California SDI Tax 2026 — How Much Comes Out of Your Paycheck (and What It Pays)

If you've looked at a California pay stub, you've seen the line item "CASDI" quietly taking a bite out of your check every pay period — usually without much explanation of what it actually is or what you get for it.

SDI stands for State Disability Insurance. Unlike federal income tax, which funds government generally, SDI funds a specific benefit you may be able to draw on directly — but only under specific conditions, and only for part of your income, not all of it. This guide covers exactly how much is withheld, what it actually pays out, who's covered, and the limits worth knowing before you count on it.

What is SDI (State Disability Insurance)?

SDI is a California payroll deduction, required for most employees, that funds two related benefits, administered by the Employment Development Department (EDD):

• Disability Insurance (DI) — partial wage replacement if you can't work because of your own illness or injury that isn't work-related, or because of pregnancy or childbirth.
• Paid Family Leave (PFL) — partial wage replacement if you need time off to care for a seriously ill family member, bond with a new child, or support family during a military deployment.

If you were hurt on the job, this usually isn't the right program. A workplace injury or illness normally goes through Workers' Compensation — a separate, employer-paid system with its own claims process. DI is for conditions that aren't work-related, but the EDD says you may still get DI in some cases — for example, if your workers' comp payments are delayed or denied, or are lower than your DI amount.

Both benefits are funded through the same 1.3% payroll deduction — there's no separate line for each on your pay stub. It's paid for entirely by employees; unlike Social Security or Medicare, your employer doesn't contribute a matching share.

How much SDI is taken from your paycheck

SDI is a flat 1.3% of your wages (usually your gross pay; pre-tax health premiums through your employer's plan are excluded) — unlike income tax, there are no brackets and no differences by filing status. Since 2024, there's also no wage ceiling: a change under SB 951 eliminated the old annual cap, so every paycheck is subject to the deduction no matter how much you earn in the year.

What SDI actually pays if you need it

If you qualify for Disability Insurance or Paid Family Leave, your Weekly Benefit Amount is generally 70% to 90% of the wages you earned in a base period before your claim started — lower earners get the higher percentage. For 2026, the most SDI can pay is $1,765 per week. How long you can receive it depends on which benefit applies: Disability Insurance can last up to 52 weeks for a single claim, while Paid Family Leave is capped at 8 weeks within any 12-month period — no matter how many separate qualifying reasons come up in that period.

There's an important timing difference between the two benefits:

• Disability Insurance (DI): the first 7 days of a claim are an unpaid waiting period — payments start on the 8th day.
• Paid Family Leave (PFL): no waiting period — it can start paying from day one.

Who pays into SDI — and who's covered

• W-2 employees: covered automatically in most cases. The 1.3% is withheld from every paycheck, and one requirement for benefits is having earned at least $300 in wages (with SDI withheld) during your base period — a threshold nearly every working employee clears quickly. You also have to meet the other rules (for DI, for example: being unable to do your regular work for at least 8 days, losing wages, and being certified by a licensed health professional).
• Self-employed / 1099 workers: not covered automatically. SDI is only mandatory for employees. If you're a freelancer, gig worker, or business owner, you can voluntarily opt in and pay premiums through the EDD's Disability Insurance Elective Coverage (DIEC) program — but it doesn't happen automatically, and DIEC benefits max out at 39 weeks rather than the 52 weeks available under standard DI.
• Some public-sector employees: coverage isn't automatic for everyone. Certain California state employees, and some city, county, school district, or tribal government workers, are covered by a different program instead of standard SDI — or aren't covered at all — depending on their employer or union agreement. If you work in the public sector, check with your HR or benefits office to confirm what applies to you.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

The numbers in this article come from these official and primary sources:

• California EDD — Rates and Withholding — 2026 SDI rate (1.3%) with no wage limit
• California EDD — Disability Insurance — who can qualify and what DI covers
• California EDD — Calculating DI benefit payment amounts — 70-90% of base-period wages and the $1,765 weekly maximum for 2026
• California EDD — Paid Family Leave — up to 8 weeks in a 12-month period
• California EDD — Disability Insurance Elective Coverage — optional coverage for self-employed workers (DIEC)
• California EDD — Self-employed benefit amounts — DIEC pays up to 39 weeks of DI
• California EDD — Voluntary Plan — what a VPDI plan must offer
• California EDD — Form 1099G FAQs — when DI and PFL benefits are taxable