How SUTA works

What SUTA is

SUTA — the state unemployment tax, paid only by the employer, on the first slice of each employee's wages (the state's 'wage base': as low as $7,000, as high as $78,200 in Washington). This calculator uses the NEW-EMPLOYER rate. In states that publish industry-average rates only (LA, MN, MT, NM, UT, WA, WY), the line shows $0.00 with a warning instead of an invented rate.

Each state sets its own wage base and new-employer rate in its unemployment law; the figures here come from the US Department of Labor's 'Significant Provisions of State UI Laws' (July 2026).

Wage bases: from the federal floor to Washington

Each state taxes only the first slice of each employee's wages. 5 jurisdictions still sit at the federal floor of $7,000.00; the highest base is Washington's $78,200.00. In between: California $7,000.00, Texas $9,000.00, Florida $7,000.00, New York $17,600.00, Illinois $14,250.00. The base — not the rate — is usually what makes one state's SUTA bill dwarf another's at the same payroll.

The new-employer rate, then experience rating

New employers start at a published rate — California 3.4%, Texas 2.7%, New York 4.025% (DOL Significant Provisions, July 2026). After the initial period, each employer is rated on its own history of benefit claims, inside a published range (California: 1.5%–6.2%). Stable employers drift down; heavy layoffs push the rate up. This site's calculators always use the new-employer rate and label it on the result.

The industry-average states

Seven states assign new employers a rate from their industry instead of a single published rate: Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Where the agency publishes an exploitable class schedule, this engine encodes it — Minnesota's 51 DEED industry rates, Montana's classes A–K. Washington computes 115% of the industry average with a 1% floor (WAC 192-320-025) and publishes no per-industry table; there, and in Louisiana, New Mexico and Wyoming, the engine shows SUTA as $0.00 with a warning rather than inventing an average.

How FUTA rides on SUTA

The federal unemployment tax is 6% on the first $7,000.00 per employee, with a credit of up to 5.4% for state unemployment taxes paid — the standard net rate is 0.6%. States with unpaid federal loans can lose part of the credit (credit reduction), which is why each employer page states its state's FUTA status for 2026.

Compute it

• SUTA calculator — California
• SUTA calculator — Texas
• SUTA calculator — Washington
• Employer cost calculator — all states