EI calculator: how much will I get?
Your weekly EI regular benefit and how long it lasts, every step shown. Free, and nothing leaves your browser.
Your claim, your hours and your pay
Example figures. Replace them with yours.
The day you send, or plan to send, your application. For a new claim we use that week's Sunday, or the week your work stops if later. Service Canada sets the start date, and its year picks the maximum.
Use the rate for the EI region where you live, not where you worked, for the period that includes the week your claim starts. The postal code lookup and the official rates table both show it.
Use insurable hours from every job in the 52 weeks before your claim starts, or since your last claim if shorter. Your ROEs show them. A notice of violation can raise the hours needed; we use the usual requirement.
Gross pay, before tax and other deductions. Two jobs in the same weeks? Add their pay together. Paid by the hour? Multiply your rate by your usual weekly hours and choose a week.
Group weeks with about the same pay, like 12 weeks at $1,300. Two jobs in the same weeks? Add their pay together for those weeks. Leave out weeks with no pay.
Count every week with any pay in it. If that's fewer weeks than your region's best-weeks number, the Act still divides by that number, so the empty weeks count as $0.
Your weekly benefit will show here
See the breakdownYour claim starts on the later of two Sundays: the one in the week your work stops and the one in the week you apply. We also tell you if you're applying more than 4 weeks after this date.
The weekly rate before tax, as your claim states it. Not a deposit: a payment usually covers 2 weeks and has tax taken off.
Your EI regular benefit, worked out
Federal rules, the same in every province and territory. Only your region's rate changes them.
This calculator needs JavaScript. The rules, the tables and the working are all below, so you can do the sum by hand.
of benefits at most
Check these against the official table
The official EI rates table shows the same three numbers for your region. If they don't match, check the rate you typed.
Rounding: we keep your average to the cent and round only the 55% to the nearest dollar, an exact half going up (Employment Insurance Act, s.6(2)). The Act and Service Canada's Digest of Benefit Entitlement Principles don't say whether the average is rounded first, so Service Canada's rate can differ from ours by $1. Checked October 8, 2026.
What Service Canada still decides
- Which of your pay counts as insurable earnings, and how your Records of Employment spread it over weeks.
- Whether your claim is accepted at all. Canada.ca lists quitting without just cause, losing a job through your own misconduct and taking part in a labour dispute as situations where you may not be eligible.
- Your EI region, and its rate for the week your claim starts.
- Whether you're ready, willing and able to work each day and looking for work, which you confirm in a report every 2 weeks.
- Tax. EI benefits are taxable, and tax is taken off each payment.
- Anything you earn while you're on claim, which is deducted under its own rules.
Questions about a severance offer or how your job ended are outside this calculator. An employment lawyer can help with those.
Compared with Service Canada's rate
Questions to ask Service Canada
Service Canada's own tool is the EI Benefits Estimator, and you apply on Canada.ca.
An estimate, not a decision of Service Canada.
Nothing you type leaves your browser, and nothing is saved.
How the EI calculator works
You've just lost your job, or you can see it coming, and you want two answers: how much a week, and for how long. Both come from the Employment Insurance Act. It's federal law, so it works the same way in Ontario, Quebec, Nunavut and everywhere else. Only one number in the sum depends on where you live: your EI region's unemployment rate.
That rate does three jobs. It sets the insurable hours you need: 700 when the rate is 6% or less, falling to 420 above 13%. It sets how many of your best weeks of pay are averaged, from 22 down to 14. And together with your hours, it sets how many weeks you can be paid, anywhere from 14 to 45. We print those three numbers for the rate you type. Hold them up against the official table for your region, and a mistyped rate shows straight away.
Your claim starts on a Sunday. It's the Sunday of the week you apply, or of the week your work stopped if that's later, and the year of that Sunday picks the yearly maximum. Apply on Friday, January 1, 2027, and your claim still starts on Sunday, December 27, 2026, so the 2026 maximum applies.
Then comes the pay, and this is where "55% of my pay" usually goes wrong. We take your highest-paid weeks, as many as your region's number, add them up and divide by that number. Worked only 16 weeks in a region that uses 20? The Act still divides by 20, and the four empty weeks count as $0. At $1,000 a week that's $16,000.00 over 20 weeks: an average of $800.00 and a weekly rate of $440, not the $550 that 55% of $1,000 suggests. After a short work year that can feel unfair, and you're right to think so. It's still how the Act counts.
The yearly maximum caps that average: $1,325.00 a week for claims starting in 2026, and $1,361.54 for 2027. Your weekly rate is 55% of the result, rounded to the nearest dollar. An exact half rounds up.
Every figure comes from the Act's own tables and the published yearly maximums. We don't guess at any of them. What we can't see is your Record of Employment, and that's where Service Canada gets the real figures. Its EI Benefits Estimator is the official reference, and the decision is always Service Canada's. This is for a new claim; an existing claim may be reactivated instead.
Who this is for
You've been laid off, or your job is about to end, and you need the weekly figure and the number of weeks before the rent is due. Or Service Canada's notice has already come, and its weekly rate isn't what you expected. The comparison under the form shows the difference and the questions worth asking. It's also for whoever is doing the sum with you: a relative, a worker at a community legal clinic, a union steward. If you live in Quebec, you're covered too, because regular benefits are federal there as well.
Worker questions about EI benefits
How is EI calculated?
Service Canada adds up your pay from your best weeks, divides by a set number of weeks and pays 55% of the result, up to a weekly maximum. Your EI region's unemployment rate sets that number of weeks, from 14 to 22. It also sets the hours you need, from 420 to 700. Combined with your hours, it sets how many weeks you can be paid: 14 to 45.
Is EI 55% of your gross or net pay?
Gross. The 55% comes from your insurable earnings, which are your pay before tax and other deductions, averaged over your best weeks and capped at the yearly maximum. Canada.ca counts wages, tips, bonuses and commissions in most cases. Which kinds of pay are insurable is the Canada Revenue Agency's call. Tax comes off later, from the EI benefit itself.
How many weeks of EI will I get?
Between 14 and 45. The number comes from a table in the Employment Insurance Act: find the row for your insurable hours and the column for your region's unemployment rate. More hours and a higher rate both add weeks: 1,400 hours at 7.4% give 28 weeks, while 640 hours at the same rate give 17. Long-tenured and some seasonal workers can get more under temporary rules.
How many hours do I need for EI?
Between 420 and 700 insurable hours in the last 52 weeks, or since your last claim started if that's shorter. The higher your region's unemployment rate, the fewer you need: 700 at 6% or less, 630 above 7% up to 8%, and 420 above 13%. A violation on an earlier EI claim raises the number.
What's the maximum EI benefit in 2026 and 2027?
It's $729 a week for a claim that starts in 2026, and $749 for one that starts in 2027. Each is 55% of that year's maximum insurable earnings, $68,900 and $70,800, divided by 52. What counts is the year of the Sunday your claim starts. Once it's set, your rate stays the same for the whole claim.
Is the EI waiting period waived?
Yes, for claims that start between March 30, 2025 and October 9, 2027. Canada.ca says the usual unpaid week is waived for new claims in that window. You may choose to serve it if an employer top-up makes that better for you. If your claim starts later and the rule isn't extended, your first week is unpaid.
Can I get EI if I got severance pay?
Severance doesn't rule out EI on its own. What it usually changes is the timing. Normally, money paid because your job ended is deducted from your benefits at your usual weekly earnings, which delays or reduces them. If your claim or the allocation starts between March 30, 2025 and October 9, 2027, a temporary measure stops that: severance, vacation pay and pay in lieu of notice aren't deducted.
Is EI taxable?
Yes. Canada.ca is plain about it: "EI benefits are taxable, no matter what type of benefits you receive." Federal and provincial or territorial tax, where it applies, comes off each payment. How much depends on your income for the whole year. That's why we show the weekly rate before tax: it's the figure Service Canada sets and the one on your notice.
Is the EI benefit rate weekly or every two weeks?
Weekly. Your benefit rate is an amount per week, and the yearly maximum is a weekly figure too. You report every 2 weeks, so a payment usually covers 2 weeks, with tax taken off. So a deposit can come close to double your rate, or land well under it. It's also why the comparison box asks for the weekly rate on your notice.
Employment Insurance tables: hours, best weeks and weeks payable by regional rate
These are the Act's own tables, and the calculator reads straight from them. Look up your region's rate for the current period in the official EI rates table, then find its band in the first of the two. The second is Schedule I in full: weeks payable for every band, in steps of 35 insurable hours.
Hours needed, best weeks and weeks payable by regional rate (Employment Insurance Act, s.7(2), s.14(2), Schedule I)
| Regional rate | Hours needed | Best weeks used | Weeks payable |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6% and under | 700 | 22 | 14 to 36 |
| over 6% to 7% | 665 | 21 | 15 to 38 |
| over 7% to 8% | 630 | 20 | 17 to 40 |
| over 8% to 9% | 595 | 19 | 18 to 42 |
| over 9% to 10% | 560 | 18 | 20 to 44 |
| over 10% to 11% | 525 | 17 | 21 to 45 |
| over 11% to 12% | 490 | 16 | 23 to 45 |
| over 12% to 13% | 455 | 15 | 24 to 45 |
| over 13% to 14% | 420 | 14 | 26 to 45 |
| over 14% to 15% | 420 | 14 | 28 to 45 |
| over 15% to 16% | 420 | 14 | 30 to 45 |
| over 16% | 420 | 14 | 32 to 45 |
Weeks payable by insurable hours and regional rate (Schedule I)
| Insurable hours | 6% and under | over 6% to 7% | over 7% to 8% | over 8% to 9% | over 9% to 10% | over 10% to 11% | over 11% to 12% | over 12% to 13% | over 13% to 14% | over 14% to 15% | over 15% to 16% | over 16% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 420 to 454 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 32 | ||||||||
| 455 to 489 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 32 | |||||||
| 490 to 524 | 23 | 25 | 27 | 29 | 31 | 33 | ||||||
| 525 to 559 | 21 | 23 | 25 | 27 | 29 | 31 | 33 | |||||
| 560 to 594 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 32 | 34 | ||||
| 595 to 629 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 32 | 34 | |||
| 630 to 664 | 17 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 25 | 27 | 29 | 31 | 33 | 35 | ||
| 665 to 699 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 25 | 27 | 29 | 31 | 33 | 35 | |
| 700 to 734 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 32 | 34 | 36 |
| 735 to 769 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 32 | 34 | 36 |
| 770 to 804 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 25 | 27 | 29 | 31 | 33 | 35 | 37 |
| 805 to 839 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 25 | 27 | 29 | 31 | 33 | 35 | 37 |
| 840 to 874 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 32 | 34 | 36 | 38 |
| 875 to 909 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 32 | 34 | 36 | 38 |
| 910 to 944 | 17 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 25 | 27 | 29 | 31 | 33 | 35 | 37 | 39 |
| 945 to 979 | 17 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 25 | 27 | 29 | 31 | 33 | 35 | 37 | 39 |
| 980 to 1,014 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 32 | 34 | 36 | 38 | 40 |
| 1,015 to 1,049 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 32 | 34 | 36 | 38 | 40 |
| 1,050 to 1,084 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 25 | 27 | 29 | 31 | 33 | 35 | 37 | 39 | 41 |
| 1,085 to 1,119 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 25 | 27 | 29 | 31 | 33 | 35 | 37 | 39 | 41 |
| 1,120 to 1,154 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 32 | 34 | 36 | 38 | 40 | 42 |
| 1,155 to 1,189 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 32 | 34 | 36 | 38 | 40 | 42 |
| 1,190 to 1,224 | 21 | 23 | 25 | 27 | 29 | 31 | 33 | 35 | 37 | 39 | 41 | 43 |
| 1,225 to 1,259 | 21 | 23 | 25 | 27 | 29 | 31 | 33 | 35 | 37 | 39 | 41 | 43 |
| 1,260 to 1,294 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 32 | 34 | 36 | 38 | 40 | 42 | 44 |
| 1,295 to 1,329 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 32 | 34 | 36 | 38 | 40 | 42 | 44 |
| 1,330 to 1,364 | 23 | 25 | 27 | 29 | 31 | 33 | 35 | 37 | 39 | 41 | 43 | 45 |
| 1,365 to 1,399 | 23 | 25 | 27 | 29 | 31 | 33 | 35 | 37 | 39 | 41 | 43 | 45 |
| 1,400 to 1,434 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 32 | 34 | 36 | 38 | 40 | 42 | 44 | 45 |
| 1,435 to 1,469 | 25 | 27 | 29 | 31 | 33 | 35 | 37 | 39 | 41 | 43 | 45 | 45 |
| 1,470 to 1,504 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 32 | 34 | 36 | 38 | 40 | 42 | 44 | 45 | 45 |
| 1,505 to 1,539 | 27 | 29 | 31 | 33 | 35 | 37 | 39 | 41 | 43 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
| 1,540 to 1,574 | 28 | 30 | 32 | 34 | 36 | 38 | 40 | 42 | 44 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
| 1,575 to 1,609 | 29 | 31 | 33 | 35 | 37 | 39 | 41 | 43 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
| 1,610 to 1,644 | 30 | 32 | 34 | 36 | 38 | 40 | 42 | 44 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
| 1,645 to 1,679 | 31 | 33 | 35 | 37 | 39 | 41 | 43 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
| 1,680 to 1,714 | 32 | 34 | 36 | 38 | 40 | 42 | 44 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
| 1,715 to 1,749 | 33 | 35 | 37 | 39 | 41 | 43 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
| 1,750 to 1,784 | 34 | 36 | 38 | 40 | 42 | 44 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
| 1,785 to 1,819 | 35 | 37 | 39 | 41 | 43 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
| 1,820 or more | 36 | 38 | 40 | 42 | 44 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
Blank cells mean the hours don't meet that band's requirement. "Over 7% to 8%" is the Act's "more than 7% but not more than 8%": it includes 8.0% and starts at 7.1%.
Sources and last checked
- The rules: Employment Insurance Act, sections 6, 7, 8, 10, 12 to 17 and Schedule I, current to September 21, 2026, and the Employment Insurance Regulations, current to September 21, 2026, with SOR/2026-203 (Pilot Project No. 25, Canada Gazette, Part II, October 7, 2026), on Justice Laws and the Canada Gazette. Last checked October 8, 2026. Data version ei-rules-2026-10-07.
- The yearly maximums: Canada.ca, "How much you could receive" ($68,900 and $729 for 2026), and the Canada Employment Insurance Commission's Summary of the 2027 Actuarial Report ($70,800 and $749 for 2027).
- The temporary measures: Canada.ca, "Temporary Employment Insurance measures to respond to major changes in economic conditions".
- Regional rates: ESDC's EI Program Characteristics table and the Postal Code Search.
One step in the arithmetic is our own reading. Section 6(2) of the Employment Insurance Act rounds the 55% to the nearest dollar, an exact half going up. Neither it nor section 1.9.3 of the Digest of Benefit Entitlement Principles says how to round your average before that; we read both on October 8, 2026. So we keep the average to the cent. If Service Canada rounds it another way, its weekly rate can come out $1 above or below ours.
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