Child support by state, 2026
Your state's child support formula, worked out step by step
Every state writes its own rules. Pick yours and see the guideline amount with the same steps a court worksheet uses, from the schedule currently in effect.
- Official rules only. Each calculator follows the state's statute or court rule and its current table.
- Every step shown. Income, base amount, parenting time and add-ons, line by line.
- Dated. The effective date of each state's schedule is on every result.
Three ways to set the number
Same family, different rules
States follow one of a few models. The charts come straight from our calculators, so you can see how each rule behaves before you enter your own numbers.
Percentage of income
Texas takes a fixed share of the paying parent's net income: 25% for two children, applied up to a monthly cap. Time with each parent does not enter the formula.
Income shares
Most states add both incomes, look up the cost of the children in a table and split it by income. Past a threshold of nights, a shared custody formula takes over.
Formula in the statute
California computes support with an equation that counts both incomes and the share of time with the higher earner, so every night changes the amount.
Calculators
Pick your state
We add a state only when its calculator reproduces the examples the state publishes or, where it publishes none, cases worked by hand from the statute.
Guides
What changes the number
Questions
Child support basics
How is child support calculated?
Each state has its own guideline. Most use an income shares model: both parents' incomes are added, a state table gives the cost of raising the children at that income, and each parent covers a share in proportion to income. Some states, such as Texas, take a percentage of the paying parent's income only. California uses a formula written into its Family Code that also counts the time each parent has the children.
Do I use gross or net income?
It depends on the state. Texas and Pennsylvania start from net income after taxes, California from net disposable income, Virginia from gross income. Each calculator here asks for the income its state uses and says how to get it.
Does shared custody lower child support?
In most states, yes, once the paying parent has the children for enough nights a year. The threshold and the formula differ: Pennsylvania starts at 40% of overnights, Virginia at more than 90 days a year, and California counts time from the first night. Texas does not change the formula for time, although a court may consider it.
Is the calculator result what I will pay?
It is the amount the state guideline produces with the numbers you enter. A court or the state child support agency sets the final order, can add costs such as medical expenses, and can depart from the guideline when it finds a reason the law accepts.
Can child support be changed later?
Yes. Orders can be reviewed when circumstances change, and every state sets its own conditions. A change usually applies from the date a request is filed, not from the date the circumstances changed, so it matters to ask promptly.