Tools · Wage Garnishment
Maine Wage Garnishment Calculator (2026)
Enter your disposable pay to see the most a creditor could take in Maine (25%, with a high wage floor), the pay that stays protected, and which rule sets the limit.
Maine 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 Maine rule is the smaller figure here, so it governs: it protects more of your pay than the federal ceiling would.
These are the Maine 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.
- Most a creditor could take
- $196 per paycheck
- Disposable pay entered
- $800 weekly
- Maine rule
- 25% cap: $196
- 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 Maine wage garnishment reference, cited to 9-A M.R.S. §5-105.
How wage garnishment works in Maine
A Maine creditor can take at most 25% of your disposable pay, but the fully protected floor is tied to 40 times the higher of the state or federal minimum wage, which at Maine’s $15.10 rate protects about the first $604 of weekly disposable pay.
Maine is more protective than the federal rule in two ways at once. It keeps the 25% cap, but it raises the protected floor from 30 times the minimum wage to 40 times, and it measures that against the higher of the state or federal minimum wage. Because Maine’s state minimum wage ($15.10 in 2026) far exceeds the $7.25 federal rate, the practical floor is about $604 a week rather than $217.50. The state minimum wage adjusts each January for cost of living, so the protected floor rises over time. The garnishment rule sits in the Maine Consumer Credit Code at 9-A M.R.S. §5-105 and applies to judgments from consumer credit transactions.
This calculator shows the Maine 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 Maine wage garnishment reference, cited to 9-A M.R.S. §5-105.
Wage garnishment calculators for other states
Same tool, each with its own cap and protected floor.