Workers' Comp Settlement Calculator and Payout Chart

A workers' comp settlement calculator multiplies three numbers: your weekly benefit, the weeks your state's schedule gives for the injured body part, and the impairment rating your doctor assigns. Add any time off work you were paid for, and you have the core of most settlement offers. Each state sets its own rate, weekly maximum and schedule, so the result checks an offer rather than predicting one.

Here's a payout chart using New York's schedule, a $900 weekly wage and a $600 weekly benefit (two-thirds of the wage), before any state maximum:

Body part	Weeks in NY schedule	Award at 10% loss of use	At 25%	At 50%
Arm	312	$18,720	$46,800	$93,600
Leg	288	$17,280	$43,200	$86,400
Hand	244	$14,640	$36,600	$73,200
Foot	205	$12,300	$30,750	$61,500
Eye	160	$9,600	$24,000	$48,000
Thumb	75	$4,500	$11,250	$22,500

New York pays 66⅔% of the average weekly wage for these weeks (Workers' Compensation Law § 15(3)), up to a weekly maximum that changes every year. Other states use different weeks for the same body part, and some rate the whole body instead. We checked the New York weeks on November 7, 2026.

Run your own numbers

Use the weekly wage from your wage statement, your state's rate and maximum, and the rating from the permanency report.

The calculator starts with a $900 wage, a 200-week schedule and a 20% rating. That's about $600 a week, 40 weeks of award (about $24,000) and 8 weeks of temporary disability (about $4,800), close to $28,800 in all. Switch the body part to see New York's weeks, or type your own state's.

What a settlement usually includes

Workers' comp pays a few kinds of benefits. A settlement can include some or all of them:

• Medical care. Paid by the insurer, usually with no copay. Some settlements close future medical care for a lump sum; others keep it open.
• Temporary total disability. A weekly check while you can't work at all during recovery.
• Temporary partial disability. Part of the lost wages when you go back at lower pay or fewer hours.
• Permanent partial disability. The scheduled award in the chart, or a whole-body rating for injuries like the back.
• Permanent total disability. For injuries that keep you from working at all, paid differently in each state.

Trading future medical care for cash is the biggest decision in most settlements. If you're on Medicare or expect to be, the settlement may need a Medicare set-aside to cover future injury care.

Taxes and other benefits

Workers' comp benefits aren't federal taxable income when paid under a workers' compensation act for a job injury or illness (26 U.S.C. § 104(a)(1)). If you also get Social Security disability, workers' comp can reduce your SSDI check when the two together pass 80% of your earlier average earnings (42 U.S.C. § 424a). How a lump sum is worded can change that offset, so ask about it before you sign.

Workers' comp attorney fees

Most states cap the fee a workers' comp lawyer can charge or require the comp judge or board to approve it, and the fee comes out of the award. The cap and the way it's figured are set by each state, so ask the lawyer to show you the rule that applies and the dollar amount it means for your offer.

Mistakes to avoid

1. Using your take-home pay instead of the gross average weekly wage.
2. Forgetting the state maximum, which can cut the weekly benefit for higher earners.
3. Settling before you reach maximum medical improvement, when the rating isn't final.
4. Closing future medical care without an estimate of what it would cost.
5. Missing your state's deadline to report the injury or file the claim.