Paid Family Leave by State 2026: Pay, Caps and Weeks

As of late September 2026, 12 states and the District of Columbia pay benefits for paid family leave: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington. Maryland is not on the list yet: its program collects contributions from January 1, 2027 and pays benefits from January 1, 2028, after several delays. Everywhere else, the only federal protection is unpaid FMLA leave.

Most guides list the programs and stop. This one adds what the lists leave out: what a specific paycheck turns into under each formula, at which salary each state's weekly cap starts cutting your replacement rate, and what a 12-week leave costs you out of pocket. Every state name in the table links to a calculator that runs your own numbers.

The direct answers

• Longest bonding leave: Minnesota (up to 20 weeks combined family and medical), Massachusetts (12 weeks family, up to 26 combined with medical) and Washington (12, or 16 to 18 with multiple events or pregnancy complications). California (8 weeks) and Rhode Island (8 weeks) are the shortest.
• Highest weekly cap: California $1,765, Oregon $1,692.16, Washington $1,647, Colorado $1,448.02, Minnesota $1,423.
• Best for a $40,000 earner: Connecticut, Colorado and Minnesota replace roughly 88% to 91% of pay. New York replaces 67%.
• Best for a $120,000 earner: Colorado, at 63% of pay. Delaware is lowest, at 39%.
• Job protection is separate. A state benefit pays you; it does not always guarantee your job (California's EDD says so explicitly). Job protection usually comes from FMLA, a state family-leave act, or the program's own statute.

Every program at a glance (2026)

Weekly caps below are the 2026 maximums from each state's program. Click a state for its calculator and program rules.

State	Bonding weeks	Pay formula	Weekly cap
California	8	Sliding scale by base-period earnings	$1,765
Colorado	12 (+4 for complications)	90% up to $804.46/wk, 50% above	$1,448.02
Connecticut	12 (+2 for pregnancy)	95% up to $677.60/wk, 60% above	$1,016.40
Delaware	12 (parental)	80% flat	$900
District of Columbia	12 (parental)	Tiered; see calculator	$1,100 from Oct 1, 2026
Maine	12 (benefits began May 1, 2026)	Tiered; see calculator	$1,249*
Massachusetts	12 family (26 combined with medical)	80% up to $961.24/wk, 50% above	$1,230.39
Minnesota	12 family (20 combined)	90% / 66% / 55% in three tiers	$1,423
New Jersey	12	85% flat	$1,119
New York	12	67% flat	$1,228.53
Oregon	12 (+2 for pregnancy)	Progressive; up to 100% for low earners	$1,692.16 (from June 28, 2026)
Rhode Island	8	About 60% plus dependent allowances	$1,150 (from July 1, 2026)
Washington	12 (16 with multiple events, 18 with complications)	Progressive; up to 90%	$1,647

* Maine's cap comes from our program dataset and was not confirmed against a Maine agency page when this was written. Check the Maine calculator page and the state's paid-leave site before relying on it. Maryland is omitted because no benefits are payable until 2028.

What the formulas pay: one paycheck, seven states

To compare programs fairly, we ran the published 2026 formulas at four annual salaries, converted to a weekly wage (salary divided by 52). Inputs: New York 67% capped at $1,228.53; New Jersey 85% capped at $1,119; Delaware 80% capped at $900; Connecticut 95% of the first $677.60 and 60% above, capped at $1,016.40; Colorado 90% of the first $804.46 and 50% above, capped at $1,448.02; Massachusetts 80% of the first $961.24 and 50% above, capped at $1,230.39; Minnesota 90% of the first $711.50, 66% up to $1,423 and 55% above, capped at $1,423. California, Oregon and Washington are left out because their formulas depend on base-period detail we cannot reduce to a single wage. Real claims use your average weekly wage over the state's base period, so treat these as close estimates.

Weekly benefit (% of pay)	$40,000 ($769/wk)	$75,000 ($1,442/wk)	$120,000 ($2,308/wk)	$200,000 ($3,846/wk)
Colorado	$692 (90%)	$1,043 (72%)	$1,448 (63%)	$1,448 (38%)
Connecticut	$699 (91%)	$1,016 (70%)	$1,016 (44%)	$1,016 (26%)
Delaware	$615 (80%)	$900 (62%)	$900 (39%)	$900 (23%)
Massachusetts	$615 (80%)	$1,010 (70%)	$1,230 (53%)	$1,230 (32%)
Minnesota	$678 (88%)	$1,121 (78%)	$1,423 (62%)	$1,423 (37%)
New Jersey	$654 (85%)	$1,119 (78%)	$1,119 (48%)	$1,119 (29%)
New York	$515 (67%)	$966 (67%)	$1,229 (53%)	$1,229 (32%)

Where each cap starts to bite

The cap turns a percentage program into a flat-dollar program. Working the formulas backwards, the weekly cap binds at about these annual salaries: Delaware $58,500; Connecticut $67,500; New Jersey $68,500; Massachusetts $98,000; New York $95,300; Minnesota $103,600; Colorado $117,100. If you earn above those levels, additional salary adds nothing to your benefit, and the gap between your paycheck and your benefit grows dollar for dollar.

That produces a result that surprises people. New York's flat 67% looks stingy, yet at $75,000 it pays $966 a week, while New Jersey's 85% pays $1,119. The gap is widest at lower pay: at $40,000 New Jersey's 85% beats New York's 67% by $139 a week. New York only pulls ahead of New Jersey in dollars once its higher cap matters, at wages above about $1,830 a week ($95,300 a year), where it pays $1,229 against New Jersey's $1,119.

Worked example: a 12-week leave at $75,000

Take a parent earning $75,000 ($1,442 a week) who stays home 12 weeks. Using the formulas above:

• New Jersey: $13,428 in benefits; $3,880 shortfall against normal gross pay.
• Minnesota: $13,447 in benefits; $3,861 shortfall.
• Colorado: $12,515 in benefits; $4,792 shortfall.
• Connecticut: $12,197 in benefits; $5,111 shortfall.
• Massachusetts: $12,114 in benefits; $5,193 shortfall.
• New York: $11,596 in benefits; $5,712 shortfall.
• Delaware: $10,800 in benefits; $6,508 shortfall.

The spread between best and worst is about $2,600 over the leave, for identical pay and identical time off. These are gross figures: they do not include income-tax treatment (which differs by state and by program), lost employer contributions, or the new-baby costs that land in the same months. To turn the shortfall into a monthly budget line, run your salary through the paycheck calculator to see normal take-home, then subtract the weekly benefit shown by your state's calculator. Then use the baby cost calculator and budget calculator to size the savings cushion.

What you pay in for it

At $75,000 of wages, employee-paid contributions come to roughly $324 a year in New York (0.432% of pay, capped at $411.91 a year), $173 in New Jersey (0.23% on the first $171,100 of wages, 100% worker-paid), $338 in Colorado (0.45% employee share of a 0.9% premium) and $375 in Connecticut (0.5%). In every case the annual premium is small next to the benefit: a few hundred dollars a year against $10,800 to $13,447 over a 12-week leave.

Five rules that change the math

1. Benefits are calculated on a base period, not this month's pay

Connecticut, for instance, requires at least $2,325 in one quarter of a base period covering the first four of the five most recently completed quarters. Colorado, Minnesota and Massachusetts use similar lookbacks, so a recent raise may not be reflected and a recent job change can leave a gap. Start your estimate from your highest-earning recent quarter, then confirm with the calculator for your state.

2. Bonding leave and your own recovery are different buckets

Birthing parents often get medical-leave weeks on top of bonding weeks. California's EDD, for example, lets a birthing parent stack State Disability Insurance for recovery with up to 8 weeks of Paid Family Leave. Massachusetts allows 12 weeks of family leave inside a 26-week combined limit. Washington counts 16 to 18 weeks when a pregnancy complication is involved. The maximum in the table is for bonding alone.

3. The state benefit is not job protection

Federal FMLA gives up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave, but only if your employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles of your worksite and you have worked there 12 months and 1,250 hours in the past year. If you fail that test, look for your state's own protection: Oregon protects jobs after 90 consecutive days of employment, Maine after 120 days, and Colorado after 180 days. California's EDD says its program pays but does not protect the job on its own.

4. Where you work decides, not where you live

These are payroll programs run by the state where wages are earned. A remote employee living in Texas but employed by a Colorado business can end up under a different program than a neighbor. If a move is on the table, model the net effect, not just the tax rate: compare the two locations in the relocation calculator, check state income tax with the tax calculator, and see California, Colorado and Washington tax pages for the three most-searched PFL states.

5. Cost of living can outweigh the benefit gap

A generous cap is worth less if the rent it covers is high. Costs in Seattle and Denver differ sharply even though Washington caps benefits at $1,647 and Colorado at $1,448 (see the Seattle vs Denver comparison). Likewise New York City and Boston sit in states with similar caps but very different price levels, and Washington, DC pairs a lowered $1,100 cap with a high cost base. Compare the leave benefit against local monthly costs before deciding anything.

Recent changes people get wrong

• Maryland has not launched. Contributions start January 1, 2027 and benefits January 1, 2028 (Maryland FAMLI program page).
• Maine started paying on May 1, 2026. Only time out of work on or after that date qualifies. Up to 12 weeks in a benefit year for medical, parental, family care, military family or safe leave.
• Minnesota and Delaware began paying benefits in 2026. Delaware pays up to 12 weeks of parental leave at 80% of wages with a $900 cap for 2026 and 2027, for employers with 10 or more employees. Minnesota provides up to 12 weeks of family and 12 weeks of medical leave, 20 weeks combined.
• Caps reset on different dates. Oregon's moved to $1,692.16 on June 28, 2026, Rhode Island's to $1,150 on July 1, 2026 and Colorado's on July 1, 2026. Washington, California, New York and Massachusetts changed on January 1. DC's page lists $1,100 for claims from October 1, 2026, lower than the $1,190 figure many summaries still quote. Always check the date on a figure before comparing it.

How to use this to plan a leave

1. Find your state above and open its calculator to get your weekly benefit from your own wages.
2. Multiply by the number of weeks you plan to take, then subtract from what you would normally earn over the same weeks. That is your shortfall.
3. Ask HR whether the employer tops up state benefits, whether accrued PTO can be added on top (Massachusetts and Colorado both allow topping up to full pay), and what happens to your health insurance premium share during leave.
4. Start the savings target early. A shortfall of $4,000 to $6,500 is typical at a $75,000 salary in the states we modeled, which is one to two months of take-home pay set aside before the leave begins.

The general family leave calculator covers the states above and DC; the state-specific pages carry each program's eligibility summary and FAQs.

Sources

• California EDD - Paid Family Leave (8 weeks, $1,765 max in 2026, no job protection)
• New York Paid Family Leave - 2026 details ($1,228.53 max weekly, 0.432% contribution)
• New Jersey Family Leave Insurance (85%, 12 weeks, $1,119 max in 2026, 0.23% contribution)
• Washington Paid Leave - 2026 ($1,647 max weekly, 12/16/18 weeks)
• Paid Leave Oregon (12 weeks, +2 for pregnancy, 90-day job protection)
• Oregon Employment Department - 2026 minimum and maximum weekly benefit amounts ($1,692.16)
• Connecticut Paid Leave - coverage and eligibility ($2,325 base-period quarter test)
• Colorado FAMLI - new state average weekly wage and maximum benefit ($1,448.02)
• Massachusetts DFML - PFML overview and benefits (2026 max $1,230.39)
• Minnesota Paid Leave - 2026 actuarial report (SAWW $1,423, tiered formula)
• District of Columbia Paid Family Leave ($1,100 maximum from Oct 1, 2026)
• Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave (benefits from May 1, 2026, 12 weeks)
• Delaware Paid Leave - program summary (benefits from Jan 1, 2026, $900 cap)
• Rhode Island DLT - Temporary Caregiver Insurance ($1,150 from July 1, 2026)
• Maryland FAMLI - contributions from Jan 1, 2027, benefits from Jan 1, 2028
• U.S. Department of Labor - Family and Medical Leave Act (12 weeks unpaid, 50 employees/75 miles, 1,250 hours)