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23 January 2026

State unemployment insurance wage bases and tax rates for 2026 (preliminary as of January 25, 2026)

  • Twenty-eight jurisdictions have a flexible state unemployment insurance (SUI) wage base, meaning that the wage base can increase each year. In the remaining jurisdictions, the wage base is set, requiring legislation to change it.
  • Two states, Nebraska and Rhode Island, assign a higher SUI wage base to employers with a high claims rate.
  • The wage base for 2026 is lower than 2025 in four states: Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri and Oklahoma.
  • For a comparison of the 2025 and 2026 SUI wages and the percentage of increase/decrease, if applicable, see Tax Alert 2026-0124.
  • For updates to this information see our special report, US employment tax rates and limits for 2026, which once available, will be posted here.
 

State unemployment insurance (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 2026 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 43 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 varies based on the trust fund balance. For 2025, 28 jurisdictions have a flexible wage base. (EY survey of states for 2026; US Department of Labor, Comparison of State Unemployment Laws)

SUI tax rates

The PDF file below contains the 2026 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 for 2026.

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Attachment

State SUI wage bases and tax rates for 2026

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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: 2026-0278

 

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