Oregon SUTA Tax Calculator
Figure basis: Official U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment InsuranceState Unemployment Tax Act (SUTA) tax is the state unemployment insurance tax that employers pay to fund unemployment benefits in Oregon. This calculator estimates your Oregon SUTA liability for the 2026 tax year. Enter the average annual wages per employee, your number of employees, and your assigned SUTA rate to see the taxable wages, tax per employee, and total tax. SUTA is charged only on the first $56,700 of each employee's wages (the 2026 Oregon taxable wage base); wages above that per employee are not taxed. Your rate is set by the state based on your business's unemployment claim history (your "experience rating"); a new employer pays 2.4%. SUTA is separate from the federal FUTA tax and, in most states, is paid entirely by the employer and never deducted from employee wages. All wage-base and rate figures are sourced from U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance and verified for 2026. Replace the default rate with the rate on your state tax-rate notice for an exact figure.
In Oregon, employers pay SUTA on the first $56,700 of each employee's wages for 2026, and a new employer pays 2.4%. For 5 employees earning $50,000 each at 2.4%, the estimated annual SUTA tax is $6,000.00 ($1,200.00 per employee).
How Oregon SUTA tax works
Oregon charges state unemployment tax on each employee's wages up to the taxable wage base of $56,700 for 2026. Once an employee has earned that much in the year, no further SUTA is due on that employee. Your rate is assigned by the state from your experience rating; a new employer pays 2.4%.
taxable wages per employee = min(annual wages, $56,700)
SUTA tax per employee = taxable wages per employee x rate / 100
total SUTA tax = SUTA tax per employee x number of employees
Worked example: 5 employees each earning $50,000 in Oregon at 2.4%. Each employee's taxable wages are capped at $56,700, so the tax per employee is $1,200.00 and the total is $6,000.00.
Oregon SUTA figures (2026)
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable wage base | $56,700 | U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance |
| New employer rate | 2.4% | U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance |
| Experience rate range | 0.9% to 5.4% | U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance |
The experience-rate range shown is the base statutory range. Most states add mandatory assessments on top (for example a fund-building, solvency, or administrative surcharge), so an employer's effective rate can be higher than the range shown, and the new-employer rate may exclude those add-ons. Your exact assigned rate is on your annual state tax-rate notice.
Why Oregon's high wage base drives the cost
Oregon runs one of the highest taxable wage bases in the country: employers owe state unemployment tax on the first $56,700 of each employee's annual wages for 2026, many times the base used by low-base states. That single figure is what makes Oregon SUTA a meaningful payroll cost rather than a rounding error. A new Oregon employer is assigned a flat 2.4% rate until the Oregon Employment Department can experience-rate the account, so a full year at that rate reaches $56,700 times 2.4%, or $1,360.80 per employee.
Oregon indexes its wage base to the state average wage, so the $56,700 figure tends to climb almost every year; do not assume last year's number still applies. Once experience-rated, employers fall on a schedule running from 0.9% to 5.4%, set by the balance in the state trust fund. An employer with few layoffs trends toward the 0.9% floor, while frequent claims push toward the 5.4% ceiling. The rate printed on your annual notice is the only one that yields an exact liability, so replace the 2.4% default with it when it arrives.
Oregon SUTA is paid entirely by the employer and is never withheld from employee wages, and it sits beside the separate federal FUTA tax. Because the wage base is so high here, a small change in your assigned rate moves real dollars, which makes it worth reconciling against your notice as soon as you can.
Oregon SUTA tax: frequently asked questions
What is the Oregon unemployment (SUTA) taxable wage base for 2026?
For 2026, Oregon employers pay state unemployment tax on the first $56,700 of each employee's wages. Wages above $56,700 per employee are not subject to SUTA.
What is the Oregon new employer SUTA rate?
New employers in Oregon pay a SUTA rate of 2.4% until they have enough history to be experience-rated. On the $56,700 wage base that is up to $1,360.80 per employee per year.
How is Oregon SUTA tax calculated?
Multiply each employee's wages, capped at the $56,700 taxable wage base, by your assigned experience rate, then add up across employees. SUTA is primarily an employer-paid tax and is not deducted from employee pay.
Is the Oregon SUTA rate the same for every employer?
No. After the new-employer period, Oregon assigns each employer an experience rate based on its history of layoffs and claims, generally ranging from about 0.9% to 5.4% for experience-rated employers before any state add-on surcharges. The rate field above defaults to the new-employer rate; replace it with the rate on your state tax notice for an exact figure.
Official sources
- Oregon unemployment taxable wage base and rates (tax year 2026): U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance, as at Jul 15, 2026.
Reviewed by the CalculatorHub team, edited by James Graham, 15 July 2026. See our methodology. General information, not tax or legal advice.