2026 state paid-leave premium

A Minnesota payroll administrator running 22 people on $2,400,000 of in-state wages owes $14,652 in Paid Leave premium for 2026, and $4,884 of that is the company's own money rather than a deduction from wages.

That figure is easy to get wrong this year, because four US states now charge an employer paid-family-and-medical-leave premium and in 2026 none of them charge it the same way.

Minnesota Paid Leave switched on 1 January 2026. The headline rate is 0.88% of covered wages, but there is a reduced small-employer rate of 0.66% and it has two conditions, not one. You need 30 or fewer workers in each quarter, and you need an average quarterly wage at or under $27,745.88.

Work the example. Twenty-two workers, $2,400,000 of in-state wages, of which $180,000 sits above the $185,000 per-worker cap, so the premium is charged on $2,220,000. Average quarterly wage is $27,273, just under the $27,745.88 line. The small-employer rate holds: 0.66%, or $14,652 for the year. Of that, 0.44% may be withheld from wages, which is $9,768, and the employer's own share is the remaining 0.22%, or $4,884.

Now hire one more person. At worker number 31 the headcount condition fails on its own, no matter what the wages do. The rate becomes 0.88%, the employer's own share becomes 0.44% instead of 0.22%, and on the same $2,220,000 of covered wages that share doubles from $4,884 to $9,768. One hire, $4,884 of new employer cost that nothing on your payroll run tells you about.

Delaware is a different shape entirely. It is not a single rate but a headcount ladder. Under 10 Delaware workers the program does not apply and you owe nothing unless you opt in. At 10 to 24 workers you owe parental leave only, 0.32% of covered wages. At 25 and up you owe the full 0.80%, split 50/50 with employees by default, capped at the 2026 Social Security taxable wage base of $184,500.

Maine runs a third shape. The rate is 1.0% of wages for employers with 15 or more employees, of which no more than 0.5% may come out of wages. Below 15 employees the employer's half is waived entirely, but the 0.5% employee deduction still has to be withheld and remitted.

Maryland is where most reference material is stale. Maryland FAMLI has been delayed again, to contributions beginning 1 January 2027. The correct 2026 amount for Maryland is $0. An employer that starts withholding this year is taking money out of wages for a program that is not in force.

The fourth number that matters is the one nobody calculates: what you owe for the months you have already run. Minnesota premiums began in January. An employer that registered late in September has nine months of payroll behind it, and on a $4,884 annual employer share that is $3,663 of back premium already accrued before the next quarterly payment is even due.

State Paid Leave Cost Check 2026 is a browser extension that takes state, in-state headcount, annual in-state wages, the part above the per-worker cap, your withholding choice and the months already run, and returns the applied rate with a one-sentence reason, the covered wages, the total premium, the employer share, the withheld amount, and the back premium. Every one of those calculations is free and unlimited with no licence key. The $60 full version adds a different axis rather than more answers: CSV export of your figures, and reminders 30, 14 and 1 day before each quarterly due date. For comparison, an independent payroll-compliance consultant bills $150 to $300 an hour to re-check a single state's rate and tier.