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Layoff Calculator

Layoff Calculator

Severance pay calculator.

Grade your offer, estimate your runway, and see what to negotiate — in 60 seconds.

Step 1 of 3

Tell us about your income.

We use this to estimate your severance and what taxes will take.

Your gross pre-tax salary, not including bonus or equity.

$/ year

Time at your current employer. Decimals OK (e.g. 4.5).

Estimates based on public data and industry benchmarks. Not legal advice.

How severance works

Most people getting a severance offer have never negotiated one. The packet lands on a bad day, the company sets a deadline, and nobody on their side is on yours. This calculator closes that gap. A few inputs and you get a benchmark from public data, the laws that apply to you, and a list of what to push back on before signing.

How the number is calculated

Three things move it. Your industry: tech, finance, and pharma usually pay more weeks per year of service; retail, hospitality, and logistics pay less. Your tenure: more years means more weeks. Your company’s size: larger employers report more generous packages than small businesses, so we adjust accordingly. A floor protects very short-tenure workers from a near-zero result. The output is a range — low, typical, high — because no two situations are identical. The middle number is what most people in your position actually receive.

The WARN Act, plain version

If your employer has 100 or more employees and laid off a group of 50 or more at once, federal law requires 60 days of written notice before the separation. Several states — California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Maine, Washington — lower that threshold or extend the notice window. If you got less notice than you were owed, you may have a claim for back pay and benefits for every missed day. New Jersey adds statutory severance on top.

Why runway matters more than the headline

A severance check is smaller than it looks. Federal withholding on supplemental wages is 22% (37% above $1M in a year), FICA takes another 7.65%, and your state takes its share. By the time the money lands, 30 to 40 cents of every dollar is gone. The runway number on the results page strips that drag out, then applies your state’s unemployment rules — some states pay UI alongside severance, some delay it, some reduce it. What you get is a months-of-living-expenses figure that tells you how long the package actually buys you. That’s the number that decides whether to sign, negotiate, or push back hard.

What to do next

Treat the negotiation checklist as a starting point, not a script. Get every promise in writing in the agreement itself — verbal commitments about references, equity, and benefits disappear the moment HR rotates. Use the full review window the offer gives you; the deadline pressure is rarely as real as it feels. And for anything material — a possible WARN claim, contested terms, a release that waives serious legal rights — pay an employment attorney in your state for an hour before signing.

Frequently asked

How is “typical severance” calculated?
We start with an industry baseline expressed in weeks of pay per year of tenure — tech and finance benchmarks tend to run higher than retail or hospitality, for example. That weekly figure is multiplied by your years of service, then adjusted by a company-size factor, since larger employers historically pay more generous packages. A statutory or policy-driven floor (“minWeeks”) protects very short-tenure employees from a near-zero result. Because no two situations are identical, the output is presented as a range rather than a single number, with the midpoint reflecting the most common outcome we see in publicly reported offers.
What’s the WARN Act and when does it protect me?
The federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act sets a floor: employers with 100 or more employees must give 60 days’ written notice before a mass layoff or plant closing. Several states layer stricter “mini-WARN” laws on top — California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Maine, Washington and others lower the employee threshold, extend the notice window, or in NJ’s case mandate statutory severance. If your employer skipped notice you were legally owed, you may be entitled to back pay and benefits for each day of missed notice, plus penalties.
Is severance taxed differently than regular pay?
Yes — the IRS classifies severance as supplemental wages, which are typically subject to a flat 22% federal withholding (or 37% on amounts over $1M in a year). On top of that you owe FICA: 6.2% Social Security up to the annual wage base, plus 1.45% Medicare with an additional 0.9% Medicare surtax above $200K. Your state then applies its own income tax. Combined, the effective rate on a severance check often lands somewhere between 30% and 40% depending on where you live and how much you’ve already earned year-to-date.
Can I collect unemployment while receiving severance?
It depends entirely on your state. A handful allow concurrent collection — you draw UI benefits even while severance hits your bank account. Others treat severance as wages, which delays the start of your UI eligibility until the severance period ends. A third group reduces your weekly UI benefit in proportion to the severance you receive. The runway estimate in this calculator applies the rule for the state you select, so the post-tax number you see already reflects whether and when UI kicks in.
Should I negotiate the offer?
Almost always, yes. The first severance offer is rarely the final one — employers expect counter-proposals, especially from senior or long-tenured employees. The most productive levers are the cash amount itself, employer-paid COBRA contributions, the scope and duration of any non-compete, accelerated vesting on unvested equity, and a written commitment to provide neutral or positive references. Take a few days before signing, get any verbal promises in writing, and remember that the release agreement attached to most offers waives meaningful legal claims — review it accordingly.
Is this legal advice?
No. This calculator gives you a benchmark and a checklist so you can walk into the conversation informed, but it is not a substitute for professional counsel. Every situation is fact-specific: the size of your employer, the trigger for the layoff, the language in your offer letter and any equity agreements, your state of residence, and the protected categories you may belong to all matter. For anything material — a possible WARN claim, a negotiated separation agreement, or contested terms — consult a licensed employment attorney in your state.