03 February 2025

State unemployment insurance wage bases and tax rates for 2025 (preliminary as of January 25, 2025)

  • 28 jurisdictions have a flexible state unemployment insurance (SUI) wage base, meaning that the wage base can increase or decrease each year. In the remaining jurisdictions, the wage base is set, requiring legislation to change it.
  • Colorado had the highest dollar rise in its wage base with an increase of $3,400 from 2024.
  • Michigan, Missouri and West Virginia are the only jurisdictions to lower their SUI wage bases for 2025.
  • Two states, Nebraska and Rhode Island, assign a higher SUI wage base to employers with a high claims rate.
  • For a comparison of the 2024 and 2025 SUI wage bases and percentage of increase/decrease, if applicable, see EY Tax Alert 2025-0171.
  • For updates to this information see our special report, US employment tax rates and limits for 2025, available here.
 

SUI trust funds are largely financed by employer contributions (in Alaska, New Jersey and Pennsylvania employees also make contributions). States are required to maintain a SUI taxable wage base of no less than the limit set under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA). The 2025 FUTA wage limit of $7,000 has remained unchanged since 1983, despite increases in the federal minimum wage and annual cost-of-living adjustments over the last 42 years.

Some states are conservative in their approach to maintaining adequate SUI trust fund reserves. Consequently, the SUI wage base is flexible in those states, meaning it is indexed to the average wage and/or or varies based on the trust fund balance. For 2025, 28 jurisdictions have a flexible wage base. (EY survey of states for 2025; US Department of Labor, Comparison of State Unemployment Laws)

SUI tax rates

The PDF file below contains the 2025 SUI wage bases and the minimum and maximum SUI tax rates, including surcharges that are not certified and not included in state SUI wages on the federal Form 940. Information is also provided concerning the date that the 2025 SUI rate notices were issued. See the footnotes for details about special actions some states took to lessen increases in their SUI tax rates and/or wage bases in 2025.

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Attachment

State unemployment insurance wage bases and tax rates for 2025

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Contact Information

For additional information concerning this Alert, please contact:

Workforce Tax Services - Employment Tax Advisory Services

Published by NTD’s Tax Technical Knowledge Services group; Andrea Ben-Yosef, legal editor

Document ID: 2025-0392