How to Calculate Your EI Weekly Benefit Amount

To calculate your EI weekly benefit amount, add up your gross earnings from your highest-paid weeks in the 52 weeks before your claim, divide by the number of best weeks that applies to your region (between 14 and 22), and multiply the result by 55%. For claims starting in 2026, the payment is capped at $729 per week.1Canada.ca. Employment Insurance – Important Notice About Maximum Insurable Earnings for 2026

The math itself takes about two minutes once you have the inputs. Getting the inputs right is the part that matters.

What You Need Before You Start

The single document that drives the calculation is your Record of Employment. Your employer issues it whenever your earnings are interrupted, and it lists your total insurable earnings broken down by pay period. If your employer files electronically, you can view it through your My Service Canada Account; a paper copy comes directly from your employer.2Canada.ca. EI Record of Employment

Insurable earnings are your gross wages, tips, commissions, and bonuses before any deductions. Pull the weekly gross for each pay period in the 52 weeks leading up to your claim and lay them out chronologically. You will be picking the highest weeks from that list, so seeing them in order helps you spot the top ones quickly.

One threshold matters before you bother with the math: you need enough insurable hours to qualify at all, ranging from 420 hours in the highest-unemployment regions to 700 hours where unemployment sits at 6% or below.3Canada.ca. EI Program Characteristics If you fall short, no benefit is payable regardless of what your earnings look like.

How Many Best Weeks Apply to You

EI does not average all of your weekly earnings together. It uses only your highest-earning weeks from the qualifying period, and how many weeks get counted depends on the unemployment rate in your EI economic region. This is called Variable Best Weeks, and it exists so that workers in areas with sporadic employment are not dragged down by low- or zero-earning weeks.4Government of Canada. Variable Best Weeks

The count runs from 14 weeks in the highest-unemployment regions to 22 weeks where jobs are plentiful:

  • 6% or less: 22 best weeks
  • 6.1% to 7%: 21 best weeks
  • 7.1% to 8%: 20 best weeks
  • 8.1% to 9%: 19 best weeks
  • 9.1% to 10%: 18 best weeks
  • 10.1% to 11%: 17 best weeks
  • 11.1% to 12%: 16 best weeks
  • 12.1% to 13%: 15 best weeks
  • 13.1% or more: 14 best weeks

Enter your postal code in Service Canada’s EI region search tool to see the current unemployment rate for your area and confirm the number of best weeks that applies.3Canada.ca. EI Program Characteristics That figure feeds directly into the formula.

The Four-Step Calculation

With your weekly earnings organized and the regional best-weeks count in hand, work through these steps:

  • Step 1. From the 52 weeks before your claim, pick the weeks with the highest gross earnings. The number of weeks you pick matches the regional figure above. They do not need to be consecutive.
  • Step 2. Add up the gross earnings from those selected weeks.
  • Step 3. Divide that total by the number of best weeks. The result is your average weekly insurable earnings.
  • Step 4. Multiply that average by 0.55 to get your weekly benefit amount.

A worked example: say your region requires 18 best weeks and your top 18 weeks total $16,200. Divide $16,200 by 18 for an average of $900 per week. Multiply $900 by 55% and your weekly benefit is $495.5Canada.ca. EI Regular Benefits – How Much You Could Receive

The 2026 Maximum

The formula has a ceiling. The Maximum Insurable Earnings figure for 2026 is $68,900 per year, which, divided by 52 and multiplied by 55%, produces a maximum weekly benefit of $729 for any claim established on or after December 28, 2025.1Canada.ca. Employment Insurance – Important Notice About Maximum Insurable Earnings for 2026

If your 55% calculation lands above $729, you receive $729. Someone earning $2,000 per week would calculate 55% as $1,100, but the payment is still capped at $729. Higher earners are often caught off guard by this when they start budgeting for a period without work.

When You Can Get More Than 55%

Low-income families with children can qualify for a higher rate through the EI Family Supplement, which lifts the benefit rate up to 80% of your average insurable earnings. You need a net family income below $25,921 per year, and you or your spouse must receive the Canada Child Benefit.5Canada.ca. EI Regular Benefits – How Much You Could Receive

The supplement tapers as family income rises and disappears entirely at the $25,921 threshold. If both spouses are collecting EI at the same time, only one can receive it, and it usually makes sense for the spouse with the lower benefit rate to claim it, since the percentage boost produces a bigger dollar increase on a smaller base.

Why Your Deposit May Be Smaller Than the Number You Calculated

EI benefits are taxable. Service Canada withholds federal and provincial income tax from every payment automatically, so the amount hitting your bank account is less than the gross weekly benefit you worked out.5Canada.ca. EI Regular Benefits – How Much You Could Receive

Certain payments around the time of a job loss can also delay or reduce benefits. Severance pay and pension payments, for instance, may push back your start date or lower the weekly amount, depending on how the payment is structured and what period it covers.6Canada.ca. Employment Insurance and the Various Types of Earnings If your employer is offering a separation package, review the allocation with Service Canada before you count on a specific start date.

One timing note. EI normally includes a one-week unpaid waiting period at the start of a claim, but a temporary measure waives it for all new claims established between March 30, 2025 and April 11, 2026.7Government of Canada. Temporary Employment Insurance Measures to Respond to Major Changes in Economic Conditions Claims filed inside that window pay from the first eligible week.

The High-Income Clawback

This is the part that catches people at tax time. If your net income from all sources exceeds $86,125 in the 2026 tax year, you must repay 30% of the lesser of your net income above that threshold or your total regular benefits received during the year.8Canada.ca. EI and Repayment of Benefits at Income Tax Time The clawback applies even though tax was withheld from each payment as it came in.

The typical scenario is someone who collects EI for a few months and then lands a well-paying job partway through the year. Combined income crosses the threshold and a repayment is owed at filing time. If your annual income looks like it will approach that range, set aside funds against the clawback rather than being surprised in April.