Minnesota Child Support Calculator

Minnesota child support depends on both parents’ monthly incomes before taxes, the number of children, and the overnights in a court order. With one child, when one parent earns $4,000 a month and the other earns $2,000, the higher earner pays about $662 a month if the child lives with the other parent and there is no court-ordered parenting time.

Each row turns weekly income into monthly income (× 52 ÷ 12). At $400 a week and below, amounts are lowered so the paying parent keeps $1,596 a month of income before taxes (see the low-income section below). The amounts start from Minnesota’s basic support table, which gives the support for both parents together by their combined income. The full table, in $100 steps up to $20,000 a month and six children, is in Minnesota Statutes §518A.35.

Minnesota uses an income shares formula. It adds both parents’ gross monthly incomes (pay before taxes), looks up basic support in the state’s table, and splits it by each parent’s share of the income. It then adjusts for court-ordered parenting time.

The steps are in Minnesota Statutes §518A.34:

1. Find each parent’s income for child support (Minnesota calls it PICS, parental income for determining child support). Start with income before taxes from all sources, then subtract court-ordered child support or alimony (spousal maintenance) the parent pays and a credit for other children living with them. Need-based aid like MFIP doesn’t count as income, under §518A.29.
2. Add the two PICS together.
3. Look up basic support in the table for that income and the number of children.
4. Split it by each parent’s share of the income. A parent with 60% of the combined PICS has a 60% share.
5. Adjust for parenting time using each parent’s court-ordered overnights.
6. Add child care and medical support, split the same way.
7. Check that the paying parent can afford it, using the amount they keep to live on and the minimum order.

Example

One parent earns $4,000 a month and the other $2,000, so their combined PICS is $6,000. The table amount for one child at that income is $988. The higher earner has a 67% share, so with the child living with the other parent and no court-ordered time, they pay about $662 a month.

Yes. Every court-ordered overnight counts, with no minimum, but the effect is small until time gets close to equal. With one child and gross incomes of $4,000 and $2,000 a month, the higher earner pays $662 a month with no court-ordered time, about $647 at 20% of overnights, about $590 at 30%, about $436 at 40%, and about $168 at equal time.

The parenting expense adjustment multiplies each parent’s share of support by the other parent’s percentage of court-ordered overnights, so support falls faster as time gets closer to equal. With equal time and equal incomes, no basic support is paid. The formula is in Minnesota Statutes §518A.36.

• No parenting-time order: without a court order for parenting time, there is no adjustment, under §518A.36.
• More than 55% of the time: if the formula says the parent with more than 55% of the time should pay, that parent usually owes $0 basic support. The other parent can ask a judge to order support anyway, mainly when the parent with more time earns much more, under §518A.26, subdivision 14.
• Daytime care: a parent who has the children for long stretches of the day but not overnight can have that time counted too (Minnesota calls these overnight equivalents).

Child care a parent pays so they can work or go to school is split by each parent’s share of the combined income. The estimated federal and Minnesota child care tax credits are subtracted first.

For example, if care costs $600 a month after credits and you have two thirds of the combined PICS, your share is $400. When the parent paying for care gets child care assistance and the other parent’s income is low enough to qualify for it too, the other parent pays no more than that program’s copayment, under Minnesota Statutes §518A.40.

Every Minnesota order must deal with the children’s health insurance and the medical bills insurance doesn’t pay (Minnesota calls this medical support). The premium and those bills are split by each parent’s share of the combined income.

• Affordable coverage: private insurance counts as affordable if the part of the premium that covers the children is no more than 5% of the parents’ combined PICS, under Minnesota Statutes §518A.41.
• Public coverage: public coverage like Medical Assistance (Minnesota’s Medicaid) usually counts as enough coverage. The parent the children don’t mainly live with isn’t ordered to help pay for it if their PICS is under 200% of the poverty guideline.
• Low income: a parent ordered to pay the minimum is treated as unable to pay medical support, under §518A.42.

If you get MFIP (Minnesota’s cash assistance program), you have to help the county collect child support from the other parent. Your family gets the current support collected, and the first $100 a month for one child or $200 for two or more doesn’t lower MFIP. Food stamps (SNAP) alone don’t require this.

• MFIP: you help by naming the other parent and giving the county the information it needs to set up and collect support. The Minnesota child support handbook explains how collected support is paid out. Support above $100 a month (one child) or $200 (two or more) counts as income for MFIP, under Minnesota Statutes §256P.06.
• Food stamps (SNAP): Minnesota doesn’t require you to work with child support to get SNAP, according to the USDA SNAP State Options Report.

If helping could put you or your children in danger, you can ask to be excused (Minnesota calls this “good cause”). The Minnesota child support guide has more on cash assistance and child support.

In 2026, support can’t take the paying parent’s income before taxes below $1,596 a month. If their income is below that amount or only a little above it, Minnesota orders a minimum of $50 a month for one child, up to $100 for six or more.

The rules are in Minnesota Statutes §518A.42. Minnesota calls the $1,596 the self-support reserve. It is 120% of the federal poverty guideline for one person.

• Income just above $1,596: support is cut until it fits the income left above $1,596, starting with medical support, then child care, then basic support.
• Income below $1,596, or above it by no more than the minimum: the minimum order applies ($50, $60, $70, $80, $90, or $100 for one to six or more children), and the parent is treated as unable to pay child care or medical support.
• Lower than the minimum: when the parenting-time adjustment takes support under the minimum, the parent pays the lower amount. The minimum also doesn’t apply to a parent who is in jail or prison, gets SSI, MFIP, TANF, or General Assistance, or has no income and can’t earn any.
• Earning less by choice: a judge can base support on what the parent could earn, under §518A.32.

Basic support stops rising when the parents earn $20,000 a month together. Above that, the table’s top amount applies ($1,839 for one child). A judge can order more for a child with a disability or another major need.

The top amounts are $1,839 for one child, $2,575 for two, and $2,935 for three. To order more, a judge must find that the extra support will directly benefit the child, under Minnesota Statutes §518A.35, subdivision 3.

Yes. Courts start from the amount the guidelines give, but a judge can order more or less after explaining in writing why the different amount is better for the children.

Reasons the law lists include each parent’s income and other resources, the child’s extra needs, the way the child would live if the parents lived together, and certain debts. A judge can also decide not to order basic support from a parent with 10% to 45% of the time when the other parent earns so much more that paying would hurt the child. See Minnesota Statutes §518A.43 and the findings required by §518A.37.

Ask the county child support office to review your order, or file a motion to change it in district court. Keep following the current order until it changes. If the guidelines now give an amount at least 20% and $75 a month different from the current order, that usually counts as enough to change it.

• When: after a change that makes the order unfair, like a big change in either parent’s income, the children’s needs, child care, or health coverage. If the current order is under $75, a 20% difference is enough. A new amount usually can’t start before the other parent was formally given the motion (served), so file as soon as things change.
• Through the county: if your case is with the county child support office, either parent can ask for a review. The Minnesota child support handbook explains how.
• Cost-of-living increases: orders usually go up with inflation every two years, under §518A.75.

The rules are in Minnesota Statutes §518A.39. The Minnesota child support guide walks through each step.

Yes. The Minnesota Child Support Guidelines Calculator, from the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families, follows the same steps as this page and adds child care, medical support, other children, and benefits paid for the children.

Courts and county offices use the Minnesota Child Support Guidelines Calculator. It covers up to six children. With more, the court decides support for that family.