US State Benefits Statistics (2026)

Key statistics

Each statistic links to itself — use the # to cite a single figure directly.

• 255

  Benefits Transfer tracks 255 state-program records — 5 benefit programs across all 51 US jurisdictions — verified against 595 official agency and federal sources between 2026-08-08 and 2026-10-02.

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• $622

  The median base maximum weekly unemployment benefit across all 51 US jurisdictions is $622 (2026); the mean is $591.

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• $1,152

  Washington pays the highest base maximum weekly unemployment benefit in the country at $1,152 per week (2026), across all 51 US jurisdictions, before the dependents' allowances some states add per child.

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• $235

  Mississippi pays the lowest base maximum weekly unemployment benefit in the country at $235 per week (2026), across all 51 US jurisdictions.

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• 4.9×

  Base maximum weekly unemployment benefits vary 4.9× across the 51 US jurisdictions, from $235 in Mississippi to $1,152 in Washington (2026).

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• 9.1×

  At the durations in force now, the largest possible unemployment claim varies 9.1× by state — $29,952 in Washington against $3,300 in Florida (2026) — counting each state's base maximum weekly benefit across the most weeks a new claim can run. In the 11 jurisdictions where the number of weeks moves with the unemployment rate, that is the current maximum the agency publishes (Florida: 12 weeks as of October 2026, against a statutory cap of 23), or the statutory cap where it publishes none (2 of them). It is a ceiling, not what a typical claim pays.

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• 15 of 51

  15 of 51 US jurisdictions pay unemployment for fewer than the standard 26 weeks on a claim filed now (2026); Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee pay for at most 12 weeks. 11 jurisdictions tie the number of weeks to the state unemployment rate, so these counts use the current maximum each agency publishes (dated between January 2026 and October 2026), or the statutory cap for the 2 that publish none; counting statutory caps alone, 12 of 51 are below 26 weeks.

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• 10 of 51

  10 of 51 US jurisdictions have not adopted ACA Medicaid expansion (2026): Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

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• 138% FPL

  40 of the 41 ACA expansion jurisdictions set the adult Medicaid income limit at exactly 138% of the federal poverty level (2026); the District of Columbia covers adults above that floor but publishes no current percentage, so it is excluded rather than estimated.

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• 100% FPL

  Wisconsin is the only jurisdiction outside ACA Medicaid expansion that covers childless adults on income alone, up to 100% of the federal poverty level rather than the 138% used by expansion states (2026).

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• 200% FPL

  The median SNAP gross income limit for most households is 200% of the federal poverty level across all 51 US jurisdictions (2026); the mean is 174%.

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• 15 vs 28

  15 of 51 US jurisdictions hold the SNAP gross income limit at the standard 130% of the federal poverty level while 28 raise it to 200% for every household (2026); New York (130% for most households, 150–200% for some) is tiered, so the same household income can qualify in one state and fail in another.

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• 44 of 51

  44 of 51 US jurisdictions use Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility to widen SNAP access (2026); the 7 that do not are Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Wyoming.

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• 8

  8 of the 44 jurisdictions that adopted SNAP Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility still apply the standard 130% gross income limit (2026): Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.

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• 4

  4 US jurisdictions sit outside both ACA Medicaid expansion and SNAP Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility (2026): Kansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Wyoming.

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• 51 of 51

  WIC is the only one of the 5 programs with no state-by-state variation in its rules: all 51 US jurisdictions set the income limit at 185% of the federal poverty level (a higher dollar amount in Alaska and Hawaii, which have their own poverty guidelines), and all 51 accept the federal Verification of Certification card issued by another state (2026).

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• 35 of 51

  35 of 51 state TANF agencies do not publish a maximum monthly cash benefit for a family of three anywhere on their public program pages (2026).

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• $204–$803

  Among the 16 of 51 jurisdictions that do publish one, the maximum monthly TANF benefit for a family of three runs from $204 in Arkansas to $803 in the District of Columbia (2026), a 3.9× spread.

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• 18 of 45

  18 of the 45 jurisdictions that publish a TANF time limit set it below the federal 60-month lifetime maximum (2026); Arizona and Arkansas stop at 12 months. For Louisiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia, the shorter limit is not a lifetime cap: it counts months within a rolling window, is followed by a waiting period before a family can return, or varies by household.

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• 5 agencies

  In 12 US jurisdictions, 5 separate agencies administer the 5 programs, so a household receiving all of them deals with 5 different offices in a single move (2026); only Alaska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, and Utah run all 5 through 2 agencies.

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Every jurisdiction, every program

Ranked by maximum weekly unemployment benefit, highest first. — means the agency does not publish that value — we exclude it from every average on this page rather than estimating it, and it stays empty in the CSV rather than becoming a zero. Where the number of unemployment weeks moves with the state unemployment rate, “UI max weeks now” is the maximum for a claim filed now, dated as the agency dates it, with the statutory cap after “law: up to”. A plain “up to” marks such a state whose agency publishes no current figure: the cap, which a claim filed now may not reach. “UI max claim now” multiplies the base weekly maximum by those weeks. “Tiered” marks a SNAP limit that applies to most households, with a higher limit for some household types. A TANF limit marked “rolling window”, “then a wait”, or “tiered” is not a lifetime cap.

Download the whole table:CSV — raw values, no formatting, unpublished figures left empty. In the CSV, ui_max_weeks and ui_max_total_claim_usd are the statutory caps; the ui_weeks_now, ui_weeks_now_as_of and ui_max_claim_now_usd columns match this table.