Iowa Workforce Development will raise the maximum weekly unemployment benefit to $763 starting the benefit week of July 6, 2025, up from $739 in the current fiscal year.
The annual increase follows the IWD’s required annual review of unemployment insurance wages. Per Iowa law, the agency uses a formula based on the number of covered workers and their gross wages to set minimum and maximum benefits each year.
According to a release, the updated benefit levels take effect in Fiscal Year 2026. However, separate changes to employer unemployment insurance taxes – approved by the Legislature earlier this year – will not affect claimant benefits and will take effect at the beginning of 2026.
Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 607 into law on June 5, simplifying the state’s unemployment insurance tax tables and lowering the maximum employer tax rate from 9% to 5.4%.
“Iowa employers pay unemployment insurance taxes for each employee based on a rate assigned to the employer (per that employer’s history in the unemployment system) multiplied by the “taxable wage base,” which is defined in state law as a fraction of the average annual wage in Iowa during the previous year,” the release stated. “SF 607 lowered that fraction from two-thirds to one-third of the average annual wage.”
Based on IWD’s latest calculations, Iowa’s average annual wage in 2024 was $61,098.90. That figure brings the taxable wage base for Calendar Year 2026 to $20,400, down from $39,500 in 2025.
To see a full table of benefit rates for FY 2026, visit https://workforce.iowa.gov/press-release/2025-06-30/iowans-unemployment-benefits-increase-starting-july-6.
