Virginia unemployment benefits are up to $48 a week higher

If you are eligible for Virginia unemployment and file a new claim, your weekly benefit amount is now $48 higher than it would have been under the old schedule. What you actually receive can be lower if you have earnings or other deductions. The maximum rose from $430 to $478 a week, and the minimum rose from $112 to $160. To get the top amount, you need at least $18,900.01 in combined wages across two quarters of your base period.

You don’t apply separately. The higher amounts apply to new claims filed on or after July 5, 2026. Claims filed earlier stay on the old schedule, and the Virginia Employment Commission doesn’t backdate claims. Benefits are paid from the state’s unemployment trust fund, which employers pay into, so the raise doesn’t come out of public services.

Del. Marty Martinez carried the bill in the House, and Sen. Adam Ebbin carried an identical Senate bill. It passed the House 62–35 and the Senate 21–19, and Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed it on April 13, 2026. It was the second raise of the year: a $52 increase passed in 2025 took effect that January. Both followed 2024 recommendations from the legislature’s Commission on Unemployment Compensation, after benefits had gone more than a decade without a raise.