Child support calculators: your state’s official one
We are not going to give you a number. Thirty-five states publish their own child support calculator, free, on a government website, and those are the ones the court is actually working from. Sending you to a homemade estimate instead would be a worse answer dressed up as a better product. Here is your state’s, plus what the calculation is doing and why it produces the number it does.
Before you put your income in anything
Every one of these is an estimate, including the official ones, and most say so themselves. The number a court orders can differ because of add-ons the calculator does not know about — health insurance, childcare, extraordinary expenses, other children — and because judges can deviate from the guideline with reasons. Treat the output as a starting point for a conversation, never as your answer.
The three ways states do this
Almost every state uses one of three models. Knowing which one you are in explains most of what looks arbitrary about the number.
income shares
The court estimates the amount the parents would have spent on the child(ren) had the family remained intact, based on combined parental income and a state economic table, then prorates that total obligation between the parents in proportion to each parent’s share of their combined income. It is the dominant model nationally and is generally credited to the model act developed for the U.S. federal Office of Child Support Enforcement in the 1980s.
percentage of income
Support is set as a flat percentage of the noncustodial (or, in some states, the higher-earning) parent’s income, keyed only to the number of children — the other parent’s income is not directly factored into the basic calculation. Two sub-variants exist: ‘flat percentage’ states apply the same percentage regardless of income level (e.g., Wisconsin, Mississippi), and ‘varying percentage’ states adjust the percentage as income rises (e.g., New York’s CSSA).
Melson formula
A more complex variant of the income-shares approach, originally developed in Delaware, that first reserves a ‘self-support allowance’ for each parent to cover their own basic subsistence needs, then a primary support allowance for the children, and finally allocates a percentage of each parent’s remaining discretionary income (‘standard of living adjustment’) to the children so they share in a parent’s higher income.
States with an official online calculator (35)
Run by the state child support agency or the courts. Free, and the closest thing to authoritative that exists.
| State | Model | The calculator | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | percentage of income (flat percentage of obligor’s adjusted income: 20% for 1 child, 27% for 2, 33% for 3) | CSSD Online Child Support Calculator (Client Portal ‘Estimate Child Support Payment’) | Alaska Court System (courts.alaska.gov) also publishes an FAQ describing the same formula.; Estimate only; final amount set by the court. |
| Arizona | income shares | Arizona Child Support Calculator | Official page states the calculator follows the Income Shares Model. |
| Arkansas | income shares | Arkansas Child Support Calculator v2.0 | Generates a savable/printable Child Support Worksheet PDF. |
| California | income shares (statutory algebraic formula) | California Child Support Guideline Calculator | Explicitly labeled an estimate only; a judge or child support commissioner makes the final order.; Also reachable via gc.cse.ca.gov (statewide uniform guideline Payment Estimator). |
| District of Columbia | income shares | Child Support Guideline Calculator (CSGC) | DC Courts self-help page directs users to the OAG-hosted calculator. |
| Georgia | income shares | Georgia Child Support Calculator (v2.1) | Requires free account signup; produces the state-recognized worksheet for filing with the court.; The Commission states this is the only calculator Georgia courts recognize. |
| Illinois | income shares | Illinois Child Support Estimator (Income Share Child Support Calculator) | Illinois transitioned from a Percentage of Obligor Net Income model to the Income Shares model per HFS’s own guidelines page. |
| Indiana | income shares | Indiana Child Support Calculator | Use of the calculator to produce official court forms is described as a requirement in child-support cases. |
| Iowa | income shares | Iowa Child Support Estimator | Iowa Judicial Branch (iowacourts.gov) hosts the underlying worksheet forms and guidelines schedule. |
| Kentucky | income shares | Kentucky Child Support Estimation Calculator (Kentucky Child Support Interactive) | Estimates only, per official disclaimer on the site. |
| Louisiana | income shares | Louisiana Child Support Estimator | DCFS press release (Aug. 2023) describes the Estimator’s launch; tool is hosted at webapps.dcfs.la.gov (OBWS). |
| Maine | income shares | CSWS — Child Support WorkSheet (online) | Also described by Maine DHHS as ‘Child Support Calculator/Worksheet.’ |
| Maryland | income shares | Maryland Child Support Calculator (Child Support Administration) | Maryland Courts (courts.state.md.us) links to the DHS-hosted calculator rather than hosting its own. |
| Massachusetts | Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines (state-specific combined-income formula; commonly grouped with income-shares-style models but not independently confirmed as textbook income shares) | Child Support Guidelines Worksheet (online calculation) | Mass.gov states the worksheet can be used ‘to calculate an estimated child support order online.’ |
| Michigan | income shares | MiChildSupport Calculator | Released free to the public in 2017 per the State of Michigan’s own newsroom announcement (michigan.gov/newsroom, 4/6/2017). |
| Minnesota | income shares | Minnesota Child Support Guidelines Calculator | Result explicitly labeled informational/estimate only. |
| Mississippi | percentage of income (flat percentage of adjusted gross income of the non-custodial parent: 14%/1 child, 20%/2, 22%/3, 24%/4, 26%/5+) | Child Support Calculator | The calculator page returned as access-restricted (‘Protected’); its existence and URL are confirmed via MDHS’s own site, but full functionality was not directly lo |
| Nevada | percentage of income (flat percentage of obligor’s gross income: 18% for 1 child, 25% for 2, rising by child count) | Nevada Child Support Guidelines Calculator | Tool is hosted on an Azure Websites domain but is described as supported by DWSS and linked from Nevada’s official DSS/DWSS and Judiciary pages (nvcourts.gov). |
| New Hampshire | income shares | Child Support Guidelines Calculator | NH Judicial Branch (courts.nh.gov) directs users to this DHHS-hosted calculator rather than hosting its own. |
| New Jersey | income shares | NJ Child Support QuickCalc | Explicitly labeled informational purposes only. |
| New Mexico | income shares | New Mexico Child Support Calculator (2024) | Produces a Basic Visitation or Shared-Responsibility worksheet for filing with the court. |
| New York | percentage of combined parental income (Child Support Standards Act formula: 17% for 1 child, 25% for 2, 29% for 3, 31% for 4, no less than 35% for 5+) | Maintenance and Child Support Tools | NY Courts’ tool lets users calculate child support together with guideline, zero, or agreed maintenance amounts.; New York City also runs a separate OCSS estimator (nyc.gov/hra) fo |
| North Carolina | income shares | Interactive Child Support Worksheets A, B, and C | Three worksheets cover sole custody (A), joint/shared custody (B), and split custody (C). |
| Ohio | income shares | Ohio Child Support Calculator | Underlying official worksheets/manual: JFS 07766 (Guideline Manual), JFS 07767 (Schedule), JFS 07768/07769 (Computation Worksheets). |
| Oregon | income shares | Child Support Calculator (web + Excel ‘power user’ version) | Oregon Judicial Department self-help pages link out to the DOJ-hosted calculator. |
| Pennsylvania | income shares | Pennsylvania Child Support Estimator | Estimator gives $0 basic amount when combined parental income is below $1,300/month per its own disclaimer page. |
| South Carolina | income shares | South Carolina Child Support Calculator | Explicitly described as an estimate only. |
| South Dakota | income shares | Child Support Obligation Calculator | Official disclaimer: general estimate only, covers combined net income up to $30,000/month, does not factor childcare/health-insurance/parenting-time adjustments.; SD Unified Judic |
| Tennessee | income shares | Child Support Calculator (web-style calculator, Excel Income Shares Worksheet, and iOS app) | Multiple official tool formats offered; explicitly informational/educational only per DHS. |
| Texas | percentage of income (percentage of obligor’s net resources: 20% for 1 child, plus additional percentage per child, subject to a net-resources cap) | Monthly Child Support Calculator | Explicitly an estimate for a single source of income; net resources cap adjusted periodically (e.g., ~$11,700/month cited in 2026 secondary sources, not independently verified agai |
| Utah | income shares | Office of Recovery Services Child Support Calculator | Utah Courts (utcourts.gov) links out to this ORS-hosted calculator.; Site disclaims: worksheets are only a guideline; final determination is made by the court. |
| Vermont | income shares | Vermont Office of Child Support Child Support Calculator | Vermont Judiciary (vtcourts.gov) directs filers to this DCF-hosted calculator to generate the required worksheet. |
| Virginia | income shares | Child Support Guidelines Worksheet (online) | Complementary case-management portal at mychildsupport.dss.virginia.gov. |
| Washington | income shares | DCS Quick Child Support Estimator | Washington Courts (courts.wa.gov) publishes the underlying Support Schedule/Worksheets that the estimator implements. |
| Wyoming | income shares | Wyoming Child Support Calculator | Wyoming Judicial Branch (wyocourts.gov) directs self-represented litigants to this same calculator (‘secure child support calculator’). |
States with a worksheet rather than a calculator (15)
A form you fill in yourself, usually a PDF or a spreadsheet. Slower, and exactly as authoritative.
| State | Model | The worksheet | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | income shares | Form CS-42 Child-Support Guidelines Worksheet | No standalone free online calculator confirmed; AOC page hosts the guidelines review process and links to Form CS-42 worksheet and schedule. |
| Colorado | income shares | None free/official — Judicial Branch provides forms; state points users to paid third-party software | childsupport.colorado.gov states residents may use ‘online calculators like Math4Law or software available through the Colorado Judicial Branch’ — i.e., no free state-run online ca |
| Connecticut | income shares | Worksheet for the Connecticut Child Support and Arrearage Guidelines | No separate confirmed official online calculator distinct from the downloadable worksheet/guidelines PDF. |
| Delaware | Melson formula | Child Support Calculator (Automated/Excel and Manual versions) | State page describes both an automated (Excel) and a manual calculation version; also referenced as available online at courts.delaware.gov/family/. |
| Florida | income shares | Child Support Guidelines Worksheet (Form 12.902(e)); DOR Child Support Excel Spreadsheet tool | No standalone free official online calculator found; Florida Courts hosts the required worksheet form and the Dept. of Revenue provides an Excel spreadsheet tool referenced from th |
| Hawaii | Hawaii’s own child support guidelines formula (state-specific, not the classic three-model income-shares/percentage/Melson taxonomy) | Interactive Child Support Guidelines Worksheets | The Judiciary page describes ‘interactive worksheets’ posted alongside the guidelines rather than a single distinct online calculator tool.; Minimum order is $91/child/month per th |
| Kansas | income shares | Child Support Calculators (worksheet-based) | Self-help page references ‘Child Support Calculators’ but the tool’s online-vs-downloadable nature was not independently confirmed by visiting the destination page — listed here as |
| Missouri | income shares | Form 14 — Child Support Amount Calculation Worksheet | No official state-run online calculator confirmed; several private-attorney Form 14 calculators exist but were excluded per the sourcing rule. |
| Montana | income shares (Montana Child Support Guidelines) | Child Support Calculation Tools | Montana Courts page hosts calculation tools/guidelines packet rather than a single distinct online calculator. |
| Nebraska | income shares | Child Support Worksheets and Calculator | The Judicial Branch’s self-help page links to worksheets plus a calculator explicitly credited as ‘designed by Advanced Legal Software, Omaha’ — a third-party vendor tool linked fr |
| North Dakota | percentage of obligor’s net income | Child Support Calculator (xls) | ND Court System (ndcourts.gov) links to the HHS-hosted guidelines/calculator rather than hosting its own tool. |
| Oklahoma | income shares | Child Support Computation (downloadable, macro-enabled worksheet) | Official page provides download/usage instructions (Excel macro tool) for manual computation rather than a browser-based calculator. |
| Rhode Island | income shares | Child Support Guideline Chart / Schedule | OCSS states RI ‘has adopted the income shares model’; a distinct standalone online calculator (as opposed to the published income schedule/chart) was not independently confirmed. |
| West Virginia | income shares (Income Shares Support Formula) | Worksheets for calculating basic child support obligation | Secondary source (WomensLaw.org) references a BCSE-linked calculator in addition to worksheets, but a distinct official online calculator page was not independently loaded/confirme |
| Wisconsin | percentage of income (flat ‘Percentage of Income Standard’: 17% for 1 child, 25% for 2, 29% for 3, 31% for 4, 34% for 5+, of the payer’s income) | Tools to Estimate Income and Support Amounts | Most Wisconsin orders use the ‘Shared Income’ calculation; DCF’s tools page provides calculators/examples but a single unified browser-based calculator (vs. downloadable tools) was |
States with neither (1)
Where the state publishes no calculator and no worksheet we could find, the guideline itself is the only source. That is a real gap and it is worth knowing you are not missing something.
| State | Model | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Idaho | income shares | No official calculator published | mychildsupport.idaho.gov hosts only a ‘reasonable cost’ calculator for health-insurance apportionment, not a general child support amount calculator — no general official online ca |
The three things that move the number most
Overnights. In most income-shares states the number moves with how many nights the child spends where, and there are thresholds where it moves sharply. Imputed income. A court can calculate support on what it thinks you could earn rather than what you do earn. What that means. Add-ons. Health insurance, childcare and agreed extras are often calculated separately and split, which is why the guideline figure is rarely the whole obligation.
What we could not confirm
Listed rather than glossed over.
- Kansas: ‘Child Support Calculators’ referenced on self-help.kscourts.gov but whether it is a true interactive online calculator (vs. downloadable spreadsheet) was not confirmed by visiting the destination page directly.
- Missouri: no official state-run online calculator was found (only the Form 14 downloadable worksheet template); numerous private-attorney ‘Form 14 calculators’ exist online but were excluded as non-official.
- Mississippi: the state’s own child-support-calculator page (mdhs.ms.gov/child-support-calculator) returned as access-restricted; its existence is confirmed via MDHS’s own site navigation, but the live tool itself was not loaded.
- Nebraska: the calculator linked from the Nebraska Judicial Branch’s self-help page is explicitly credited to a third-party vendor (‘Advanced Legal Software, Omaha’) rather than being built and hosted directly by the state; it is linked from, but not run by, nebraskajudicial.gov.
- Rhode Island: RI Office of Child Support Services describes an income shares model and a published income schedule/chart, but a distinct standalone online calculator (as opposed to the chart itself) was not independently confirmed.
- West Virginia: the Bureau for Child Support Enforcement’s official page describes the Income Shares Support Formula and worksheets; a secondary source (WomensLaw.org) references an accompanying official calculator link, but that calculator page itself was not independently loaded.
- Wisconsin: DCF’s ‘Tools to Estimate Income and Support Amounts’ page was confirmed live, but whether the primary tool is a true browser-based online calculator (as opposed to downloadable spreadsheets/examples) was not confirmed by loading the tools subpage directly.
- Hawaii and Montana: sometimes described in secondary/law-firm sources as using Melson-formula-influenced guidelines; this was not independently confirmed against each state’s own official guideline text, so both are listed under ‘income shares’/’own formula’ in the states array rather than as confirmed Melson states.
- Massachusetts: the 2025 Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines were confirmed as the governing authority and an online worksheet-based calculation was confirmed on mass.gov, but Massachusetts’s precise doctrinal classification among the three named models (income shares / percentage of income / Melson) was not independently confirmed from primary source text — treated cautiously in the states array.
- Texas alimony/spousal ‘maintenance’: Texas has a statutory duration and dollar CAP on post-divorce spousal maintenance (Tex. Fam. Code Ch. 8) but this is a ceiling, not a calculation formula for the amount awarded, so Texas was not included in alimony_formula_states; this distinction should be treated as a judgment call subject to further review.
- Local county-level alimony ‘rules of thumb’ (e.g., certain California counties’ informal temporary-support calculations) were identified in secondary commentary but not verified against an official county court publication, so are excluded entirely from alimony_formula_states per the strict sourcing rule.
Every link above was loaded on a state government domain in 31 August 2026. Calculators move and get retired. Tell us if one is broken and we will fix it.
Keep reading
Sources last checked2 September 2026
Page published2 September 2026
What this means. This is when the sources on this page were last read against their originals — statutes, court rules, official schedules — taken from the date this page was built from its sources. It is not the date the page was last edited. Adding a link or fixing a typo does not move it; re-reading the statute does. Law changes without notice, so treat anything time-sensitive as needing a fresh check. Where we get something wrong we publish it at thecusp.app/corrections with the date, what changed, and how long the error was live.