Texas Child Support Calculator
Deyerle Silva Smith · Austin, Texas
Texas Child Support Calculator
Estimate guideline child support under Texas Family Code Chapter 154. This tool follows the same net resources method the Office of the Attorney General uses, and it shows every step of the math so you can see how the number was reached.
Updated for the $11,700 net resources cap effective September 1, 2025Who are we calculating for?
Texas sets support as a percentage of the paying parent's net resources. The percentage depends on how many children are in this case and how many other children that parent is legally required to support.
The paying parent's income
Enter gross income before taxes. Texas counts nearly everything: wages, overtime, bonuses, commissions, self-employment income, rental income, dividends, severance, retirement and disability benefits, unemployment, and spousal maintenance received.
Deductions from net resources
Social Security and federal income tax are calculated for you using the 2026 rates for a single filer taking the standard deduction, which is the method Section 154.062 requires. Add anything else below. Leave a field blank if it does not apply.
$0/month
Prints on Deyerle Silva Smith letterhead with your figures and the full calculation. Choose “Save as PDF” in the print dialog to keep a copy or email it to your attorney. Only the estimate prints, not the rest of this page.
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Is this number right for your case?
Guideline math is the starting point, not the finish line. Income that is hard to document, self-employment, above-cap earners, intentional underemployment, and children with extraordinary needs all move the number. Talk it through with an Austin family lawyer who handles this every week.
How child support is calculated in Texas
Texas uses a percentage-of-income model. The court does not compare what each parent earns. It looks at one parent, the obligor, and applies a fixed percentage to that parent’s monthly net resources. Four steps get you there.
Step one: add up gross resources. Texas Family Code Section 154.062(b) counts nearly every dollar that comes in, not just a paycheck.
Step two: subtract the statutory deductions. Section 154.062(d) allows a short, closed list of deductions. Rent, car payments, credit card debt, and living expenses are not on it.
Step three: divide by twelve and apply the cap. The result is monthly net resources. As of September 1, 2025, guideline support is calculated on the first $11,700 per month and no more.
Step four: apply the guideline percentage. Twenty percent for one child, rising in five point increments to forty percent for five or more.
A parent earning $6,000 a month in wages with no other income and no deductions lands at roughly $4,957 in monthly net resources. For one child, guideline support is about $991 a month.
Support is only one piece of a family law case. If you are still deciding how to move forward, our Austin child support attorneys handle establishment, enforcement, and modification, and our child custody team handles the conservatorship and possession questions that sit alongside the money.
Texas Family Code 154.125
Texas child support percentages by number of children
Guideline support is a percentage of the paying parent's monthly net resources. These percentages apply when net resources are $1,000 or more and the parent supports no other children.
| Children in this case | Percentage of monthly net resources |
|---|---|
| 1 child | 20% |
| 2 children | 25% |
| 3 children | 30% |
| 4 children | 35% |
| 5 children | 40% |
| 6 or more children | Not less than the amount for five children |
Source: Texas Family Code Section 154.125(b). A reduced schedule applies when monthly net resources are under $1,000.
These are the standard guideline percentages in Texas Family Code Section 154.125. They apply when the obligor’s monthly net resources are $1,000 or more and there are no other children being supported.
What counts as income under Texas law
Net resources start with far more than salary. Section 154.062(b) includes:
- Wages, salary, overtime, tips, bonuses, and commissions
- Self-employment income, net of ordinary business expenses
- Net rental income after mortgage, taxes, insurance, and maintenance
- Interest, dividends, royalty income, trust income, annuities, and capital gains
- Severance pay, retirement benefits, and pensions
- Social Security benefits other than SSI, disability benefits, and workers’ compensation
- Unemployment benefits
- Gifts and prizes
- Spousal maintenance or alimony being received
Section 154.062(c) leaves out the return of principal or capital, accounts receivable, TANF benefits, foster care payments, and the income of a new spouse. Your new husband’s salary is not part of your net resources.
Two situations move the number away from what a W-2 says. If a parent is intentionally unemployed or underemployed, a Texas court can set support based on earning capacity rather than actual earnings. And when there is no evidence of income at all, Section 154.068 lets the court presume the parent earns federal minimum wage for a forty hour week.
Business owners are the hardest cases. What a Schedule C says and what a court treats as net resources are often two different numbers, which is the same tension that shows up when business equity is divided in an Austin divorce.
What gets deducted to reach net resources
Section 154.062(d) permits exactly six deductions:
- Social Security taxes, or self-employment tax for a self-employed parent
- Federal income tax, calculated for a single person claiming one personal exemption and the standard deduction
- State income tax, which is zero in Texas
- Union dues
- The cost of health insurance, dental insurance, or cash medical support for the child
- Nondiscretionary retirement contributions, but only for a parent who does not pay Social Security taxes
That second item catches people off guard. Texas does not use the parent’s actual withholding or actual filing status. A married parent with four dependents claimed on their W-4 still gets the single-filer calculation. It is a standardized figure, which is why the Attorney General publishes annual tax charts and why two parents with identical gross pay reach identical net resources. Our calculator applies the 2026 federal rates and brackets and the 2026 Social Security wage base of $184,500.
Item six matters in Austin. Teachers in the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, along with many municipal and federal employees, do not pay into Social Security. Their mandatory retirement contribution is deductible in its place. A voluntary 401(k) contribution is not. If retirement accounts are also on the table in your case, see how retirement accounts are divided in an Austin divorce.
The 2026 child support cap and above-cap support
The Office of the Attorney General adjusts the maximum amount of net resources every six years to track inflation. On September 1, 2025, the cap rose from $9,200 to $11,700 per month. That is the figure in force through 2026 and until the next adjustment. We wrote about what the change means for existing orders in understanding maximum support payments in Texas family law.
The $11,700 cap
Maximum guideline child support in Texas
Guideline support is calculated on the first $11,700 of monthly net resources and no more. That cap took effect September 1, 2025, which puts a hard ceiling on guideline support no matter how much the paying parent earns.
| Children in this case | Maximum per month | Maximum per year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 child | $2,340 | $28,080 |
| 2 children | $2,925 | $35,100 |
| 3 children | $3,510 | $42,120 |
| 4 children | $4,095 | $49,140 |
| 5 children | $4,680 | $56,160 |
| 6 or more children | $4,680 | $56,160 |
Figures are the guideline percentages applied to $11,700 in monthly net resources. A court may order support above the cap under Section 154.126, but only on proof of the proven needs of the child. The Office of the Attorney General reviews the cap every six years.
A parent earning $600,000 a year and a parent earning $200,000 a year produce the same guideline number. Support above the cap is available under Section 154.126, but it is not automatic and it is not a percentage. The requesting parent has to prove the proven needs of the child, and the court then allocates those proven needs between the parents. High-income child support cases in Travis and Williamson County are argued on evidence of the child’s actual standard of living, not on a formula, which is why above-cap support usually travels with the other issues our high net worth divorce attorneys handle.
Low-income child support in Texas
For suits filed on or after September 1, 2021, a reduced schedule applies when the obligor’s monthly net resources are under $1,000. Section 154.125(c) sets those percentages at 15 percent for one child, 20 for two, 25 for three, 30 for four, and 35 for five, with six or more no less than the amount for five. TexasLawHelp maintains a plain-language explainer on child support and lower incomes if you want a second read on this schedule.
Texas Family Code 154.129
Adjusted percentages when a parent supports children in more than one household
A parent with children from a prior relationship does not pay the full percentage on this case as well. Find the number of children in this case down the left, then read across to the number of other children that parent has a legal duty to support.
| Children in this case | 0 other | 1 other | 2 other | 3 other | 4 other | 5 other | 6 other | 7 other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 child | 20.00% | 17.50% | 16.00% | 14.75% | 13.60% | 13.33% | 13.14% | 13.00% |
| 2 children | 25.00% | 22.50% | 20.63% | 19.00% | 18.33% | 17.86% | 17.50% | 17.22% |
| 3 children | 30.00% | 27.38% | 25.20% | 24.00% | 23.14% | 22.50% | 22.00% | 21.60% |
| 4 children | 35.00% | 32.20% | 30.33% | 29.00% | 28.00% | 27.22% | 26.60% | 26.09% |
| 5 children | 40.00% | 37.33% | 35.43% | 34.00% | 32.89% | 32.00% | 31.27% | 30.67% |
| 6 children | 40.00% | 37.71% | 36.00% | 34.67% | 33.60% | 32.73% | 32.00% | 31.38% |
| 7 children | 40.00% | 38.00% | 36.44% | 35.20% | 34.18% | 33.33% | 32.62% | 32.00% |
Swipe the table sideways to see the remaining columns. The children column stays in place.
The highlighted first column is the standard schedule from Section 154.125, shown here so you can see how much each additional support duty reduces the rate.
Source: Texas Family Code Section 154.129. The adjustment counts children the parent has an actual legal duty to support. Stepchildren and children the parent helps voluntarily do not count.
The adjustment counts children the parent has an actual legal duty to support, not stepchildren and not children the parent voluntarily helps.
Medical support and dental support are ordered separately
Base child support does not include the child’s health coverage. Texas requires a separate medical support order and, since 2018, a separate dental support order.
If the obligor provides the coverage, the premium comes off net resources before the percentage is applied, which lowers base support. If the other parent provides it, the obligor is usually ordered to reimburse that cost on top of base support.
There is a ceiling. Under Section 154.181(e), health coverage is only reasonable in cost if it does not exceed nine percent of the obligor’s annual resources. Section 154.1815 sets the dental ceiling at 1.5 percent. Note that both are measured against annual resources under Section 154.062(b), which is the gross figure, not net resources.
Does 50/50 custody change child support in Texas?
Not by formula. Texas has no shared-parenting offset the way many states do. Even in a true week-on, week-off arrangement, one parent is designated the obligor and guideline support is calculated on that parent’s net resources alone.
What equal possession does is give you an argument. Section 154.123 lets a court order an amount other than the guideline when the guideline would be unjust or inappropriate, and the amount of time each parent has the child is one of the listed factors. Parents with similar incomes and equal time often negotiate a reduced or offset amount. That is a negotiated or litigated outcome, not something the statute hands you.
Two related questions come up constantly in equal-time cases: how to maximize parenting time in a joint custody agreement, and who claims the child on taxes with 50/50 custody in Texas.
When a court orders something other than the guideline amount
Guideline support is presumed to be in the child’s best interest. To rebut that presumption, a court weighs the seventeen factors in Section 154.123, including:
- The age and needs of the child
- The ability of the parents to contribute to support
- Child care expenses either parent needs in order to work
- The amount of time of possession and access
- Travel costs for exercising possession
- Extraordinary educational, health care, or other expenses
- Whether either parent has managing conservatorship of other children
- Provision for health care insurance and uninsured medical expenses
- Benefits a parent receives from an employer, such as a car or housing
- Debts assumed by either parent
When a court varies from the guideline, Section 154.130 requires written findings stating the net resources, the guideline amount, and the specific reasons for the variance.
How to change an existing child support order
A Texas order can be modified when circumstances have materially and substantially changed, or when it has been at least three years since the order was rendered or last modified and the guideline amount now differs from the current order by either 20 percent or $100. Job loss, a raise, a change in the number of children being supported, and a change in the child’s medical needs are all common grounds. We walk through the process in modifying child support orders in Texas, and our post-decree modifications practice handles the filing.
The 2025 cap increase from $9,200 to $11,700 is not by itself a change in circumstances, but for an above-cap earner whose order was set at the old maximum, it is worth a look alongside the three-year rule.
Falling behind is a separate problem with separate consequences. Before you stop paying or accept a handshake reduction, read what happens if you stop paying child support in Texas. If you are on the receiving end and the money is not going where it should, we cover your legal options when child support payments are being misused.
How this calculator differs from the Attorney General’s calculator
The Attorney General’s monthly child support calculator gives you a number, and it states plainly that it estimates support from a single source of income. This one gives you the number plus the arithmetic that produced it: gross resources, each statutory deduction, monthly net resources, whether the cap applied, which percentage schedule was used, and the citation for each step. It also handles the situations the OAG tool does not, including combined W-2 and self-employment income, the multiple household table, the low-income schedule, and parents exempt from Social Security.
It is still an estimate. A calculator takes the income you type in. A court decides what the income actually is, and in a contested case that is usually the whole fight. When you are ready to talk about your own numbers, request a consultation or call 512-375-4520.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is child support in Texas for one child?
Guideline support for one child is 20 percent of the paying parent’s monthly net resources. Net resources are gross income minus Social Security and federal income tax computed at the single-filer rate, state income tax, union dues, and the child’s health and dental insurance premiums. A parent with $5,000 in monthly net resources would pay $1,000 a month for one child.
What is the maximum child support in Texas in 2026?
Guideline support is capped at the first $11,700 of monthly net resources, an amount that took effect September 1, 2025. That produces a maximum of $2,340 a month for one child, $2,925 for two, $3,510 for three, $4,095 for four, and $4,680 for five. A court can order more under Section 154.126, but only on proof of the proven needs of the child.
What income counts toward child support in Texas?
Almost all of it. Wages, overtime, bonuses, commissions, self-employment income, net rental income, interest, dividends, trust income, capital gains, severance, pensions, Social Security other than SSI, disability, workers’ compensation, unemployment, gifts, prizes, and spousal maintenance received. A new spouse’s income, TANF benefits, foster care payments, and the return of capital do not count.
Does child support change with 50/50 custody in Texas?
Texas has no formula that reduces support for equal possession. One parent is still the obligor and pays the guideline percentage. Equal time is one of the factors a court may consider under Section 154.123 in deciding to order a different amount, but it is an argument to be made, not an automatic reduction. Our child custody attorneys make that argument regularly in Travis County.
Is health insurance included in Texas child support?
No. Medical support and dental support are ordered separately from base child support. If the paying parent carries the coverage, the premium is deducted from net resources before the percentage is applied. If the other parent carries it, the paying parent is typically ordered to reimburse the cost on top of base support.
How is child support calculated for a self-employed parent in Texas?
Start with net business income after ordinary and necessary business expenses, then deduct self-employment tax and federal income tax to reach net resources. The contested part is which expenses are legitimate. Depreciation, vehicle costs, cell phones, travel, and home office deductions that reduce taxable income are routinely added back into net resources in Texas child support cases.
What if the paying parent is unemployed?
A Texas court can base support on earning capacity rather than actual income when a parent is intentionally unemployed or underemployed. If there is no evidence of income at all, Section 154.068 allows the court to presume the parent earns the federal minimum wage for a forty hour week.
How do I change my child support amount in Texas?
File a petition to modify. You need either a material and substantial change in circumstances, or three years since the order was entered or last modified plus a guideline amount that now differs from the current order by 20 percent or $100. Our post-decree modifications page explains what that filing involves.
Is this calculator accurate for Travis County?
The guideline math is statewide, so the arithmetic is the same in Travis, Williamson, and Hays County. Local practice differs in how judges handle above-cap income, self-employment add-backs, and requests to vary from the guideline, which is where an Austin family lawyer earns their fee.