How much does unemployment pay in Idaho?

The Department of Labor figures your weekly amount from wages your employers already reported for your base period, usually the first 4 of the last 5 completed calendar quarters, and mails the result on a form called the Monetary Determination. Before you file, the Claimant Portal's Apply for Benefits tab shows a benefit projection.

How the Department of Labor works out your weekly amount

1. It finds the quarter of your base period in which you were paid the most. Wages from other states, from federal jobs, and from active military duty (with some exceptions) count alongside Idaho wages.
2. It divides that quarter's wages by 26.
3. It rounds the result down to the next lower full dollar.
4. It caps the result at the maximum in force for the week you filed a new claim.

The claimant guide's example: a best quarter of $2,600 gives $100 a week. Whether your wages qualify at all is a separate test, set out on the who qualifies page.

The minimum and maximum, and who sets them

The Employment Security Law has the Director set the maximum each year at 55% of the state's average weekly wage, for new claims filed from the first full week of January. Order No. 683 took an average weekly wage of $1,135.33 from 2024 wage records; 55% of it is $624.43, and the order sets the maximum at $624. The cap follows your filing date, so a claim opened while the $590 order was in force keeps that cap.

The Department's laws page still lists Order No. 674, but Order No. 683, posted on the Department's own server, supersedes it. Some Department flyers describe the maximum as a larger share of the average wage than the law allows; the statute and the order both use 55%.

The $72 floor comes from the smallest quarter that qualifies. The law sets that quarter each January 1 at half the state minimum wage times 520 hours, rounded down to a multiple of 26. At $7.25 an hour that is $1,872, and $1,872 divided by 26 is $72.

What can lower a week's payment

A change in a pension's amount takes effect in the first full week after the change. If you get workers' compensation, the claimant guide says to call (208) 332-8942. Child support questions go to Health and Welfare Child Support Services at 1-800-356-9868. When several deductions apply, the law takes an overpayment first, then child support, and only then any federal tax you chose to have withheld; the taxes page covers that withholding.

Social Security retirement benefits do not even need to be reported on the weekly certification, the Department's weekly-reports page says.

Working part time while you claim

You can work part time and still be paid for a week, as long as the week's gross pay stays below 1.5 times your weekly amount and you meet every other rule that week, including the work search. The Department's arithmetic works like this:

1. Pay of up to half your weekly amount leaves the payment untouched.
2. Above half, the payment drops a dollar for every dollar of pay over half.
3. At 1.5 times your weekly amount or more, or in a week of full-time work, nothing is paid for that week.

The Department's own example uses a $100 weekly amount: earning $85 is $35 over half, so the week pays $65, and earning $150 pays nothing. Here is the same rule on a $384 weekly amount:

• Report gross pay for the Sunday-through-Saturday week in which you did the work, even if you are paid later. The weekly claims page covers how to enter it.
• Full time usually means 40 hours or more in a week, though it varies by industry, and the law also treats pay above 1.5 times your weekly amount as full-time employment.
• The same 1.5-times test decides whether a week can count as your unpaid waiting week.
• Pay above 1.5 times your weekly amount in 2 weeks in a row closes the claim, and you reopen it on the Claimant Portal in the week your hours drop again.
• You may not limit your availability for work to keep your full weekly amount.

Money held back because of your pay stays in your account for later eligible weeks, which is how a part-time claim can last the whole benefit year. The duration page explains that year.

Severance, vacation, and holiday pay

Report each kind of pay when the Employment Security Law, as rewritten in 2025, says to:

• Severance in regular installments: an equal share in each week the payment covers.
• Severance in a lump sum when the job ends: in the week it is paid. One-time severance, profit sharing, and bonus pay are also reported in the week paid.
• Vacation pay tied to a set period by your employment agreement: in the week it belongs to. Lump-sum vacation pay when the job ends is reported when paid.
• Holiday pay: in the week of the holiday.
• WARN Act payments from a former employer: not reported at all.

The law counts severance as wages for the part-time deduction even if you signed a release of claims to get it. The part of a week's share above half your weekly amount comes off that week's payment. A share of 1.5 times your weekly amount or more leaves nothing to pay for that week. For vacation pay, the Department's guidance to furloughed federal workers says pay of 1.5 times the weekly amount makes the week non-compensable, too much for a payment or waiting week credit.

Some Department pages give different timing. Its weekly-reports page and its August 2024 claimant guide say to report scheduled severance in the week it is issued, and vacation pay in the week it is issued (the guide says the week it is used). The guide predates the 2025 law, and the law is the rule, so follow the list above. The Department's how-to-apply page already matches the law: divide severance by the number of weeks it will be paid and report that share each week. If your employer's paperwork does not make the period clear, call 208-332-8942 before you file that week's certification.

If your amount looks wrong

The Monetary Determination lists your base period, each employer that reported wages, your wages in each quarter, your weekly amount, and your total for the benefit year. Checking it is your job, the Department says. To fix a mistake, its monetary page says to:

1. Gather proof such as check stubs and pay slips.
2. Call 208-332-8942 within 14 days of the mailing date.
3. Keep filing weekly certifications while the Department investigates.

If the Monetary Re-Determination raises your amount, the difference is credited to your account. A phone call does not keep your right to protest, though. The law treats the Monetary Determination as a determination like any other, so a protest goes to the Appeals Bureau in writing, signed, and filed within 14 days after notice. If a postal delay or Department error kept the notice from reaching you within 14 days of its mailing, you have 14 days from when you actually got it. A late protest is dismissed. The appeals page explains how to file it and count the days.