family violence or rape crisis center (§ 207.046).
• Caring for a terminally ill spouse, if no reasonable alternative care is available (§ 207.046).
• Military service. Being called to uniformed service or the Texas military forces (§ 207.046), and military personnel who do not reenlist (§ 207.045(f)).
• Moving with a military spouse. Moving with a spouse in the US armed forces because of a permanent change of station longer than 120 days or a tour of duty longer than one year (§ 207.045(d)(6)).
• Other listed situations, including leaving part-time work for a job you reasonably believed would raise your weekly wage while partially unemployed, leaving unsuitable work to enter TWC-approved training, and leaving an unsuitable job of under four weeks while receiving benefits (§ 207.045(g), (g-1), (j)).

Moving with a non-military spouse. If you quit to move with your spouse and the move is not part of a qualifying military transfer, the disqualification is set at no fewer than 6 and no more than 25 benefit periods, as TWC decides, and TWC says your maximum benefit amount is also reduced by the number of disqualified weeks.

Being fired for misconduct

Texas defines misconduct in the statute. Under § 201.012, "Misconduct" means "mismanagement of a position of employment by action or inaction, neglect that jeopardizes the life or property of another, intentional wrongdoing or malfeasance, intentional violation of a law, or violation of a policy or rule adopted to ensure the orderly work and the safety of employees." The definition does not include an act in response to an unconscionable act of an employer or superior. Texas has no separate gross-misconduct tier.

How long the disqualification lasts

For a quit without good cause or a discharge for misconduct, you are disqualified until you return to work and either work six weeks or earn wages equal to six times your weekly benefit amount (§ 207.044, § 207.045). With a $400 WBA, the earnings route means earning $2,400.

Two other disqualifications can apply. Failing without good cause to apply for suitable work when TWC directs you to, or to accept suitable work you are offered, disqualifies you on the same six-weeks-or-six-times terms (§ 207.047). You are also disqualified for any benefit period in which your unemployment is caused by your stoppage of work because of a labor dispute where you work, unless you meet the narrow exceptions in § 207.048(b).

Work search requirements in Texas

Texas does not use one statewide number. TWC's county work-search page explains: "Your Workforce Development Board determines the minimum number of work search activities required," and "the required number of activities varies by county." TWC mails you a letter with the number you must meet each week, and it says, "You should rely on the letter TWC sends." On October 7, 2026, the county table listed requirements ranging from 1 to 5 activities a week, depending on the county.

You must make that minimum number of work search activities in every week for which you request payment. You must also register for work in the state where you live.

Working part-time while collecting

You can work reduced hours and still receive a partial payment. Under § 207.003, TWC adds your weekly benefit amount and the greater of $5 or 25 percent of that amount, then subtracts your wages for the week.

Example (illustration only): with a $400 WBA, 25 percent is $100, which is more than $5, so the starting figure is $500. A claimant who earns $200 that week would receive $500 minus $200 = $300. Once weekly earnings reach $500, the partial payment is zero.

How to file for unemployment in Texas

Apply online through TWC's Unemployment Benefit Services (UBS), which TWC describes as the place to "Apply for benefits, request payment, check your claim." To speak with a customer service representative, TWC lists 800-939-6631.

When to file: a week counts toward your waiting period only after you file your initial claim, so applying promptly after you lose work or your hours drop keeps the process moving.

Request payment on schedule. UBS is also where you request payment, and you must complete your required work search activities in every week for which you request payment. TWC says to request payment about one to two weeks after you apply and every two weeks after that, on the filing day shown in your instructions, online through UBS or by calling Tele-Serv at 800-558-8321. If you do not request payment within the calendar week it is due, your payment may be delayed or denied.

When you leave a job, your employer may also owe you a final paycheck by a set deadline; see Texas final paycheck laws.

Denied unemployment in Texas: how to appeal

Texas deadlines are short. An examiner's determination becomes final unless you appeal no later than the 14th calendar day after the date it is mailed to your last known address (§ 212.053). Count from the mailing date on the notice, not the date you received it. TWC says that if the 14th day falls on a federal or state holiday, you have until the next business day.

The appeal moves through these levels:

1. Appeal tribunal. An appeal tribunal holds a hearing on your appeal. The tribunal's decision becomes TWC's final decision unless a further appeal is started no later than the 14th day after it is mailed (§ 212.104).
2. The Commission. You can appeal the tribunal decision to the Commission within that 14-day window. The Commission's decision becomes final 14 days after it is mailed unless it is reopened or a party files a written motion for rehearing (§ 212.153).
3. Court. After the Commission's decision is final, a party may sue the Commission in a county court at law or district court, on or after the date the decision becomes final and no later than the 14th day after that date (§ 212.201). The court reviews the case by trial de novo based on the substantial evidence rule (§ 212.202). TWC describes the court filing window as between 15 and 28 days after it mailed you the Commission decision. H.B. 2760, effective September 1, 2025, changed only the wording of the court description in § 212.201, not the deadline.

Payments during an appeal. Under § 212.004, benefits are paid promptly according to the latest determination or decision, regardless of whether an appeal period or appeal is still pending. TWC tells claimants to keep submitting payment requests on schedule throughout the appeal, because it can pay you only for weeks in which you submitted timely payment requests and met all other requirements.

Unemployment overpayments in Texas

If you receive benefits you were not entitled to, you are liable to repay them. Under § 214.002, an "improper benefit" includes one paid because of a nondisclosure or misrepresentation of a material fact, whether or not it was knowing or fraudulent, while you did not meet a qualifying condition or were disqualified. TWC can recover it by deducting from future benefits, collecting a refund, or collecting it the way it collects past-due employer contributions.

Willful nondisclosure or misrepresentation carries steeper consequences under § 214.003: you forfeit the benefits received and your remaining benefit rights for the benefit year, and TWC must assess a penalty equal to 15 percent of the forfeited benefits. These penalties apply only after you have had an opportunity for a fair hearing. Ask TWC whether a waiver is available for a non-fraud overpayment.

Does Texas tax unemployment benefits

No. Texas has no personal income tax; Article 8 of the Texas Constitution provides that "The legislature may not impose a tax on the net incomes of individuals." Unemployment benefits are still taxable on your federal return; see the federal tax notes on our unemployment hub.

Recent and upcoming changes

• Fall 2026 benefit range. TWC's table shows the range rising from $75 to $605 (October 5, 2025 row) to $76 to $619 (October 4, 2026 row). The range is recomputed every year, within the $14 and $1 increase limits.
• Reemployment services condition (September 1, 2025). H.B. 3698 amended § 207.021(a)(9) so that, for claims filed on or after September 1, 2025, TWC can require you to take part in reemployment services even if its profiling system did not flag you, when it finds your participation furthers the program's goals.
• Judicial review (September 1, 2025). H.B. 2760 amended § 212.201, the section on taking a Commission decision to court.

Common myths about Texas unemployment

• "The maximum is still $605." That was the figure in TWC's October 5, 2025 row; the October 4, 2026 row shows $619.
• "Everyone gets 26 weeks." Your total is the lesser of 26 times your weekly amount or 27 percent of your base-period wages.
• "The waiting week is simply lost." Texas pays it later once you have received two weeks' worth of benefits and either return to full-time work or exhaust your regular benefits.
• "You have 30 days to appeal." In Texas the limit is 14 calendar days at each stage.
• "Everyone needs the same number of job contacts." The minimum is set by your local workforce board and varies by county; follow your TWC letter.

Disclaimer: This article provides general legal information about Texas unemployment benefits, verified on October 7, 2026. It is not legal advice and it is not a benefit determination. Only the Texas Workforce Commission decides whether you are eligible and how much you receive. If your claim was denied or you received an overpayment notice, consider consulting a lawyer licensed in Texas or a legal aid office.

Related

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

Last updated: October 7, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the maximum unemployment benefit in Texas in 2026?

TWC lists $619 a week as the maximum and $76 as the minimum in the row dated October 4, 2026. The prior row, from October 5, 2025, was $605 and $75, and you keep the maximum in force when your claim became effective until a new benefit year (Tex. Lab. Code § 207.002(e)).

How is Texas unemployment calculated?

TWC divides the wages in your highest-paid base-period quarter by 25 and gives you a whole-dollar amount between $76 and $619. For example, $10,000 in your best quarter works out to $400 a week.

How long does unemployment last in Texas?

Up to 26 weeks. Your maximum benefit amount is the lesser of 26 times your weekly amount or 27 percent of your base-period wages, so some claimants receive fewer weeks.

How much do I need to have earned to qualify for unemployment in Texas?

Wages in more than one of the four base-period quarters, and total base-period wages of at least 37 times your weekly benefit amount. If you had a prior claim, you also must have earned six times your new weekly amount since then.

Does Texas pay the waiting week?

Not at first. Under Tex. Lab. Code § 207.021(c), the waiting week is paid later if you have received at least two times your weekly amount in the benefit year and then return to full-time work or exhaust your regular benefits.

How many work search activities does Texas require?

It depends on your county. TWC says your local Workforce Development Board sets the minimum, and its county table showed numbers from 1 to 5 on October 7, 2026; rely on the letter TWC mails you.

Can I get unemployment in Texas if I quit?

Only if you quit with good cause connected with the work or for another reason the law recognizes, such as a medically verifiable illness, documented family violence or stalking, or moving with a military spouse on a qualifying transfer. Otherwise you are disqualified until you work six weeks or earn six times your weekly amount.

Can I work part-time and still get unemployment in Texas?

Yes, if your earnings are low enough. Texas adds the greater of $5 or 25 percent of your weekly amount to that amount and subtracts what you earned that week (Tex. Lab. Code § 207.003).

How long do I have to appeal a TWC denial?

14 calendar days after the determination is mailed to your last known address (Tex. Lab. Code § 212.053). Appeals of the tribunal decision to the Commission, and court review after that, also run on 14-day limits.

What is the phone number for Texas unemployment?

TWC lists 800-939-6631 for claimants who want to speak with a customer service representative. You can also apply and request payment online through Unemployment Benefit Services.

Is unemployment taxable in Texas?

Not by Texas, because the Texas Constitution bars a tax on individuals' net incomes. Unemployment benefits are still taxable on your federal return.