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 amount of benefits charged to your account over the past 4 fiscal years. We divide that number by your company's total taxable wages. The experience rate is currently capped at 5.4%.
  • A shared cost (social) tax based on benefits we paid out last year that don't relate to a specific employer. The flat social tax is currently capped at 1.22%.
  • A contribution to the employment administration fund (EAF) to finance training and job search help for the unemployed. The fee ranges from 0.02% to .03%, depending on your rate class.

The total of the experience tax and the social tax cannot exceed 6%.

Because Washington's unemployment program conforms to federal law, state employers also pay a FUTA tax of 0.6% on the first $7,000 of each employee's wages.

Your tax rate

Find your annual tax details

We send your tax rate each year in December. It applies to the entire next calendar year. Find your rate in one of two ways:

Both of these resources give you:

  • Your total tax rate: experience tax rate + social tax rate + EAF.
  • Notice of any delinquency.

Calculate your tax rate

Use our 2026 tax rate calculator (XLSX, 760KB) 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 2026, you will pay 115% 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.

All employer tax rates

See how experience rate, social cost rate and Washington employment administration fund (EAF) tax add together for your total annual unemployment insurance (UI) tax rate. View, download and print:

Rate class

We place you in one of 40 rate classes based on your benefit ratio. To determine your benefit ratio, we calculate all unemployment benefits charged to you in the past four years divided by your taxable wages for that same time.

Tax rates for qualified employers

We define qualified employers as those who:

  • Submitted all quarterly reports and payments, including penalties and interest, by the due date.
  • Reported employment in the last 12 months.
  • Did not file a “no payroll” report for four or more consecutive quarters in the last two years.

We assign qualified employers the regular tax rate for your rate class.

Tax rates for employers with late tax payments and reports

Delinquent tax rates apply to employers who are not up to date on payments and reports.

Send us all late taxes and reports by Sept. 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.

These definitions are general. The law gives other reasons we can assign a delinquent tax rate. If you have a delinquent tax rate and don’t know why, contact the Experience Rating Unit at 855-829-9243 or esdexperiencerating@esd.wa.gov.

0.5% delinquent employers

Have not been up to date for one year. They have a deferred payment contract with us. We add 0.5% to their tax rate.

1.0% delinquent employers

Have not been up to date for one year. They do not have a deferred payment contract with us. We add 1% to their tax rate.

1.5% delinquent employers

Have not been up to date for two or more consecutive years. They have a deferred payment contract with us. We add 1.5% to their tax rate.

2.0% delinquent employers

Have not been up to date for two or more consecutive years. They do not have a deferred payment contract with us. We add 2% to their tax rate.

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 as excess wages. While you report excess wages, you do not pay taxes on them.

Year Taxable wage base
2026 $78,200
2025 $72,800
2024 $68,500
2023 $67,600
2022 $62,500
2021 $56,500
2020 $52,700

Average tax rate from the past 10 years

Year Average tax rate
2025 1.33%
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%

 

Relevant laws and rules

Past tax rates