State UI Tax: A Quick Look at Wage Base Changes for 2026

Wage bases for 2026 are rolling out. You can ensure you’re accurately withholding for state unemployment insurance (UI) tax. Here’s the latest info.

While most states with changes have increased their wage bases for UI tax purposes, four states — Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri and Oklahoma — have decreased their wage bases, in comparison with this time last year.

Note: In the following list, the 2025 amounts are in parentheses. Also, states with changes are bolded.

State by State

• Alabama – $8,000 ($8,000)
• Alaska – TBA ($51,700)
• Arizona – $8,000 ($8,000)
• Arkansas – TBA ($7,000)
• California – $7,000 ($7,000)
• Colorado – $36,600 ($27,200)
• Connecticut – $27,000 ($26,100)
• Delaware – $14,500 ($12,500)
• Florida – $7,000 ($7,000)
• Georgia – $9,500 ($9,500)
• Hawaii – TBA ($62,000)
• Idaho – TBA ($55,300)
• Illinois – TBA ($13,916)
• Indiana – $9,500 ($9,500)
• Iowa – $20,400 ($39,500)
• Kansas – $15,100 ($14,000)
• Kentucky – $12,000 ($11,700)
• Louisiana – $7,000 ($7,700)
• Maine – $12,000 ($12,000)
• Maryland – $8,500 ($8,500)
• Massachusetts – $15,000 ($15,000)
• Michigan – TBA ($9,500)
• Minnesota – TBA ($43,000)
• Mississippi – $14,000 ($14,000)
• Missouri – $9,000 ($9,500)
• Montana – TBA ($45,100)
• Nebraska – $9,000 ($9,000)
• Nevada – $43,700 ($41,800)
• New Hampshire – $14,000 ($14,000)
• New Jersey – $44,800 ($43,300)
• New Mexico – TBA ($33,200)
• New York – $13,000 ($12,800)
• North Carolina – TBA ($32,600)
• North Dakota – TBA ($45,100)
• Ohio – $9,000 ($9,000)
• Oklahoma – $25,000 ($28,200)
• Oregon – TBA ($54,300)
• Pennsylvania – $10,000 ($10,000)
• Rhode Island – TBA ($29,800)
• South Carolina – $14,000 ($14,000)
• South Dakota – $15,000 ($15,000)
• Tennessee – TBA ($7,000)
• Texas – $9,000 ($9,000)
• Utah – TBA ($48,900)
• Vermont – $15,400 ($14,800)
• Virginia – $8,000 ($8,000)
• Washington – $78,200 ($72,800)
• West Virginia – $9,500 ($9,500)
• Wisconsin – $14,000 ($14,000)
• Wyoming – $33,800 ($32,400)

Under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA), states must set a taxable wage base of at least $7,000, which is the current federal wage base for UI. Most states exceed that number, but a few match it.

Completing Form 940

Watch out this year-end when you’re completing the federal Form 940. Pay close attention to Schedule A, because in two jurisdictions, employers will find they owe a higher FUTA rate than elsewhere. The reason? Their credit reduction will be cut, according to one of the Department of Labor’s recent announcements.

The two jurisdictions are California and the Virgin Islands.

Those are the places that have outstanding loans with the federal government to fund their unemployment insurance trust funds and pay benefits to out-of-work individuals.

Here’s how rates typically play out: The FUTA tax rate is 6.0% on the first $7,000 of wages, and the credit is 5.4%, bringing the tax rate to 0.6% for most employers.

But in California, for 2025, there’s a credit reduction of 1.2%, bringing the rate to 1.8%.

The situation is much worse in the Virgin Islands, where the credit reduction is 4.5%, meaning the FUTA rate is 5.1%.

Meanwhile, Connecticut and New York paid off their loans to the federal government by November 10, 2025, so they’re not on the list anymore.

The deadline for filing Form 940 for TY 2025 is February 2, 2026. However, the IRS provides extra time to employers that deposited all their FUTA tax by the deadline — these employers have until February 10, 2026, to submit the annual form to the IRS.

As always, be aware that if you outsource any part of your payroll, such as Form 940 or Form W-2 reporting, the liability for any penalties falls on employers.