Wage Garnishment Calculator
See your disposable earnings and the maximum garnishable per paycheck under federal CCPA limits: consumer debt, child support, student loans, or IRS levy.
Wage Garnishment Calculator
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Legally required deductions
Only legally required withholding counts. Do not include health insurance, 401(k), HSA/FSA, union dues, or other voluntary deductions.
Type of garnishment
Not supporting another dependent and not in arrears allows the highest cap (60%).
No garnishment allowed. Your disposable earnings are at or below the protected minimum.
This tool models the federal CCPA floor for education only and is not legal advice. State law or a specific court order may protect more of your pay, and your employer must apply whichever limit leaves you with more.
How wage garnishment limits work under federal law
Wage garnishment is when a court order or agency notice makes your employer withhold part of your paycheck to pay a debt. The federal ceiling comes from Title III of the Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA), enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor.
The cap is not based on your gross pay. It is based on your disposable earnings, which are your gross pay minus the deductions the law requires: federal, state, and local income tax, Social Security, Medicare, and any mandatory retirement or state disability withholding. Voluntary items do not count. Your health insurance premium, 401(k) contribution, HSA or FSA, union dues, and charitable giving are all left in, because skipping them is your choice, not a legal requirement.
For ordinary consumer debt the withholding is the lesser of two numbers: 25% of disposable earnings, or the amount by which disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage. At the current $7.25 federal minimum wage, that floor is $217.50 per week. The floor protects lower earners: if your disposable pay is at or below $217.50 a week, none of it can be garnished for consumer debt.
Garnishment limits by debt type
A single formula can't get this right, because the cap depends on what the debt is. Child support can reach far higher than an ordinary judgment, and an IRS levy ignores the percentage rules entirely.
| Debt type | Federal cap | 30x floor applies? |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer / ordinary debt (credit card, medical, judgment) | Lesser of 25% of disposable or the amount above the floor | Yes |
| Child support / alimony | 50% or 60% of disposable, plus 5% if over 12 weeks in arrears (up to 65%) | No |
| Federal student loan (administrative wage garnishment) | Lesser of 15% of disposable or the amount above the floor | Yes |
| Unpaid federal taxes (IRS levy) | Everything above the Pub. 1494 exempt amount | No (uses exempt-amount tables) |
For child support, the higher 60% cap applies when you are not supporting another spouse or child. If you are supporting another dependent, the cap drops to 50%. Being more than 12 weeks behind adds 5 percentage points either way.
How to calculate your maximum garnishment step by step
Take a biweekly paycheck of $1,000 gross with a consumer-debt garnishment. Suppose the required deductions are $80 federal tax, $30 state tax, and $76.50 in Social Security and Medicare (FICA). Here is how the math runs:
- Disposable earnings: $1,000 - ($80 + $30 + $76.50) = $813.50
- 30x minimum wage floor (biweekly): $217.50 x 2 = $435.00
- 25% of disposable earnings: $813.50 x 0.25 = $203.38
- Amount above the floor: $813.50 - $435.00 = $378.50
- Maximum garnishment: the lesser of $203.38 and $378.50 = $203.38
- Take-home after garnishment: $813.50 - $203.38 = $610.12
Here the 25% figure is smaller, so it sets the limit. Earn less and the "amount above the floor" can be the smaller number instead, which is why the calculator shows you both. To pin down the gross pay and deductions that feed this math, start with the hourly paycheck calculator or the salary to paycheck calculator, and use the W-4 withholding calculator to check the federal tax that reduces your disposable earnings.
State laws and multiple garnishments
Federal law is only the floor. Many states protect more of your pay, and a few bar most consumer-debt garnishment outright. When state and federal limits differ, your employer has to apply whichever one leaves you with more money. So treat the number this tool shows as the ceiling federal law allows; your state may well allow less.
If more than one order hits at once, the federal caps apply to the total, not to each one separately. Priority matters too: child support and tax levies get paid before an ordinary consumer judgment, which often leaves nothing for the consumer creditor once a support order is running. If you want to model the paycheck itself before any garnishment, the gross-up calculator and overtime pay calculator help you nail down gross pay, and the pay stub generator itemizes the required deductions. To track take-home across a whole team, the WorkLogs44 Payroll Calculator app runs full multi-employee payroll with decimal-precise math.
This calculator is for education, not legal advice. For your exact situation, check your state's garnishment rules or the specific court order, and for an IRS levy use IRS Publication 1494.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about wage garnishment calculator
How much of my paycheck can be garnished?
For ordinary consumer debt the federal cap is the lesser of 25% of your disposable earnings or the amount by which your disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage ($217.50 per week). Disposable earnings are gross pay minus legally required deductions. Child support, student loans, and IRS levies use different rules.
What are disposable earnings for wage garnishment?
Disposable earnings are what is left after subtracting legally required deductions: federal, state, and local income tax, Social Security, Medicare, and any mandatory retirement or state disability withholding. Voluntary deductions like health insurance premiums, 401(k) contributions, HSA/FSA, union dues, and charitable giving are not subtracted. You can itemize your deductions with a pay stub generator.
Can my whole paycheck be garnished?
No. For consumer debt and federal student loans the 30x minimum wage floor protects a baseline of your pay, so a paycheck at or below $217.50 per week of disposable earnings cannot be garnished at all. Child support and alimony orders are the exception: up to 50% to 65% of disposable earnings can be taken with no minimum wage floor.
How much can be garnished for child support or alimony?
Up to 50% of disposable earnings if you are supporting another spouse or child, or 60% if you are not. Add 5 percentage points if you are more than 12 weeks behind on payments, giving 55% or 65%. The 30x minimum wage floor that protects consumer-debt garnishments does not apply to support orders.
How much can be garnished for defaulted federal student loans?
The Department of Education can take up to 15% of disposable earnings through administrative wage garnishment, and the CCPA 30x minimum wage floor still applies, so the deduction is the lesser of 15% or the amount above the floor. You keep more if the floor calculation is smaller than 15%.
How much can the IRS take from my paycheck?
IRS levies do not follow the 25% rule. The IRS uses the exempt-amount tables in Publication 1494, based on your filing status, pay period, and dependents. Everything above the exempt amount can be levied. Since that depends on tables this tool does not reproduce, the IRS path here just shows your disposable earnings and points you to IRS Pub. 1494.
Can I be garnished by more than one creditor at once?
Yes, but the federal caps apply to the total garnished, not to each order separately. Priority matters: child support and tax levies are paid first, and an ordinary consumer-debt garnishment often gets little or nothing left under the cap once a support order is in place.
Does state law change the garnishment limit?
Often, yes. Many states protect more of your pay than federal law, and a few (such as North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas) bar most consumer-debt garnishment entirely. When state and federal limits differ, the employer must apply whichever one leaves you with more pay. This calculator models the federal CCPA floor.