Tools · Wage Garnishment
Colorado Wage Garnishment Calculator (2026)
Enter your disposable pay to see the most a creditor could take in Colorado (20%), the pay that stays protected, and which rule sets the limit.
Colorado wage garnishment calculator
Disposable earnings is your pay after legally required deductions: federal and state taxes, Social Security, and Medicare. It is close to your take-home pay, before voluntary deductions like a 401(k) or health premiums.
The Colorado rule is the smaller figure here, so it governs: it protects more of your pay than the federal ceiling would.
These are the Colorado figures applied to what you entered: a plain summary of the limits, not a determination that any garnishment is correct or incorrect. Court orders set the actual withholding.
The figure above is the most the percentage caps allow. Colorado also protects a set amount of pay outright, and this calculator cannot pin that floor to one dollar figure. Weekly disposable pay up to 40 times the higher of the Colorado or federal minimum wage is fully protected. Because the Colorado minimum wage is well above the federal $7.25, that floor is far larger than the federal $217.50, which uses only 30 times the federal minimum wage.
- Most a creditor could take
- Up to $160 per paycheck
- Disposable pay entered
- $800 weekly
- Colorado rule
- 20% cap: $160
- Federal ceiling
- 25% / $217.50 floor: $200
Plain-language summary, not legal advice.
Informational only, not legal advice. Garnishment limits carry exceptions this summary cannot weigh (support orders, taxes, student loans, existing court orders), and exemptions often must be claimed by a deadline. See the full rules, the exemption steps, and the citations on the Colorado wage garnishment reference, cited to C.R.S. §13-54-104.
How wage garnishment works in Colorado
On an ordinary consumer judgment, a Colorado creditor can take the lesser of 20% of your disposable pay or the amount by which your weekly disposable pay exceeds 40 times the state or federal minimum wage, a lower cap and a larger floor than the federal 25% rule.
Colorado lowered its cap from 25% to 20% of disposable earnings and raised the floor from 30 times to 40 times the minimum wage under House Bill 19-1189, effective for writs of garnishment issued on or after October 1, 2020. The higher of the state or federal minimum wage applies. A separate 35% cap and 30-times floor still apply to garnishment of fraudulently obtained public assistance, not to ordinary consumer debt.
This calculator shows the Colorado figures applied to your own pay. It is informational only and not legal advice: support orders, taxes, and student loans follow their own rules, and exemptions often must be claimed by a short deadline. For the full rule, the exemption steps, and the citations, see the Colorado wage garnishment reference, cited to C.R.S. §13-54-104.
Wage garnishment calculators for other states
Same tool, each with its own cap and protected floor.