Unemployment benefits in Memphis
Unemployment insurance in Memphis is a Tennessee program, filed with the state agency rather than with Shelby County. The weekly amount and the number of weeks come from state law, and both are below.
Where a Memphis case goes
Claims from Memphis go to the Tennessee unemployment agency, not to a Shelby County office. Benefits are paid by the state under the formula below. Memphis has about 610,919 residents (Census Bureau, 2024 estimate).
Open the full Tennessee unemployment calculator → — same formula, with every input, the statute (Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-7-301; TDLWD) and the date it was last checked.
Formula
Two quarters ÷ 52
Maximum
$275 · up to 26 weeks
Does Memphis have its own rule?
No. Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-7-301; TDLWD applies across Tennessee, so a claim from Memphis is decided by the same numbers as one filed anywhere else in the state. What changes locally is which workforce office you deal with in person and how busy it is — not the weekly amount or the number of weeks.
What the statute says
Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-7-301; TDLWD — Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Tennessee's $275 maximum has been frozen since 2006 — two decades without an increase, among the lowest in the country. Tennessee does not tax unemployment benefits (no state income tax), but they remain federally taxable.
Last checked 2026-08-27. Read the source →
Also for Memphis
Other Tennessee cities
Nashville · Knoxville · Chattanooga · Clarksville · Murfreesboro · Franklin · Johnson City · Jackson · Hendersonville · Smyrna · Spring Hill · Kingsport
Everything StateTally tracks for Tennessee → · Unemployment in every city →