Leave · 2026 rules
Paid family leave by state: who pays, how long and how much
No federal law pays you while you care for a newborn or a sick parent. A growing group of states runs insurance programs that do.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
Paid family leave exists only at the state level in 2026. Of the 51 jurisdictions covered on this site, 16 have enacted a paid family and medical leave program, and 14 of them are paying benefits on this site's check date: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington. Maryland and Virginia have passed a program whose benefits start later. These programs are insurance funds, usually financed by a small payroll contribution, that replace a share of your wages while you bond with a new child, care for a relative with a serious health condition or, in most of them, recover from your own illness. The highest 2026 weekly maximum among programs that publish one is $1,765 in California, and the lowest is $900 in Delaware. Your actual benefit is a percentage of your own average wage up to that cap. Everywhere else, the federal FMLA protects your job for up to 12 weeks but pays nothing, so pay depends on your employer's policy and your accrued time off.
Paid family leave in your state
New York Paid Family Leave
Up to 12 weeks
| Weeks payable from your plan | 8 |
| Maximum weekly benefit 2026 | $1,228.53 |
| Most you could receive | $9,828 |
Your benefit is a share of your own wages, up to the maximum.
How a state paid leave program works
The model is the same from coast to coast. Employees, and in some states employers, pay a percentage of wages into a state fund through payroll. When you need leave for a covered reason, you file a claim with the state agency or, in a few places, with a private insurer approved by the state. The agency pays you directly, by deposit or debit card, for the weeks you are off. Your employer does not pay your wages during that time, but it may let you top up the state benefit with your own paid time off. The benefit is calculated from your earnings in a recent base period, so people who change jobs keep their eligibility as long as they worked and paid in. That is the main difference from the FMLA, which looks at your hours with a single employer.
Benefits are a share of your own average weekly wage, not a flat amount. Most programs use a progressive formula: a high percentage of the first part of your wage and a lower one above a threshold, then a weekly cap tied to the state average weekly wage. A worker earning $800 a week will usually receive a larger share of pay than a colleague earning $2,500, even though the second person may hit the weekly maximum. The table lists what each program publishes.
| State | Program | Weeks per year | Maximum weekly benefit 2026 | Benefits since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | California Paid Family Leave (PFL), part of State Disability Insurance (SDI), run by the EDD | 8 | $1,765 | July 1, 2004 |
| Colorado | Colorado Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) | 12 | $1,448.02 | January 1, 2024 |
| Connecticut | CT Paid Leave | 12 | $1,016.40 | January 1, 2022 |
| Delaware | Delaware Paid Leave (Healthy Delaware Families Act) | 12 | $900 | January 1, 2026 |
| District of Columbia | DC Paid Family Leave (DC PFL) | 12 | $1,100 | July 1, 2020 |
| Maine | Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) | 12 | $1,250 | May 1, 2026 |
| Maryland | Maryland Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) | 12 | not published | January 1, 2028 |
| Massachusetts | Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) | 26 | $1,230.39 | January 1, 2021 |
| Minnesota | Minnesota Paid Leave | 20 | not published | January 1, 2026 |
| New Hampshire | New Hampshire Paid Family and Medical Leave (NH PFML) - voluntary plan | 6 | not published | January 1, 2023 |
| New Jersey | New Jersey Family Leave Insurance (FLI) | 12 | $1,119 | July 1, 2009 |
| New York | New York Paid Family Leave | 12 | $1,228.53 | January 1, 2018 |
| Oregon | Paid Leave Oregon | 12 | not published | not set |
| Rhode Island | Rhode Island Temporary Caregiver Insurance (TCI) | 8 | $1,150 | not set |
| Virginia | Virginia Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program | 12 | not published | December 1, 2028 |
| Washington | Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave | 12 | $1,647 | January 1, 2020 |
What the weeks cover, and where the limits differ
Every program covers bonding with a new child after birth, adoption or foster placement, and caring for a family member with a serious health condition. Most add your own serious health condition, and several add leave related to a family member's military deployment or to domestic violence. The way the weeks stack varies a lot. Some states give a single pool for every reason; others give separate pools for family and medical leave and cap the combined total. Programs that can exceed the federal 12 weeks in a year, usually by adding medical and family leave together, are found in Massachusetts and Minnesota. The longest maximum in the data is 26 weeks in Massachusetts. A few states handle your own illness in a separate disability program rather than inside paid family leave, which is why their family leave weeks look shorter on paper.
New Hampshire runs a voluntary model: employers may buy a group policy and individuals can enroll on their own, so coverage is not automatic for every worker. Ask your employer whether a policy is in place before you plan around it.
The newest programs and their start dates
California has paid benefits since July 1, 2004, the earliest start among the programs listed here. The more recent laws follow a two-step rollout: payroll contributions begin first, often a year or more ahead, and claims open later. In the data, Maryland and Virginia are still in that waiting phase on October 11, 2026, with benefits starting January 1, 2028 in Maryland and December 1, 2028 in Virginia. Until then, a worker there has only the FMLA, any state unpaid leave law and the employer's own policy. Rates and caps are reset each January, so the figures above are 2026 values and the 2027 caps will usually be higher.
Paid family leave in your state
California Paid Family Leave (PFL), part of State Disability Insurance (SDI), run by the EDD
Up to 8 weeks
| Weeks payable from your plan | 8 |
| Maximum weekly benefit 2026 | $1,765.00 |
| Most you could receive | $14,120 |
Your benefit is a share of your own wages, up to the maximum.
Putting a number on the leave
A quick budget shows why the cap matters. Take a parent who earns $1,500 a week and plans eight weeks of bonding leave. Without any program, the absence costs $12,000 in wages. Even at the highest weekly maximum in the table, $1,765 in California, eight weeks bring in at most $14,120, and the real figure depends on the formula applied to that parent's own wage. Where the cap is $900, as in Delaware, the same eight weeks top out at $7,200. The gap between the benefit and the usual paycheck is what employer top-ups, savings or accrued vacation have to fill. The mini-simulator above multiplies the weekly maximum of the state you pick by the weeks you plan, so you can see the ceiling before filing.
Claims follow a familiar routine. You tell your employer as early as you can, well ahead of a planned birth or surgery, then file with the state program, attaching a birth certificate, placement papers or a certificate from the health care provider. Some programs apply an unpaid waiting week at the start of a claim; others pay from the first day. Leave can often be taken in separate blocks or as reduced days, which suits treatment schedules. Keep copies of everything you send and the dates you sent it, because the agency decides the claim and any appeal on that record.
Job protection is not always part of the deal
Getting paid and keeping your job are two different questions. Some state programs guarantee reinstatement to the same or an equivalent position; others only pay benefits and leave job protection to the FMLA or to a separate state leave law. When you meet the federal test, the two run at the same time in most cases: the state check replaces wages while the FMLA holds your job and your health plan. When you do not meet it, because your employer is small or you are new, the answer depends on the wording of the state statute. The agency that runs the program publishes the rule, and the FMLA eligibility guide shows whether the federal protection applies to you.
If your state has no program
That is the case in 35 of the 51 jurisdictions covered on this site. Your options are the ones your employer offers: paid parental leave in the handbook, short-term disability insurance that pays during recovery from childbirth or illness, and accrued vacation or paid sick leave. Private short-term disability usually pays a share of salary for a limited period after a waiting week, and it does not cover caring for someone else. Bonding with a child or caring for a parent is therefore unpaid unless your employer chooses otherwise. Read the policy before the leave starts, ask human resources in writing which benefits will run at the same time, and keep a copy of each answer. Compare the rules where you work on your state page.