Child support · PA
Pennsylvania child support calculator
Pa.R.Civ.P. 1910.16-1 to 1910.16-6 applied to your numbers: the schedule that took effect in January 2026, the Self-Support Reserve and the custody adjustment.
Rules read on official Pennsylvania pages on · Checked by Radif Partners · How we calculate
- Model
- Income shares
- Income counted
- Net income
- Shared parenting
- No fixed formula
- 1 child, $5,000 / $3,000
- $899
- a month, rules of January 1, 2026
With $5,000 of monthly net income against the other parent's $2,300 and two children living mainly with that parent, a Pennsylvania obligor owes about $1,342 a month of basic child support under the Rule 1910.16-3 schedule that took effect on January 1, 2026. Pennsylvania's guidelines are court rules, not a statute, and the Supreme Court replaced the whole table for 2026: combined income of $7,300 now reads $1,960 for two children. Time with the children changes the result only from 40% of the year's overnights, about 146 nights; at that point the obligor's percentage drops by ten points, here to $1,146, and by up to twenty points at equal time. A Self-Support Reserve of $1,255 a month protects low earners, and above $30,000 of combined income a separate high-income formula takes over.
Guideline child support in Pennsylvania, per month
$899
$10,785 a year
| Combined monthly net income | $8,000 |
| Basic child support in the Pennsylvania schedule, 1 child | $1,438 |
| Obligor’s percentage of combined net income | 62.5% |
Estimate under the Pennsylvania 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.
A table rewritten for 2026
The order of August 11, 2025, published at 55 Pa.B. 5978, replaced the Basic Child Support Schedule from January 1, 2026. Every row moved, the first row now starts at $1,300 of combined net income, and the reserve built into the low rows rose to $1,255. The schedule assumes no shared time at all, a change made in 2022 when the old hidden 30% custody assumption was taken out.
What "40% custody" really subtracts
Parents often hear that Pennsylvania cuts support by 40% for shared custody. The rule is different. Under Rule 1910.16-4(c), once the children spend 40% or more of the annual overnights with the obligor, the obligor's percentage of combined income is reduced by the custody percentage minus 30 points. At exactly 40% that is ten points; at half the year it is twenty. In our family the obligor's 68.5% share becomes about 58.5% at 146 nights, so the payment falls from $1,342 at 145 nights to $1,146. At 182 nights it is $953.
Equal time adds two guard rails. Only the parent with the higher income can be the obligor, whoever filed. And the order cannot leave the receiving parent with more than half of the two incomes combined. With $3,000 and $2,500 and two children shared evenly, the formula would give more than the gap allows, so support is held to $250, the amount that puts both households at the same income.
The shaded rows and the $1,255 reserve
Part of the printed schedule is shaded: the rows where the obligor's own income is so low that the reserve, not the table, sets the amount. The shaded block ends at $1,650 for 1, $2,000 for 2, $2,300 for 3, $2,550 for 4, $2,800 for 5 and $3,000 for 6 children. In that zone Rule 1910.16-2(e) runs two calculations and keeps the lower. A parent netting $1,500 with two children, facing a co-parent at $2,500, would owe $516 under ordinary income shares, but the table read at his or her own income gives $223, and that is the order. At or under $1,255, the court looks at real expenses before ordering anything.
Families above $30,000
Rule 1910.16-3.1 starts from the $30,000 amounts and adds 4% for 1, 4% for 2, 4.7% for 3, 5.3% for 4, 5.8% for 5 and 6.3% for 6 children of the income above. With $36,000 and $9,000 and two children, the preliminary figure is $5,581, the obligor's part $4,465; the judge then weighs the children's reasonable needs and may adjust, never below the $30,000 level. The calculator reads the row at or below the income, our convention for amounts between the $50 steps. Neighbors handle custody time differently: compare New Jersey and Ohio.
The Pennsylvania guideline this calculator applies
| Rule | Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Model | Income shares, combined monthly net income schedule (Pa.R.Civ.P. 1910.16-3) |
| Income counted | Net income: after income taxes and mandatory deductions, as the state defines it. |
| Official schedule | $1,300 to $30,000 of combined income a month, 575 rows |
| Shared parenting | No overnight formula in the calculator (see the rule below) |
| In force since | January 1, 2026 |
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 | $461 | $678 | $685 | $693 |
| $3,000 | $691 | $1,053 | $1,272 | $1,421 |
| $4,000 | $916 | $1,377 | $1,653 | $1,847 |
| $5,000 | $1,080 | $1,629 | $1,949 | $2,177 |
| $6,000 | $1,186 | $1,774 | $2,107 | $2,353 |
| $8,000 | $1,438 | $2,122 | $2,484 | $2,775 |
| $10,000 | $1,661 | $2,452 | $2,871 | $3,207 |
| $12,500 | $1,940 | $2,839 | $3,293 | $3,678 |
| $15,000 | $2,240 | $3,247 | $3,729 | $4,165 |
| $20,000 | $2,748 | $4,060 | $4,759 | $5,316 |
How the amount is set. Pa.R.Civ.P. 1910.16-4(a)(1) line 20 says only to determine the basic obligation 'from child support schedule ... based on the number of children and line 19'; the rules do not state how to treat incomes between $50 rows, so the lookup method is the calculator's choice. source
Income. Monthly gross income (normally a six-month average) includes all income listed in 23 Pa.C.S. § 4302 and Pa.R.Civ.P. 1910.16-2(a) (wages, business income, interest, rents, pensions, Social Security and disability benefits, workers' compensation, unemployment, lottery winnings, tax refunds, etc.); public assistance and SSI are excluded (1910.16-2(b)(1)). Only these are deducted to reach net income (1910.16-2(c)(1)): federal, state and local income taxes; unemployment compensation taxes and Local Services Taxes; FICA and non-voluntary retirement payments; mandatory union dues; alimony paid to the other party.
Above the table. Pa.R.Civ.P. 1910.16-3.1(a)(2)(i): above $30,000 combined monthly net income, the preliminary basic obligation is $3,749 + 4.0% (1 child), $4,981 + 4.0% (2), $5,803 + 4.7% (3), $6,482 + 5.3% (4), $7,130 + 5.8% (5), $7,750 + 6.3% (6) of the income above $30,000; then adjusted for shared custody and for the child's reasonable needs, but never below the amount at $30,000 (1910.16-3.1(a)(1)). The base amounts equal the $30,000 row of the schedule, so the rule is the top row plus a percentage of the excess.
Parenting time. Pa.R.Civ.P. 1910.16-4(a)(1) Part D and (c): if the child spends 40% or more of annual overnights with the obligor, subtract (obligor's overnight percentage - 30 points) from the obligor's income percentage and apply the result to the schedule amount; this is a 10-point cut at 40% rising to 20 points at 50%. With equal time, only the higher-income party can be obligor, and the obligation is reduced if needed so the obligee does not end with more than half of the combined net income (1910.16-4(c)(2)). For several children with different schedules, the obligor's time is averaged (1910.16-4(d)(2)).
Child care and health care. added to basic obligation and shared by income premium shared by income; obligor's share added (or obligee's share deducted if obligor pays) Pa.R.Civ.P. 1910.16-6(a): reasonable child care needed for employment or education is allocated in proportion to net incomes, after reducing it by the federal child care tax credit available to the eligible party. 1910.16-6(b): the health insurance premium (including the paying party's own coverage if a duty of support is owed) is allocated by income; if the obligor pays, the obligee's share is deducted, if the obligee pays, the obligor's share is added. Coverage is reasonable in cost if it does not exceed 5% of the obligor's monthly net income and total support plus expenses does not exceed 50% of that income (1910.16-6(b)(3)(i)(A)).
Low incomes. Pa.R.Civ.P. 1910.16-2(e)(1): the SSR is $1,255 per month; in the shaded area support is the lesser of the obligor-income-only schedule amount and the income-shares amount; at or below the SSR the court considers actual resources and living expenses before awarding support.
When support ends. The domestic relations section sends an emancipation inquiry six months before the child turns 18; support continues to age 18 or high school graduation, whichever is last, unless an agreement or special needs justify more (Pa.R.Civ.P. 1910.19(e)). source
Worth knowing in Pennsylvania
- The Basic Child Support Schedule was last replaced effective January 1, 2026 (order of August 11, 2025, 55 Pa.B. 5978); the previous schedule had taken effect January 1, 2022. source
- Since 2022 the schedule no longer builds in an assumption that the children spend 30% of time with the obligor; it reflects intact-family spending with no custody adjustment (1910.16-3, Explanatory Comment 2021). source
- For more than six children, add the difference between the six-child and five-child amounts once for each extra child (1910.16-4(b)). source
- With equally shared custody, the party with the lower monthly net income cannot be ordered to pay basic child support to the higher-income party (1910.16-4(c)(2)(ii)). source
- Spousal support or alimony pendente lite is computed first and moves income between the parties before child support (33%/40% without children, 25%/30% with children, 1910.16-4(a)(1) Part B). source