Texas child support calculator: estimate guideline support for 2026

Texas child support calculator

Enter the paying parent’s income and the number of children, and the calculator estimates the monthly guideline amount under the Texas Family Code. It applies the tax rules in the Texas Attorney General’s 2026 tax charts: federal income tax for a single filer with the standard deduction, social security and Medicare.

How is child support calculated in Texas?

Texas uses a percentage of the paying parent’s monthly net resources, set by the number of children. The court works out the paying parent’s net resources, applies the percentage for the number of children, and then adjusts for other children the parent supports.

In order, the steps are:

1. Total the paying parent’s gross resources for a month.
2. Subtract the deductions the Family Code allows, which gives monthly net resources.
3. Apply the percentage for the number of children, to net resources up to the cap.
4. Lower the percentage if the paying parent also supports children outside the case.
5. Add medical and dental support, which are ordered on top.

Under Section 154.122 of the Texas Family Code, the guideline amount is presumed reasonable and an order that follows the guidelines is presumed to be in the child’s best interest. That presumption can be rebutted, which is covered further down.

Our page on Texas custody laws and conservatorship covers the custody side of the same case, which is decided separately from support.

What counts as income for Texas child support?

Almost all income counts. Section 154.062 of the Texas Family Code includes wages, salary, commissions, overtime, tips and bonuses, interest, dividends and royalties, self-employment income, net rental income, and most other income actually being received. It leaves out return of principal, accounts receivable, and benefits paid under federal public assistance programs.

The same section lists what is subtracted from gross resources to reach net resources:

• Social security taxes.
• Federal income tax, figured for a single person claiming the standard deduction.
• State income tax. Texas has none, so this is usually zero.
• Union dues.
• What the parent pays for the child’s health insurance, dental insurance or cash medical support.
• Nondiscretionary retirement contributions, where the parent is not paying social security.

Self-employed parents. Self-employment income is counted after ordinary and necessary business expenses. The 2026 tax charts figure self-employment tax on 92.35% of net earnings and deduct half of it before federal income tax, and the calculator above does the same.

A new spouse’s income. Section 154.069 says the court may not add any part of a spouse’s net resources to either parent’s, and may not subtract the needs of a spouse or a spouse’s dependents.

When income is unknown. If there is no evidence of a parent’s resources, Section 154.068 tells the court to presume income equal to the federal minimum wage for a 40-hour week, with an exception for a parent who is incarcerated under a long sentence.

What are the Texas guideline percentages?

For monthly net resources from $1,000 up to the cap, the percentages are 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 percent for one to five children. Below $1,000 a month, a lower schedule applies. Both come from Section 154.125 of the Texas Family Code.

For six or more children the statute sets a floor, not a fixed number, so the calculator uses the five-child percentage as the minimum guideline figure.

Is there a cap on child support in Texas?

Yes. The percentages apply only to the first $11,700 of the paying parent’s monthly net resources, the amount in effect since September 1, 2025. The Attorney General’s tax chart notes give the figure, and under the 2026 tax rules an employee reaches it at about $15,714 a month in gross wages.

Section 154.125 adjusts the cap for inflation every six years. So at the cap, guideline support is $2,340 a month for one child and $2,925 for two.

Above the cap, Section 154.126 lets the court order additional support, depending on the income of the parties and the proven needs of the child. The presumptive amount is subtracted from the child’s proven total needs first, and only the remainder is divided between the parents. That is a question of evidence about the child’s actual costs, which the calculator cannot estimate.

How do other children change the amount?

If the paying parent has a legal duty to support children outside this case, the percentage for this case goes down. Section 154.128 sets out a credit computation: work out support as if every child lived in one household, divide it by the total number of children, and take a credit for each child not before the court.

Section 154.129 also publishes a multiple household table with the percentages already worked out. For three children in the case and one other child, it gives 27.38%, the same figure the credit computation reaches.

The calculator above follows the credit computation, as the Attorney General’s monthly child support calculator does. Child support the paying parent receives for other children is added to net resources first, under Section 154.070.

Are health and dental insurance on top of child support?

Yes. Section 154.064 says the guidelines assume the court will order medical and dental support in addition to the guideline amount. The cost of covering the child is subtracted when net resources are figured, and then ordered as a separate obligation.

Section 154.182 sets the order of priorities. If coverage through a parent’s job is available at reasonable cost, that parent is ordered to cover the child. If the other parent provides the coverage, the paying parent reimburses that cost as additional child support. Where no insurance is available, the court can order cash medical support. Under Section 154.1815, dental insurance is at a reasonable cost when it does not exceed 1.5% of the paying parent’s annual resources.

Our guide to documenting a child’s medical expenses covers keeping track of uninsured costs, which most orders divide between the parents.

When can a court order a different amount?

When the evidence shows the guideline amount would be unjust or inappropriate for the child. Section 154.123 lists 17 factors the court may weigh, including:

• The age and needs of the child.
• The amount of time of possession of and access to the child.
• Child care expenses either parent pays in order to work.
• Health insurance and uninsured medical expenses.
• The cost of travel to exercise possession of the child.
• Benefits such as a car or housing provided by an employer.

An equal possession schedule does not, by itself, cancel support under the statute. Time with each parent is one factor among the 17, and a court that varies from the guidelines must state its reasons when Section 154.130 requires findings.

Our guide on documenting work-related childcare costs covers the receipts behind one of the most common deviation factors. Our parenting time percentage calculator counts the overnights behind the possession-time factor.

Worked examples, checked against the state’s calculator

Each example below was entered into the Attorney General’s monthly child support calculator on October 23, 2026, and the calculator on this page returned the same figures to the cent.

In the last example, the parent’s net resources are above the cap, so the guideline amount is figured on $11,700. Any support above $2,925 would depend on proof of the children’s needs under Section 154.126.

Can Texas child support be changed later?

Yes, on either of two grounds. Under Section 156.401 of the Texas Family Code, a court may modify support if circumstances have materially and substantially changed since the order, or if three years have passed since the order was rendered or last modified and the current amount differs from the guideline amount by 20% or $100.

If the parents agreed to an amount that departs from the guidelines, the three-year route is not available, and a material and substantial change is required. Running the calculator with current figures is a quick way to see whether the 20% or $100 gap exists, before you ask an attorney about it.

Our guide to how custody modification works covers changing the possession side of an order.

What should you keep for a child support hearing?

Proof of income and proof of the child’s costs. Section 154.063 requires each party to produce income tax returns for the past two years, a financial statement and current pay stubs.

Beyond income, the deviation factors turn on day-to-day facts: what child care costs, what the child’s insurance costs, how often each parent has the child, and what travel the schedule takes. Dated receipts and a written log of those days, kept as they happen, are easier to rely on than a reconstruction months later.

Our guide to keeping receipts for child expenses covers what to save and how to file it.

What this guide does not cover

• Support above the $11,700 cap based on a child’s proven needs. That depends on evidence the calculator cannot weigh.
• Income that is hard to measure, such as business income with disputed expenses, irregular bonuses, or earning potential a court may assign to a parent who is intentionally unemployed or underemployed.
• Medical support amounts, cash medical support and the split of uninsured expenses, which are ordered separately from the guideline figure.
• Retroactive support, arrears, interest and enforcement.

Frequently asked questions

References

Law firm pages are cited for the quoted passages only.

• Texas Legislature. (n.d.). Texas Family Code § 154.062, Net Resources. Retrieved from https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/
• Texas Legislature. (n.d.). Texas Family Code § 154.063, Party to Furnish Information. Retrieved from https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/
• Texas Legislature. (n.d.). Texas Family Code § 154.064, Medical Support and Dental Support for Child Presumptively Provided by Obligor. Retrieved from https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/
• Texas Legislature. (n.d.). Texas Family Code § 154.068, Wage and Salary Presumption. Retrieved from https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/
• Texas Legislature. (n.d.). Texas Family Code § 154.069, Net Resources of Spouse. Retrieved from https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/
• Texas Legislature. (n.d.). Texas Family Code § 154.122, Application of Guidelines Rebuttably Presumed in Best Interest of Child. Retrieved from https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/
• Texas Legislature. (n.d.). Texas Family Code § 154.123, Additional Factors for Court to Consider. Retrieved from https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/
• Texas Legislature. (n.d.). Texas Family Code § 154.125, Application of Guidelines to Net Resources. Retrieved from https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/
• Texas Legislature. (n.d.). Texas Family Code § 154.126, Application of Guidelines to Additional Net Resources. Retrieved from https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/
• Texas Legislature. (n.d.). Texas Family Code §§ 154.128 and 154.129, Children in More Than One Household. Retrieved from https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/
• Texas Legislature. (n.d.). Texas Family Code §§ 154.1815 and 154.182, Dental Support and Health Care Coverage. Retrieved from https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/
• Texas Legislature. (n.d.). Texas Family Code § 156.401, Grounds for Modification of Child Support. Retrieved from https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/
• Office of the Attorney General of Texas. (2026). 2026 Tax Charts, instructions. Retrieved from https://csapps.oag.texas.gov/ PDF
• Office of the Attorney General of Texas. (2026). 2026 Tax Charts, notes on the net resources cap. Retrieved from https://csapps.oag.texas.gov/ PDF
• Office of the Attorney General of Texas. (n.d.). Monthly Child Support Calculator. Retrieved from https://csapps.oag.texas.gov/
• Bryan Fagan Law Office. (n.d.). How Is Child Support Calculated in Texas? A Complete Guide. Retrieved from https://www.texasdivorcelawyer.us/
• Law Office of Matthew A. Grimshaw PLLC. (2025). How to Calculate Child Support in Texas. Retrieved from https://www.mgrimshaw.law/