How much does PFML pay?
A percentage of your usual wages — most often between half and all of them — paid weekly by a state agency while you are on leave, for a capped number of weeks. The percentage is not flat. Nearly every state replaces a high proportion of the first slice of your pay and a lower proportion above it, and every state stops at a weekly ceiling. Those ceilings vary by more than a thousand dollars a week between jurisdictions.
So the honest short answer is that two people on the same salary in different states can receive very different amounts, and two people in the same state on different salaries receive different percentages. The tables below are generated from the same verified dataset as the calculators, so they say what each agency currently publishes and show an em dash where an agency has published nothing.
What each state pays
Replacement rates read left to right as the brackets apply: the first figure covers the lowest slice of pay, each later figure covers what sits above the one before. A single figure means the state applies one rate to the whole wage.
| Jurisdiction | Replacement rate | 2026 max weekly | Max weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 70%–90% by band | $1,765.00 | 52 |
| Colorado | 90% then 50%top rate to $804.46/wk | $1,448.02 | 12 |
| Connecticut | 95% then 60%top rate to $677.60/wk | $1,016.40 | 12 |
| Delaware | 80% | $900.00 | 12 |
| District of Columbia | 90% then 50%top rate to $1,104.00/wk | $1,190.00 | 12 |
| Maine | 90% then 66%threshold not published | — | 12 |
| Massachusetts | 80% then 50%top rate to $961.24/wk | $1,230.39 | 26 |
| Minnesota | 90% then 66% then 55%top rate to $711.50/wk | $1,423.00 | 20 |
| New Jersey | 85% | $1,119.00 | 26 |
| New York | 67% | $1,228.53 | 12 |
| Oregon | 100% then 50%top rate to $916.58/wk | $1,692.16 | 12 |
| Rhode Island | 4.62% of highest quarter | $1,150.00 | 30 |
| Washington | 90% then 50%top rate to $915.00/wk | $1,647.00 | 16 |
The em dash is not a formatting slip. Maine defines its maximum weekly benefit as the state average weekly wage itself, and Maine Department of Labor has not published the 2026 figure. The bracket structure is set in statute and is shown, but the ceiling it runs up to is genuinely unknown, so we show a gap rather than carrying forward a prior-year number that would look authoritative and be wrong.
Maryland is missing from that table deliberately. It has a statutory formula on the books but is not paying benefits in 2026, so quoting a maximum beside states that will actually pay one this year would be misleading. See what is known about 2027.
Why District of Columbia needs checking twice
Two different dates. D.C. Code 32-541.04 adjusts the maximum weekly benefit every 1 October, but the 90% bracket is a multiple of the DC minimum wage, which rises every 1 July. DC needs checking twice a year. The 90% bracket in the table above is a multiple of the DC minimum wage, so it moves on 1 July even in a year when the maximum does not change. The figure shown applies to 1 October 2025 – 30 September 2026. Treat any DC benefit estimate as tied to a period, not to a year.
Three earners, one state
Minnesota has the most detailed formula of any jurisdiction — the widest illustration of an effect that applies almost everywhere. Same state, same leave, three different wages.
| Average weekly wage | Weekly benefit | Share of pay replaced | What binds it |
|---|---|---|---|
| $450.00 | $405.00 | 90% | Top bracket only |
| $1,400.00 | $1,094.76 | 78.2% | Spans 2 brackets |
| $3,550.00 | $1,423.00 | 40.08% | 2026 weekly maximum |
Minnesota replaces 90% of the first $711.50 of weekly pay and progressively less above it, then stops entirely at $1,423.00 a week. Nobody’s replacement percentage is cut; what changes is how much of their wage sits in the lower slices. That is why the share of pay replaced falls as earnings rise, and why the highest earner in the table above is the only one for whom the answer to “how much does PFML pay” is a flat dollar figure rather than a percentage.
The practical consequence is that high earners should plan on a dollar figure, not a percentage. If your weekly wage is above your state’s ceiling, your benefit is the ceiling — a raise does not increase it, and neither does moving into a higher-paying role before taking leave.
What reduces the number
The table figure is the gross weekly maximum for a full week of leave. Four things commonly make the amount that reaches a bank account smaller.
Unpaid waiting periods
Some states pay nothing for an initial period, so the first cheque arrives later and the total is smaller than weeks × weekly benefit.
- Massachusetts — 7 days unpaid before benefits begin.
- Washington — 7 days unpaid before benefits begin.
- Not confirmed — Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, New Jersey and Rhode Island. We have not been able to confirm from the agency whether a waiting period applies, so we do not claim there is none. Check with the agency before you plan around the first week.
Partial and intermittent leave
Taking leave a day or two at a time, or returning part-time, generally pays a proportion of the weekly benefit rather than the whole thing. States differ on the minimum increment they will pay and on whether intermittent leave is available for every reason. Bonding leave in particular is restricted to continuous blocks in several places.
Tax
Benefits are generally treated as taxable income at the federal level for family leave, with the treatment of medical leave benefits varying, and agencies issue a 1099-G or equivalent where benefits are reportable. Withholding is often optional, which means an untaxed benefit can create a bill later. This is genuinely state-specific and has changed recently in several places — check with a tax professional rather than assuming.
Employer top-up
Many employers top state benefits up to full pay, either voluntarily or under a union agreement. Whether you may stack accrued paid time off on top of a state benefit, and whether doing so reduces the state payment, is set by state rule rather than by your employer. Ask before you use PTO alongside a claim — in some states it reduces the state benefit dollar for dollar, which converts your own accrued leave into no extra money.
None of this changes what you contribute. If you want to see the other side of the arrangement — what comes out of your pay to fund it — see how PFML premiums appear on a paycheck. And if you are trying to work out whether your job is protected while you claim, that is a separate law: see PFML vs FMLA vs state disability.
Check your state
Each state page carries the current brackets, the weekly maximum, the duration by leave reason and the agency link, with the date the figures were last checked against that agency.
- How much California pays
- How much Colorado pays
- How much Connecticut pays
- How much Delaware pays
- How much District of Columbia pays
- How much Maine pays
- How much Maryland pays
- How much Massachusetts pays
- How much Minnesota pays
- How much New Jersey pays
- How much New York pays
- How much Oregon pays
- How much Rhode Island pays
- How much Washington pays
Estimates only. Confirm current rates with your state agency before filing or budgeting.
About the author
Treesera Technologies — Payroll and compliance calculators. Treesera Technologies builds and maintains multi-jurisdictional payroll calculators, including CrossStatePayroll for Australian payroll tax and PFML Calculator for US paid leave. All rate data is maintained directly against official agency sources.
How rates on this site are sourced and verified · Report an error
Rates referenced in this guide
Related guides
- How PFML premiums appear on a paycheck
What the PFML, FLI, FAMLI, SDI or TDI line on your payslip is, how much it should be in your state, when it should stop for the year, and what benefit it buys you.
- PFML vs FMLA vs state disability: what each one actually covers
FMLA protects your job, state PFML replaces your income, and state disability covers your own illness. How the three differ, how they overlap, and why you can owe PFML without owing FMLA.
Work out your own number
Enter your headcount and payroll per state and see the combined premium, with each state’s rate, split and wage cap applied separately.
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