Methodology

Every rate, split, wage cap and threshold is read from the website of the agency that administers the program — the Employment Security Department for Washington, the Department of Family and Medical Leave for Massachusetts, and so on. Each state page carries a direct link to the specific page the figures were read from.

We do not take rates from secondary sources. Not from law firm client alerts, not from payroll vendor blogs, not from news coverage, and not from other calculators. Those sources are frequently a plan year out of date, and errors in them propagate. Where an agency publishes a figure only in a PDF, we read the PDF.

Two figures come from federal rather than state sources: the Social Security contribution and benefit base, which several states peg their wage cap to, is taken from the Social Security Administration.

Every state record carries a lastVerified date, shown on the state page. It means: on that date, a person opened the linked agency page and confirmed that the figures on this site matched it. It does not mean the rate took effect on that date.

The badge turns amber after 180 days. That is deliberately visible to readers as well as to us — a stale figure that announces itself is safer than one that does not.

All fourteen records were last swept on August 18, 2026.

It is shown as unverified. It is never estimated, interpolated from the previous year, or carried forward.

At the moment one maximum weekly benefit figure is unverified — Maine. Maine caps its benefit at the state average weekly wage, but the PFML program’s own published materials still cite the 2025 figure. Another Maine agency publishes a current state average weekly wage, and combining that with the statutory formula would produce a plausible-looking number — but it would be a derivation, not a source, so the field stays empty and shows a dash. No contribution rate is currently unverified.

This is the rule that matters most. A plausible-looking wrong number is far more damaging than a visible gap, because nobody checks a number that looks right.

For each state you enter, the calculation is:

1. 1.Derive the average wage from the payroll and headcount you entered, and show it back to you.
2. 2.Apply that state’s wage cap to each employee’s wage, not to your aggregate payroll — this is the step most often got wrong.
3. 3.Select the rate: the small-employer rate if your headcount is below that state’s threshold, otherwise the standard rate.
4. 4.Multiply subject wages by the rate to get the total premium.
5. 5.Split it using that state’s statutory employer/employee proportions.
6. 6.Apply any annual per-employee contribution cap to the employee share.

Intermediate values are never rounded. Rounding happens once, when a figure is displayed. Rounding at each step would introduce error that compounds across a multi-state total.

Programs that are enacted but not yet collecting are excluded from cost totals and shown with a note rather than silently dropped. Maryland is the current example — it appears in the results table with a zero and an explanation, not as a missing row.

The rules engine has a test suite that asserts a hand-checked payroll figure against a hand-checked expected premium for every one of the fourteen jurisdictions, plus zero payroll, single employees, payroll above the cap, headcounts exactly at a small-employer threshold, and a four-state aggregate.

Four of those tests are genuine external cross-checks: the engine independently reproduces the maximum annual employee contribution that New York ($411.91), New Jersey ($718.62), Connecticut ($922.50) and Rhode Island ($1,100.00) each publish. Those figures are calculated from the rate and wage base rather than being entered, so agreement means both inputs are right.

The site does not deploy with a failing test suite.

• NovemberAll fourteen agencies are checked as next year’s rates are published.
• DecemberRates, wage caps and verification dates are updated, and the “what changes” guide is published.
• 1 JanuaryNew rates go live. This is the week the site has to be both correct and early.
• MonthlyScan for new state legislation. A new program means a new state page.
• WeeklyReview Search Console for queries that need answering.

• New Jersey’s employer disability contribution is experience-rated and assigned per employer, so it cannot be modelled from published figures. The New Jersey employer column is a floor, not a total, and the state page says so.
• New York’s separate Disability Benefits Law coverage is not included — only Paid Family Leave is.
• The calculator derives an average wage from headcount and payroll. An employer with a wide wage spread around a cap will get a slightly different figure than a per-employee calculation would produce.
• Approved private plans replace the state premium entirely. If you run one, the figure for that state does not apply to you.
• Localisation rules for employees who work across state lines are not modelled. Assign each employee to one state.

These are stated rather than hidden because an employer needs to know where a tool stops being reliable. For a 2026 budget figure this is accurate; for a filing, confirm with the agency.

If a figure here does not match what the agency publishes, that is a defect and we want to know. Send the state, the figure and the agency URL to our contact page. Corrections are made against the source, and the verification date is updated when they are.

This site is maintained by Treesera Technologies, Payroll and compliance calculators.