How we determine tax rates

Unemployment tax rates for employers change every year. See the current tax rates and learn how we set them.

About unemployment tax rates

In general, your tax rate depends on how much your former workers collect in unemployment benefits and the size of your payroll. To calculate your tax rate, we add:

  • An experience rating tax based on the average number of employees who received benefits on your account over the past 4 fiscal years.
  • A shared cost (social) tax based on benefits we paid out last year that don't relate to a specific employer.

This year's employer tax rates

See our 2024 tax rate table for employers (PDF, 106 KB). We send your tax rate in December. It applies to the entire next calendar year.

Calculate your tax rate

Use our 2024 tax rate calculator (XLSX, 763 KB) to determine your tax rate. You will need your taxable wages and benefit charges for the last 4 fiscal years to use the calculator. Find your taxable wages on the quarterly reports you file. Find your benefit charges on your quarterly Statement of Benefit Charges.

Tax rates for new employers

If you are a new employer or have not been in business long enough, you cannot use the tax rate calculator. We will assign you a tax rate based on your industry. For 2024, you will pay 90% of the average rate for all businesses in your industry. Federal law sets the minimum rate at 1%.

We stop considering you a new employer after you have been in business for 2 ½ to 3 years.

Delinquent tax rates

You may receive a delinquent tax rate if you are behind on your tax payments or quarterly tax and wage reports. The lowest delinquent tax rate for employers in 2024 is 1.25%, and the highest is 8.15%.

Send us all late taxes and reports by September 30 to avoid a delinquent tax rate. If you cannot pay all your taxes, email our collections unit at esctax@esd.wa.gov to set up a payment plan. If we approve your payment plan before Sept. 30, you will not receive a delinquent rate for the following year.

Recent tax relief

View our employers' guide to paying taxes to learn about new laws that may affect your tax rate.

Average tax rate from the past 10 years

Year Average tax rate
2024 1.35%
2023 1.43%
2022 1.30%
2021 1.36%
2020 1.03%
2019 1.08%
2018 1.06%
2017 1.18%
2016 1.38%
2015 1.56%
2014 1.75%

Taxable wage base

When paying unemployment taxes, refer to the taxable wage base. It shows the most taxes you need to pay for each employee.

We calculate the rate each year based on average wages in Washington. You only pay taxes for wages up to the taxable wage base. We consider anything more than that amount as excess wages.

This year's taxable wage base

The 2024 taxable wage base is $68,500.

For example, if an employee's salary is:

  • $68,000, you pay taxes on $68,000.
  • $69,000, you pay taxes on $68,500 of their wages.

The amount over the taxable wage base of $68,500 ($500 in the example) is excess wages. While you report excess wages for unemployment benefits purposes, you do not pay taxes on them.

Past taxable wage bases from the past 10 years

Year Taxable wage base
2024 $68,500
2023 $67,600
2022 $62,500
2021 $56,500
2020 $52,700
2019 $49,800
2018 $47,300
2017 $45,000
2016 $44,000
2015 $42,100
2014 $41,300

Relevant laws and rules

Past tax rates