Tools · Wage Garnishment
Virginia Wage Garnishment Calculator (2026)
Enter your disposable pay to see the most a creditor could take in Virginia (25%), the pay that stays protected, and which rule sets the limit.
Virginia 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 Virginia rule and the federal ceiling land on the same figure here, so either way this is the most a creditor could take.
These are the Virginia 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. Virginia 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 minimum wage is fully protected, and Virginia uses the greater of the federal rate ($7.25) or the Virginia rate ($12.77 in 2026). That puts the protected floor at about $510.80 a week in 2026, well above the roughly $217.50 the federal 30-times rule would protect.
- Most a creditor could take
- Up to $200 per paycheck
- Disposable pay entered
- $800 weekly
- Virginia rule
- 25% cap: $200
- 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 Virginia wage garnishment reference, cited to Va. Code §34-29.
How wage garnishment works in Virginia
A creditor can take at most 25% of your disposable pay, but Virginia protects more of your paycheck than the federal baseline: weekly disposable pay up to 40 times the higher of the federal or Virginia minimum wage is fully off limits.
Virginia §34-29 caps garnishment at the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed 40 times the greater of the federal minimum wage (29 U.S.C. §206(a)(1)) or the Virginia minimum wage (Va. Code §40.1-28.10). Because Virginia uses 40 times rather than the federal 30 times, and because the Virginia minimum wage ($12.77 in 2026) is higher than the federal $7.25, the protected floor is far larger than the federal minimum. If your weekly disposable pay is at or below that 40-times floor, nothing can be garnished for ordinary consumer debt.
This calculator shows the Virginia 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 Virginia wage garnishment reference, cited to Va. Code §34-29.
Wage garnishment calculators for other states
Same tool, each with its own cap and protected floor.