Tools · Wage Garnishment
North Carolina Wage Garnishment Calculator (2026)
Enter your pay to see the North Carolina rule applied: ordinary consumer debt cannot be garnished from wages here, and this page shows what still can reach a paycheck.
North Carolina 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.
This is the North Carolina rule for consumer judgments (credit cards, medical bills, personal loans), stated as information, not a promise that no money can ever be taken. See the exceptions below.
The wage protection does not cover every debt. Your paycheck can still be garnished for unpaid state taxes (the NC Department of Revenue limits this to 10% of gross wages), federal taxes owed to the IRS, child support and alimony through an income withholding order (up to 50% or 60% of disposable pay depending on whether you support another family), defaulted federal student loans, ambulance or emergency medical service bills in counties that provide them, and public assistance overpayments. A creditor who wins a judgment in another state can also try to enforce it against a North Carolina worker, and an employer who obeys a valid out-of-state order does not break North Carolina law.
Even when wages are safe, other collection tools are not blocked. A creditor with a North Carolina judgment can still levy a bank account, put a lien on real estate, or seize non-exempt personal property. Money that lands in your checking account can lose its wage protection once it is deposited.
- Garnishable for ordinary consumer debt
- $0 (not allowed)
- Disposable pay entered
- $800 weekly
- Still reachable
- Child support, spousal support, taxes, federal student loans
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 North Carolina wage garnishment reference, cited to N.C. Gen. Stat. §1-362.
How wage garnishment works in North Carolina
A credit card company, medical biller, car lender, or other ordinary creditor with a North Carolina money judgment cannot garnish your wages here.
Even when wages are safe, other collection tools are not blocked. A creditor with a North Carolina judgment can still levy a bank account, put a lien on real estate, or seize non-exempt personal property. Money that lands in your checking account can lose its wage protection once it is deposited.
This calculator shows the North Carolina 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 North Carolina wage garnishment reference, cited to N.C. Gen. Stat. §1-362.
Wage garnishment calculators for other states
Same tool, each with its own cap and protected floor.