California Workers' Comp Settlement Calculator
Estimate a workers' comp settlement under California law. The calculator applies this jurisdiction's own benefit rate and weekly maximum, and every figure below is the one our verified data holds, with the statute behind it and the date we checked it.
What California pays, and when you must act
Workers' compensation pays a share of your wage while you cannot work, whoever was at fault, up to a weekly maximum the state sets. Two deadlines run from the injury: one for reporting it and one for filing the claim. Here is what we hold for this state.
Effective January 1 to December 31, 2026. The maximum rises each calendar year with the state average weekly wage.
Cal. Lab. Code § 4453(a)(10)·Last reviewed 2026-07-28
We hold no verified deadline for reporting a workplace injury to an employer in California. Our research run established none from a primary source, so this is unknown rather than absent. Report the injury to your employer as soon as you can, and ask your employer or the California workers' compensation agency what the reporting deadline is before you rely on any date.
“No release of liability or compromise agreement is valid unless it is approved by the appeals board or referee.” leginfo.legislature.ca.gov refused this session (HTTP 403), so the section was read from the Legislature's bulk data file.
Cal. Lab. Code § 5001·Last reviewed 2026-10-07
What California pays at different wages
The weekly benefit the calculator above pays at six average weekly wages, and what that comes to over 12 weeks out of work. The numbers are the engine's output, not an editorial claim about what these claims are worth.
Temporary total disability only, run through the calculator above at each wage: no medical costs, no permanent impairment, no waiting period or limit on the number of weeks, and one rate for every week, so a different rate the state sets for part of a claim (see the note under the maximum) is not applied. Below a wage of about $2,647 a week the benefit is 66.67% of the wage; above it, California's maximum of $1,764.11 sets the benefit instead. These wages illustrate the rule; they are not an estimate of your claim.
Every California deadline we hold
A claim can be more than one kind of case, and the clock is different for each. These are the California periods in our verified data, with the statute behind each one. A deadline is the outside limit, never a target, and other rules can shorten it.
Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 335.1·Source retrieved 2026-07-27
Open the personal injury calculatorCal. Civ. Proc. Code 340.5 requires filing by the earlier of 1 year after the claimant discovers the injury or 3 years after the injury itself. We publish the 1-year discovery period. A 90-day notice of intent is also required.
Cal. Civ. Proc. Code 340.5·Last reviewed 2026-07-28
Open the medical malpractice calculatorCal. Civ. Proc. Code § 335.1·Source retrieved 2026-07-27
Open the wrongful death calculatorCal. Lab. Code § 5405·Source retrieved 2026-07-27
Open the workers compensation calculatorCal. Civ. Proc. Code § 335.1·Source retrieved 2026-07-27
Open the slip and fall calculatorCal. Civ. Proc. Code § 335.1; Cal. Civ. Code § 3342·Source retrieved 2026-07-27
Open the dog bite calculatorCalifornia against the rest of the country
Every count below is read from our state-law data across all 51 jurisdictions, so it moves when the data does. What you will not find here is an average settlement figure: the only one we could compute is a model, and a model presented as a measurement is not a fact.
- 39 of the 51 jurisdictions we track pay 66.67% of the wage, the most common rate, and California is one of them. It applies the rate to gross wages, as 47 of the 51 do; the rest use after-tax earnings.
- Of the 34 jurisdictions with a verified maximum weekly benefit in our data, California's $1,764.11 is the 7th highest, and they run from $800 in Georgia to $2,431 in Iowa. Each state resets its maximum on its own date, so these are the figures our data holds rather than one day's.
- California's 1 year to file is shorter than the 2 years that 24 jurisdictions use, so there is less time than a reader comparing states might expect. Across the 51 jurisdictions the deadline for this case type runs from 1 year to 4 years.
- In 44 of the 51 jurisdictions, the statute we read provides for settling or commuting a claim to a lump sum on the terms it states; in 4 it allows one only in the cases it names; and for 3 we could not read an official copy. California is in the first group.
Comparisons are drawn from the rules that set a benefit, not from closed-claim data, which we do not hold. See the full methodology
California calculators
California Workers' Comp questions
Every document behind our workers' compensation figures, each linked with the date we last read it, is listed on our Workers' Compensation research sources page.