North Dakota Child Support Calculator

North Dakota sets support from the paying parent’s income after taxes and the number of children. The other parent’s income isn’t used unless the parents have 50/50 custody. At $2,000 a month after taxes, support is $431 for one child and $562 for two.

Each row turns weekly wages into monthly wages (× 52 ÷ 12), then subtracts North Dakota’s tax estimate. The rows assume wages are the paying parent’s only income, with no other deductions. The full schedule, by income after taxes from $800 to $25,000 in $100 steps, is in section 75-02-04.1-10 of the North Dakota Administrative Code.

North Dakota uses a percentage of income formula. It estimates the paying parent’s monthly income after taxes and rounds it to the nearest $100. Then it looks up the amount for that income and the number of children in the state’s schedule.

The rules are in chapter 75-02-04.1 of the North Dakota Administrative Code:

1. Add up the paying parent’s income before taxes from all sources, including wages, self-employment, Social Security, unemployment, refundable tax credits, and spousal support received. Cash assistance (TANF), food stamps (SNAP), SSI, and child support received don’t count.
2. Subtract estimated taxes: federal income tax as if the parent filed single with the standard deduction, state tax at 11% of that, and Social Security and Medicare. What the parent’s paycheck actually withholds doesn’t matter.
3. Subtract allowed costs, like the children’s share of health insurance premiums, their ongoing medical bills, and union dues or retirement contributions a job requires.
4. Divide the year’s total by 12 and round to the nearest $100.
5. Look up the schedule amount for that income and the number of children.
6. Adjust for more than 100 court-ordered overnights, 50/50 custody, or other children the parent supports.

Example

A paying parent earns $4,000 a month in wages. After North Dakota’s tax estimate, their income is $3,358, which rounds to the $3,400 row. For one child living mostly with the other parent, they pay $653 a month.

Yes, and it starts short of 50/50. Support goes down a little once a court order gives the paying parent more than 100 overnights a year (about 28%), and can drop much more with court-ordered 50/50 custody. With one child and wages of $4,000 and $2,000 a month, the higher earner pays $653 a month with 100 or fewer overnights, about $594 at 101, about $568 at 146 (40%), and about $253 at 50/50.

• 101 or more overnights, short of 50/50: support for each child is multiplied by (365 − 0.32 × overnights) ÷ 365. Only overnights in the court order count, and the order must state the number. The cut is small: at 181 overnights, $653 only drops to $549. See section 75-02-04.1-08.1.
• Court-ordered 50/50 custody (North Dakota calls it equal residential responsibility): support is worked out for each parent as if the other parent had the children, and the parent who owes more pays the difference. In a month when the children get cash assistance (TANF), each parent pays their full amount instead. See section 75-02-04.1-08.2.

North Dakota’s formula doesn’t add child care to support. A judge can order more when the parent receiving support pays for child care to work, look for work, or go to school or training, and less when the paying parent pays for it.

Both are reasons the guidelines allow a different amount, under section 75-02-04.1-09. With 50/50 custody, a judge can also split costs like child care and school activity fees between the parents, on top of support, under section 75-02-04.1-02.

Unless the order says otherwise, the parent receiving support must insure the children when they can get coverage for little or no cost. If they can’t, the paying parent must insure them when coverage is available through a job, a union, or a group plan.

• The order: every order must cover the children’s health insurance, under section 14-09-08.10 of the North Dakota Century Code. The default rules are in HHS’s standard terms and conditions.
• Premiums: the part of the paying parent’s premium that covers the children is subtracted from their income, which lowers support, under section 75-02-04.1-01.

If you get cash assistance (TANF), you have to help the state collect child support from the other parent, and the state keeps the support paid for those months, up to the TANF your family got. Food stamps (SNAP) don’t require this in North Dakota.

• Cash assistance (TANF): you fill out the child support forms and work with the Child Support Division. Once TANF ends, current support goes to you. See HHS’s TANF brochure.
• Food stamps (SNAP): the USDA’s state options report shows North Dakota doesn’t require you to work with child support to get SNAP.
• Safety: if helping collect support could put you or your children in danger, such as from domestic violence, you can claim “good cause” to be excused.

Support is $0 when the paying parent’s income after taxes rounds to $800 or less. But if a parent earns less than full-time minimum wage (167 hours at $7.25, about $1,211 a month before taxes), a judge treats them as earning at least that much, unless an exception applies, such as a disability.

• The $0 row: income after taxes of $849 or less rounds to $800, where support is $0.
• Income a judge decides you could earn: the highest of full-time minimum wage, 60% of the state’s average earnings for people with similar work history, or 90% of the parent’s best 12 months in the last three years. The calculator above uses the pay you enter.
• Exceptions: a disability that prevents work, SSI or Social Security disability, a parent under 18 (or under 19 and in high school), a jail or prison sentence of 180 days or more, or child care that would cost 70% of the income counted.

See section 75-02-04.1-07.

No. The schedule stops at $25,000 a month after taxes, where support is $3,500 for one child and $6,500 for six or more. A judge can order more from a parent above that to meet the children’s needs.

A judge can also order more for more than six children, under section 75-02-04.1-09.

Yes, but only for a reason the guidelines list, and only if the different amount is in the children’s best interest.

Listed reasons include child care costs, children with disabilities or chronic illness, children 12 and older, private school costs, a paying parent with over $25,000 a month after taxes, travel costs for parenting time, the paying parent’s own large health costs, and a parent receiving support whose income after taxes is at least three times the paying parent’s. See section 75-02-04.1-09.

Ask North Dakota Child Support to review your order, or file a motion with the court. Keep following the current order until a court changes it. If the order is at least a year old, the court sets support to the guideline amount without anyone having to show that circumstances changed.

• Through Child Support: if Child Support handles your case (Full Services), either parent can ask for a review every 18 months. Child Support turns down a review when 12 months or less are left on the order, or when a custody case is already in court.
• Through the court: the North Dakota courts’ Amend/Review Child Support forms walk you through a motion. For an order less than a year old, you also have to show a major change in circumstances, under section 14-09-08.4 of the North Dakota Century Code.

The North Dakota child support guide walks through each step.

Yes. North Dakota Health and Human Services publishes a guidelines calculator, an Excel workbook updated January 1, 2026. Child support staff, lawyers, and courts use the same guidelines.

Download it from HHS’s Estimate Support Amount page. It handles other income, deductions, other children, and parenting time. HHS recommends Windows, since the workbook may not work on a Mac. The current guidelines page has the rules it follows.