Methodology

Where the numbers come from

Every value in the calculator traces back to an official primary source. Federal rules come from the Family and Medical Leave Act and the federal labor regulations that implement it. State programs come from each state's own department of labor or workers' compensation board — California's EDD, New York's Workers' Compensation Board, New Jersey's Department of Labor, and so on for every state we cover.

When you finish the calculator, the "How we calculated this" section at the bottom of your results lists every program that contributed to your timeline alongside a link to its primary source — so you can verify any number yourself.

The data set covers all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. As of 2026, five states have full state-specific data: California, New York, New Jersey, Texas, and Florida — chosen to span the full policy spectrum, from California's most-generous combination of programs to Texas and Florida operating at just the federal floor. The remaining states with paid family leave programs (Massachusetts, Washington, Connecticut, Colorado, Oregon, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Delaware, Maryland, Maine, and DC) are scheduled for phased addition.

How the calculation works

You answer eight short questions: which state you work in, whether you're the birthing parent, how long you've been at your job, how many hours you've worked in the past year, your employer's size, your salary, your pay frequency, and your delivery type.

From those answers, the calculator works out which state and federal programs you qualify for, applies each program's specific rules, and produces a week-by-week timeline showing each phase of your leave and how much you'll be paid each week, dated action items (when to file your FMLA paperwork, when to file your state claim, when to add your baby to insurance), and a "How we calculated this" section citing the primary source for every program contributing to your timeline.

The calculator honors each state's specific rules. California's tiered structure pays low earners 90% of wages and higher earners 70%. New York's short-term disability program is capped at $170 per week — a number unchanged since 1989. New Jersey replaces 85% of wages up to $1,119 per week. When a state's weekly cap would limit your benefit below the percentage replacement, the calculator shows you the actual capped amount, not the theoretical percentage.

How the data stays current

State paid family leave parameters typically update annually around January 1, when new wage caps and contribution rates take effect — but mid-year legislative changes happen too. To keep stale numbers out of the calculator, an automated monitor checks each state government source every week for changes.

When a change is detected, it's never applied to the calculator automatically. It's flagged for human verification against the primary source first. This trades some freshness for accuracy — a real numeric change might take a few days to land after the state publishes it, but the alternative (silently propagating an unverified change) could send thousands of users the wrong numbers.

Two annual full audits also run. December 1: verify next year's announced rates across all monitored states. January 5: confirm those rates have actually taken effect. These catch changes the weekly monitor would miss — like a state adding a brand-new program at a URL not yet in our monitoring list.

Baseline assumptions

State-specific landing pages display a typical case: a $75,000-per-year birthing parent at a 50+ employee company, with 12+ months on the job, full-time hours, and vaginal delivery. This gives a quick sanity check before you customize for your own situation in the calculator.

Recovery weeks default to 6 for vaginal delivery and 8 for C-section — the standard medical recovery periods most state programs accept. If your provider certifies a longer recovery, your actual paid period may extend.

What the calculator doesn't model

• Federal income tax and Social Security withholding. Wage replacement is taxable income (fully or partially, depending on the state). The dollar figures shown are gross — before tax is taken out.
• Employer "top-up" plans. Some employers supplement state paid leave to 100% of your pay. We ask about employer-paid parental leave separately, but the precise interaction with state programs varies by employer policy.
• Multi-state work arrangements. If you live in one state and work in another, the calculator uses the work state's rules — correct for most state programs, but with edge cases for remote workers across state lines.
• Self-employed and 1099 contractors. Most state programs are opt-in for self-employed workers and require enrollment before pregnancy. The current calculator covers W-2 employees.
• Federal employees. Federal employees have their own Paid Parental Leave program (12 weeks at 100% of pay) and don't use state programs. The calculator handles this correctly when "federal" is selected as employer size; a dedicated federal-employee page is planned.

How to report a data error

If a value looks wrong for your state — especially if you have direct experience with the program — please get in touch with a link to the primary source. Public correctness is the whole point.