Tools · Wage Garnishment
Wage Garnishment Calculator by State
See the most a creditor could take from your paycheck, and the pay the law protects. Pick your state, enter your disposable earnings, and read the 2026 limit applied to your own numbers, with the state rule and the federal ceiling shown side by side.
Pick your state
No-garnishment states first, then the states that protect more than the federal rule, then the federal-limit states. Each calculator uses that state's own figures.
How the wage garnishment calculator works
For an ordinary consumer debt (credit cards, medical bills, personal loans), federal law caps garnishment nationwide at the lesser of 25% of your disposable earnings or the amount by which your weekly disposable pay tops $217.50 (30 times the $7.25 federal minimum wage). A state may only protect more, never less. Each state calculator runs both numbers, the state formula and the federal ceiling, and shows you the smaller one, which is the one that governs.
The calculator states the limits and the math; it does not decide whether a garnishment you are facing is correct. Child support, spousal support, taxes, and defaulted federal student loans follow their own, higher limits, and many state exemptions must be claimed by a short deadline. This tool is informational only and not legal advice. Open your state for the full rule and the official citation, or see the wage garnishment reference by state.