California TD rate calculator. Two-thirds of the wage, within the year's bounds.

How the rate is set

Temporary total disability in California is two-thirds of the injured worker's average weekly earnings. That is Labor Code 4653. The earnings that go into the formula are held between a floor and a ceiling set by Labor Code 4453(a)(10), and those bounds move every January 1 by the percentage change in the state average weekly wage. The DWC announces the new minimum and maximum TD rates each fall.

The date of injury picks the year. A worker hurt in March 2025 is paid under the 2025 bounds for the life of the claim, with one exception: a TD payment made two or more years after the date of injury is computed with the bounds in effect on the day it is paid, unless that would produce a lower payment (Labor Code 4661.5). For a long claim near the maximum, that can raise the rate.

The figures in this tool

Each comes from the DWC's own rate announcement, listed under sources. The 2024 rates did not change from 2023 because the state average weekly wage fell slightly in the measuring year. The tool does not guess at a year it does not hold: for an earlier injury, or 2027 before the DWC publishes it, it shows two-thirds of the wage and asks you to check the bounds.

How the tool computes

1. Two-thirds of the average weekly wage, rounded to the cent.
2. If that is below the year's minimum, the minimum applies. If it is above the maximum, the maximum applies.
3. If you enter a payment date two or more years after the injury, and that year is in the table, the tool uses the payment year's bounds when they produce a higher rate.
4. The daily rate is the weekly rate divided by seven, and the two-week figure matches the payment cycle in Labor Code 4650(c).

A worked example

A warehouse worker earned $1,200 a week and was hurt on March 14, 2025. Two-thirds of $1,200 is $800.00. That sits between the 2025 minimum of $252.03 and maximum of $1,680.29, so the weekly rate is $800.00, the daily rate $114.29 and each two-week payment $1,600.00.

Change the wage to $3,000 with a 2026 injury: two-thirds is $2,000.00, above the $1,764.11 maximum, so the rate is $1,764.11. At $300 a week in 2026, two-thirds is $200.00 and the rate rises to the $264.61 minimum.

What it leaves out

• The wage itself. Most rate fights are about the average weekly wage: overtime, concurrent employment, seasonal or irregular earnings, and the methods in Labor Code 4453(c). The tool takes your number as given.
• The waiting period. The first three days are not paid unless disability lasts more than 14 days or the worker is hospitalized as an inpatient (Labor Code 4652).
• Temporary partial disability, which is figured on the wage loss, not the full wage.
• Limits on duration. Labor Code 4656 limits how long aggregate TD is paid. Check it against the claim's dates.
• Late payment. If a payment was late, the increase in Labor Code 4650(d) may apply. Use the TD late payment calculator.
• Older injuries. Injuries before 2022 are outside the table, and injuries before 2006 used fixed bounds written into the statute.

Where this fits in a WC practice

The rate is the first number an applicant firm checks when a benefit printout arrives, and the one most often wrong when the wage statement is incomplete. The temporary disability guide covers TD periods, payment and how TD ends; the glossary defines temporary disability, permanent disability and the 4650 increase.

In PlaintiffStack, the workers' comp benefits audit lays out TD periods, rates and late-payment exposure from the payment history, and a person accepts each finding before it goes on the case. See the workers' comp practice page.