Workers Comp Benefit Calculator

How it works

Average weekly wage = annual salary ÷ 52, or hourly rate × weekly hours, or pay earned ÷ weeks · Weekly benefit = min(wage × benefit rate, state maximum), raised to the state minimum (or your full wage if lower) · Partial benefit = (pre-injury wage − current wage) × rate · Total = weekly benefit × weeks − unpaid waiting days × weekly benefit ÷ 7

Workers’ compensation replaces part of the income you lose while a work injury or illness keeps you off work (temporary total disability) or on lighter, lower-paid duty (temporary partial disability). Most U.S. states pay two-thirds of your average weekly wage, but every state caps the weekly payment at a maximum tied to its average wage and updates it once or twice a year, so high earners get less than two-thirds. Many states also guarantee a minimum, or your full wage if you earned less. A few use a different rate: Massachusetts and New Hampshire pay 60%, New Jersey 70%, Texas and Oklahoma 70%, Ohio 72% for the first 12 weeks, Washington 60% to 75% depending on family, and Alaska, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Michigan and Rhode Island pay 75% or 80% of after-tax pay. Pennsylvania uses a tiered table that pays low earners up to 90%. Choose your state to apply its 2026 figures automatically, work out your average weekly wage from a salary, an hourly rate or recent pay, and add the unpaid waiting period most states have. The state table lists the 2026 maximum and minimum for every state and what your wage would earn in each. Benefits are generally free of income tax, which softens the drop from full pay.

Worked example

With a $900 average weekly wage and the default two-thirds rate, the benefit is $900 × 66.67% = $600.03 a week, under a $1,100 cap; 12 weeks off pays $7,200.36. In California (2026 maximum $1,764.11) the same wage also gets $600.03, but a $3,000 wage hits the cap: two-thirds would be $2,000.10, so the payment is $1,764.11. In Pennsylvania a $900 wage falls in the flat-rate tier and gets $697.00 a week. With a 7-day waiting period that is never paid back, 2 weeks off at $600.03 pays $600.03, because the first week is unpaid.

Sources: SSA POMS DI 52150.045 — Chart of states’ maximum workers’ compensation benefits · California DWC — 2026 temporary disability rates · New York WCB — Schedule of maximum weekly benefits · Texas DWC — Maximum and minimum weekly benefits · Pennsylvania L&I — Statewide average weekly wage and rate table · Ohio BWC — Compensation rates · IRS Publication 525 — Taxable and nontaxable income

Frequently asked questions