Unemployment Benefits in Texas: Eligibility, Calculation, and Amounts

• Author: Jenny Wolff
• Posted: 2025-09-16

Unemployment benefits in Texas help people who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.

These benefits are managed by the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), which uses clear rules to decide who can get help and how much money they will receive.
 

Who Can Get Unemployment Benefits?

To qualify for unemployment benefits in Texas, you must:
 

• Have lost your job for reasons that were not your fault.
• Meet certain wage requirements based on your recent work history.

The TWC looks at your job history and the money you earned during a specific time called a "base period." This base period is usually one year, and you need to have earned enough wages in more than one quarter of that year to qualify.
 

How Are Benefits Calculated?

The amount of unemployment benefits you get depends on your past earnings. The TWC uses the wages your employers reported during the base period to figure out your weekly benefit amount.

To be eligible for payments, you must meet these wage requirements:
 

• You must have earned wages in more than one out of the four quarters in the base period.
• Your total wages in the base period must be at least 37 times your weekly benefit amount.
• If you have received benefits before, you need to have earned at least six times your new weekly benefit amount since your last claim.

 

How Much Can You Get?

As of October 2024, the weekly unemployment benefit in Texas ranged from a minimum of $74 to a maximum of $591.

The exact amount you receive depends on how much you earned at your previous jobs.

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Check out: Veterans Pension Benefits: Who Can Get Them and How to Apply (September 2025)