Child support · MS
Mississippi child support calculator
Miss. Code § 43-19-101 in numbers: five percentages, a short list of deductions, and a band outside which the judge must explain the award.
Rules read on official Mississippi pages on · Checked by Radif Partners · How we calculate
- Model
- Percentage of payer income
- Income counted
- Adjusted gross
- Shared parenting
- No fixed formula
- 1 child, $5,000 / $3,000
- $700
- a month
In Mississippi, a parent with $4,000 of monthly adjusted gross income owes $800 a month for two children, because § 43-19-101 sets support at 20% of that income. The scale is short: 14% for 1, 20% for 2, 22% for 3, 24% for 4 and 26% for 5 or more children. Adjusted gross income is not take-home pay in the payroll sense: the statute starts from income of every kind, then removes only federal, state and local taxes actually owed, Social Security, and mandatory retirement or disability contributions, plus court-ordered support for other children. The other parent's income does not enter the formula. When adjusted income is above $100,000 or under $10,000 a year, the chancellor must state in writing whether the percentage is reasonable. Shared time, child care and medical bills are grounds to depart from the figure, not lines added to it.
Guideline child support in Mississippi, per month
$700
$8,400 a year
| Monthly adjusted gross income of the paying parent | $5,000 |
| Guideline percentage, 1 child | 14.0% |
| Guideline support | $700 |
Estimate under the Mississippi guideline as published, from the incomes you enter. Deviations, imputed income, other children and the judge's findings can change the order. How this is calculated.
Five rates and an age of majority at 21
Mississippi's rates look modest next to states that take a share of gross pay, for a simple reason: they apply after taxes. A payer earning $5,200 gross who loses $1,200 to withholding, FICA and a required pension plan has $4,000 of adjusted gross income; with three children the guideline order is $880. The same paycheck with five children gives $1,040, and the rate stops climbing there.
Duration is the other half of the bill. Support in Mississippi generally runs until the child turns 21, three years longer than in most states, so a guideline order is usually paid for far more months than a comparable one across the state line.
The chancellor's written findings
The percentages are a rebuttable presumption. Section 43-19-101(4) forces the court to address their fit when adjusted gross income is above $100,000 a year, about $8,333 a month, or below $10,000, about $833 a month. At $10,000 a month with one child the formula gives $1,400; the judge may keep it, cut it or raise it, but must say why. At $700 a month the formula gives $98, and since 2022 the statute tells the court to weigh the payer's basic subsistence needs.
The same 2022 amendment closed a common shortcut: income can no longer be imputed at a standard figure, such as full-time minimum wage, without looking at the parent's actual work history, skills, health and local job market.
What moves the number away from the table
Section 43-19-103 lists the reasons to deviate, and several match costs other states add by formula: a noncustodial parent who spends a great deal of time with the children, child care paid so the custodial parent can work, extraordinary medical or educational expenses, the child's own income, seasonal earnings. Health coverage is handled in every order; if the custodial parent is told to carry it, the premium is taken into account in the award. The calculator above returns the presumptive figure only.
The Department of Human Services enforces orders and can review an amount every three years. Bills to replace the percentages with an income-shares table were filed in 2025 and 2026 and died in committee. For another percentage state that caps the income counted, see Texas; for a state that uses both incomes, Georgia.
The Mississippi guideline this calculator applies
| Rule | Mississippi |
|---|---|
| Model | Percentage of the absent parent's adjusted gross income (Miss. Code § 43-19-101) |
| Income counted | Adjusted gross income: gross income minus the deductions the guideline allows. |
| Percentages | 1 child: 14% · 2 children: 20% · 3 children: 22% · 4 children: 24% · 5 children: 26% |
| Shared parenting | No overnight formula in the calculator (see the rule below) |
Monthly support for one paying parent, the other parent without income
| Paying parent’s monthly income | 1 child | 2 children | 3 children | 4 children |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $2,000 | $280 | $400 | $440 | $480 |
| $3,000 | $420 | $600 | $660 | $720 |
| $4,000 | $560 | $800 | $880 | $960 |
| $5,000 | $700 | $1,000 | $1,100 | $1,200 |
| $6,000 | $840 | $1,200 | $1,320 | $1,440 |
| $8,000 | $1,120 | $1,600 | $1,760 | $1,920 |
| $10,000 | $1,400 | $2,000 | $2,200 | $2,400 |
| $12,500 | $1,750 | $2,500 | $2,750 | $3,000 |
| $15,000 | $2,100 | $3,000 | $3,300 | $3,600 |
| $20,000 | $2,800 | $4,000 | $4,400 | $4,800 |
How the amount is set. Monthly support = monthly adjusted gross income x 14% (1 child), 20% (2), 22% (3), 24% (4), 26% (5 or more) (§ 43-19-101(1), (3)). The guideline is a rebuttable presumption; deviation requires a written or on-record finding under the § 43-19-103 criteria (§ 43-19-101(2)). source
Income. Gross income from all sources reasonably available to the absent parent (wages, self-employment, commissions, investments, trust income, his or her share of joint income, workers' compensation, disability, unemployment, annuity and retirement benefits including IRAs, any other payments, alimony, income from inherited property, any other earned income), excluding benefits derived from a second household such as a current spouse's income. Minus legally mandated deductions: federal, state and local taxes (actual liability only), Social Security contributions, and mandatory retirement and disability contributions. Minus support paid under an existing court order for other children, and optionally an amount the court deems appropriate for other children living with the parent. Annual total divided by 12 (§ 43-19-101(3)).
Parenting time. No shared-custody formula; a shared parental arrangement in which the noncustodial parent spends a great deal of time with the children is a criterion for deviating from the guideline (§ 43-19-103(g)).
Child care and health care. Not a fixed add-on; the obligee's payment of child care to seek or keep employment is a deviation criterion (§ 43-19-103(i)). Every order must include reasonable medical support; the court makes findings on the availability and cost of health insurance, and if the custodial parent is required to obtain coverage its cost is taken into account in the award (§ 43-19-101(7) as renumbered in 2022). Extraordinary medical, psychological, educational or dental expenses are deviation criteria (§ 43-19-103(a)).
Low incomes. No self-support reserve or minimum order in the statute. Below $10,000 of annual adjusted gross income the court must make a written finding on whether the guideline is reasonable and take into account the basic subsistence needs of a parent with limited ability to pay; imputed income may not be a standard amount in lieu of fact-gathering (§ 43-19-101(4)-(5), as amended by HB 1067, 2022).
When support ends. Child support in Mississippi generally runs until the child reaches age 21, the age of majority (MDHS 2023 Quadrennial Review / Legislative task force report). source
Worth knowing in Mississippi
- Mississippi's percentages (14/20/22/24/26%) apply to income after taxes, Social Security and mandatory retirement contributions, which makes them lower in appearance than gross-income states (§ 43-19-101(3)). source
- Since July 1, 2022, imputed income may not be a standard amount in lieu of fact-gathering; it must rest on the parent's specific circumstances (§ 43-19-101(5), HB 1067). source
- Since July 1, 2023, courts may not treat incarceration as voluntary unemployment or underemployment when setting or modifying support (SB 2082, 2023, ch. 486). source
- MDHS must review the guidelines every four years; bills to switch to an income-shares model (HB 1552 in 2025, HB 980 in 2026) died in the Legislature. source
- Parents may request a review of the support amount every three years through MDHS (MDHS Child Support). source