Wage Garnishment Rules: How Much of Your Paycheck Can Be Taken?

A wage garnishment is a court or agency order that forces your employer to withhold part of your paycheck and send it to a creditor. If you've ever seen a deduction labeled GARN on your stub and felt your stomach drop, the most important thing to know is this: there are hard legal limits on how much can be taken, and many people are garnished for more than the law allows.

Federal law sets a floor of protection that applies everywhere, and many states protect even more of your wages. Understanding both can keep you from being squeezed past what's legal.

The federal CCPA limits for ordinary debts

The federal Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA) caps how much of your pay can be garnished for ordinary debts, things like credit cards, medical bills, personal loans, and most court judgments. The cap is the lesser of two numbers: 25% of your disposable earnings, or the amount by which your disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage.

"Disposable earnings" means your pay after legally required deductions, federal and state taxes, Social Security, and Medicare, but not voluntary deductions like health insurance or retirement contributions. At the federal minimum wage of $7.25, that 30-times figure works out to $217.50 a week. If you earn $217.50 or less in disposable weekly pay, you can't be garnished for ordinary debt at all.

Above that floor, the 25% cap usually controls. If your disposable weekly pay is $600, the most an ordinary creditor can take is 25%, or $150. An employer or creditor taking more than that for a credit card judgment is breaking federal law.

Higher limits for child support and alimony

Family support obligations get tougher treatment because the law prioritizes them. For child support and alimony, the CCPA allows up to 50% of disposable earnings to be garnished if you're supporting another spouse or child, and up to 60% if you're not.

Those percentages climb another 5%, to 55% and 65%, when you're more than 12 weeks behind on payments. These orders also take priority over ordinary garnishments, so if you have both, the support order gets paid first up to its limit.

Child-support withholding is extremely common and usually handled through an income-withholding order sent directly to your employer, so it shows up automatically on your stub without a separate lawsuit.

Taxes and student loans play by their own rules

Federal tax levies aren't governed by the 25% CCPA cap. Instead, the IRS uses tables based on your filing status and number of dependents to leave you a certain exempt amount, and it can take the rest. The exempt amount is often far less generous than the CCPA percentage, so a tax levy can bite much harder than a credit-card garnishment.

Defaulted federal student loans can be subject to administrative wage garnishment of up to 15% of disposable pay, without the lender first having to win a lawsuit. State tax debts follow their own state rules, which vary widely.

The takeaway: not all garnishments are capped at 25%. The type of debt determines the limit, and government debts (taxes, student loans, child support) generally allow more to be taken than private debts do.

State law can protect more of your pay

Federal limits are a floor, not a ceiling on your protection. States are free to shield more of your wages, and many do. A handful of states, including Texas, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina, prohibit wage garnishment for most ordinary consumer debts entirely, allowing it only for things like child support, taxes, and student loans.

Other states tie the protected amount to a higher state minimum wage, which raises the floor below which nothing can be taken. Because the law requires using whichever rule protects you more, a worker in a high-minimum-wage state often keeps more of their check than the bare federal formula would allow.

Always check your own state's rules before assuming the 25% federal figure applies, because in many places the real protection is greater.

Your rights, and what's off limits

Federal law bars your employer from firing you because of a single garnishment for one debt. (Protection for multiple garnishments is weaker, so a second order can change things.) If you were fired solely over one wage garnishment, that itself may be a violation worth raising.

Garnishments also can't reach into money that's already legally protected, and they generally apply to earned wages, not to exempt benefits like Social Security, disability, or certain public assistance, though the protection can be lost if those funds are commingled in a bank account and separately levied.

If you believe you're being garnished beyond the legal limit, you can challenge it. You typically have the right to claim exemptions and contest the amount, and the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division enforces the CCPA's garnishment limits and the anti-firing rule.

Worked example: which limit actually applies?

Take a worker with $250 in disposable weekly pay and a credit-card judgment. The 25% cap would allow $62.50. The other test asks how much disposable pay exceeds $217.50 (30 times $7.25): $250 minus $217.50 is $32.50. The cap is the lesser of the two, so no more than $32.50 can be taken that week, not $62.50.

Now take the $600 case from above. Twenty-five percent is $150, while $600 minus $217.50 is $382.50. Here 25% is the smaller number, so $150 is the ceiling. The crossover sits at roughly $290 of disposable weekly pay: below it the 30-times test controls, above it the 25% test does.

Remember the figures are per pay period and scale with it. For a biweekly check, the protected floor is twice the weekly figure. If your state sets a higher minimum wage and protects more, use that more protective rule instead.

A quick checklist before you accept a deduction

1. Identify the type of debt: ordinary consumer debt, child support, tax levy, or student loan, because each has a different cap. 2. Work out disposable earnings from your stub: gross pay minus legally required deductions only. 3. Apply the lesser-of test for ordinary debt, or the support percentages if it is a support order. 4. Check whether your state bars or limits garnishment for that kind of debt. 5. If the amount withheld is higher than every limit allows, raise it with your payroll department in writing and keep copies, then contact the court that issued the order or the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division.

The same paycheck, different debts

Take a worker with $1,000 in weekly disposable earnings and no other dependents. A credit card judgment can take up to 25%, which is $250, because that is less than the $782.50 by which pay exceeds 30 times the minimum wage. A defaulted federal student loan is capped at 15%, or $150. A child support order can take up to 60%, or $600, rising to 65%, or $650, if payments are more than 12 weeks behind.

When a support order and a consumer garnishment both exist, the support order takes priority and takes its share first. A consumer creditor can reach only what is left, still under the overall limit. This is why the question of how much can be garnished needs a debt-by-debt answer. Some states restrict or bar wage garnishment for ordinary consumer debt altogether, including Texas, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and South Carolina. An employer also cannot deduct more than the legal cap whatever the order says, and must figure disposable earnings after legally required deductions only, not after voluntary ones such as a 401(k) contribution.

Frequently asked questions

What's the maximum that can be garnished from my paycheck? For ordinary debts, federal law caps it at the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount over 30 times the federal minimum wage ($217.50/week in 2026). Child support can go up to 50 to 65%, and taxes and student loans follow separate rules. Your state may protect more.

Can my employer fire me for a wage garnishment? Not for a single garnishment over one debt, that's protected by federal law. The protection weakens once there are garnishments for multiple separate debts, but being fired over your first garnishment may itself be illegal.

Does the garnishment limit apply to my final paycheck? Yes, the same percentage caps apply to your disposable earnings in a final check. If you're leaving a job and want to confirm your last check, including any owed wages or PTO, is calculated correctly before deductions, the final-paycheck calculator can help you check the math.

How much can be garnished if I have more than one debt? The combined total still generally cannot exceed the federal caps, and support orders take priority over consumer garnishments.

Make sure your garnishment is legal

Pull your pay stub and find the disposable earnings, your pay after taxes and Social Security and Medicare. Apply the 25% rule for an ordinary debt, then check whether your state protects more. If the amount being withheld is higher than both limits allow, your paycheck is being garnished beyond what the law permits.

Garnishment errors compound, because they repeat every pay period, so catching an over-withholding early can save you real money. Confirm your final check is right before you leave a job with the final-paycheck calculator, and if you think you've been garnished or short-changed unlawfully, the Department of Labor is the place to start. None of this is legal advice, but knowing the limits is the difference between accepting a deduction and challenging one that shouldn't be there.