Washington Child Support Calculator

It depends on both parents’ net incomes (pay after taxes and required deductions) and the number of children. If you earn $1,000 a week before taxes, your one child lives with the other parent, and that parent earns $3,000 a month before taxes, you would pay about $611 a month, or $925 a month for two children. Health care and child care costs are added on top. At lower incomes, support can be much less, because Washington leaves the paying parent at least $2,394 a month after taxes to live on.

To build the table, we convert weekly pay to monthly pay (× 52 ÷ 12) and subtract estimated federal income tax and Social Security and Medicare to get net income. Washington has no state income tax. Up to about $650 a week, the paying parent’s net income is close to or under the $2,394 self-support reserve, so support is the $50-per-child minimum. Above that, support rises quickly with each extra dollar until it reaches the parent’s share of the table amount. The state’s economic table, which lists support for both parents together, is in RCW 26.19.020.

Washington uses an income shares formula. It adds both parents’ monthly net incomes, looks up basic support in the economic table, and splits it by each parent’s share of the income. The parent the children spend less time with pays their share to the other parent.

The steps follow the state’s child support worksheets:

1. Find each parent’s net income. Start with gross income and subtract income taxes, Social Security and Medicare, required pension and union dues, required state premiums (like Paid Family and Medical Leave and WA Cares), spousal support paid, and up to $5,000 a year of regular retirement savings, under RCW 26.19.071. TANF, SSI, and food stamps don’t count as income.
2. Add the two net incomes.
3. Look up basic support for that combined income and the number of children, using the table’s closest $100 line.
4. Split it by income share. A parent with 60% of the combined income has a 60% share.
5. Apply the low-income limits: the amount the paying parent keeps to live on and the $50-per-child minimum.
6. Add health care, child care, and special expenses, split the same way.

Example

One parent has a net income of $4,000 a month and the other $2,000, so their combined income is $6,000. Basic support for one child at that income is $1,048. The higher earner has two thirds of the income, so if the child lives mostly with the other parent, they pay about $699 a month. If the child lives mostly with the higher earner instead, the other parent’s $2,000 is under the $2,394 a paying parent keeps to live on, so they pay the $50 minimum.

Not by formula. Washington’s standard amount is the same however the overnights are split. With one child and net incomes of $4,000 and $2,000 a month, the higher earner pays $699 a month whether they have 10%, 35%, or 50% of the overnights. A judge can order less when the children spend a lot of time with the paying parent. The law doesn’t set a number of overnights for that. When parents have equal time and the same income, our estimate says a judge decides who pays and how much.

• Who pays: the parent with fewer overnights. With equal time, a judge decides; our estimate has the parent who earns more pay. If the higher earner in the example had the child more than half the time, the other parent would pay $50.
• A lower amount: under RCW 26.19.075(1)(d), a judge compares the extra costs the paying parent has from that time with what the other household saves. A judge can’t lower it if the other household would be left without enough for the children’s basic needs, or if the children get TANF.

Child care is added on top of basic support and split by each parent’s share of income. So are tuition and long-distance travel for visits. A judge decides whether each cost is necessary and reasonable.

For example, if child care costs $600 a month and you have two thirds of the combined income, your share is $400. If you pay the provider yourself, you get credit for what you pay. The rules are in RCW 26.19.080.

Both parents do. The children’s health insurance premiums and their uninsured medical, dental, vision, and other health costs are split by each parent’s share of income, and the parent who pays them directly gets credit.

• Split by income: health care isn’t in the economic table, so it is added on top, under RCW 26.19.080(2).
• Insurance through work: a parent can be ordered to add the children when the cost is no more than 25% of that parent’s share of basic support, or more if a judge finds it’s best for the children, under RCW 26.09.105.
• Apple Health for Kids: children may qualify for Washington’s free or low-cost coverage. Signing the children up doesn’t excuse a parent who can add them to a work plan for free.

If the children live with you and you get TANF (Washington’s cash assistance), you have to help the Division of Child Support (DCS) get support from the other parent, for example by naming them and going to interviews and hearings. Most of what DCS collects repays the state, but you get up to $50 a month of it for one child or $100 for two or more. Basic Food (food stamps) doesn’t require this.

• TANF: if you don’t help without a good reason, your cash grant drops by 25%, under WAC 388-422-0010.
• The $50 or $100: it comes only from support actually collected that month, under WAC 388-14A-5015. Starting July 1, 2029, families on TANF will get all the current support collected, under RCW 26.23.035.
• Basic Food: USDA lists Washington as a state that doesn’t require this help for food stamps (SNAP).

If helping could put you or your children in danger, tell your DSHS caseworker. You can be excused for “good cause” under WAC 388-14A-2045. The Washington child support guide has more.

Washington leaves the paying parent at least $2,394 a month of net income (pay after taxes) to live on in 2026. This amount is called the “self-support reserve.” Support can’t take the paying parent below it, so at lower incomes support can be much less than the parent’s share of the table amount. Even so, it is at least $50 per child unless the paying parent shows that would be unfair.

• Paying parent under $2,394: basic support is $50 per child, under RCW 26.19.065(2).
• Paying parent over $2,394: basic support can’t be more than their income above $2,394, but is at least $50 per child. At $2,500 a month, that is at most $106.
• Under $2,200 combined: the table has no amount. A judge sets support from each household’s income and living costs, usually at least $50 per child, under RCW 26.19.020.
• Earning less by choice: a judge counts the income a parent could earn, under RCW 26.19.071(6).

The reserve can cut support sharply. Say both parents earn $3,000 a month before taxes and one child lives with the other parent. The paying parent’s net income is about $2,592, and their share of the table amount would be about $483. Paying that would leave them under $2,394, so they pay $198. The reserve is 180% of the federal poverty guideline for one person, so it changes each year.

The economic table stops at $50,000 a month in combined net income. Above that, a judge can order more and must explain why in writing. A parent’s support for all their children is also limited to 45% of their net income, unless a judge finds a good reason to go higher.

Above $50,000, the calculator above uses the table’s $50,000 amounts. It leaves out the 45% limit, because a judge decides whether to apply it after looking at the children’s needs and both households’ finances. Good reasons to go higher include substantial wealth, child care costs, special needs, and larger families. Both rules are in RCW 26.19.065.

Yes. A judge first works out the standard amount. The judge can then order more or less for a reason the law lists and must explain it in writing. Parents agreeing to a different amount isn’t enough on its own.

Reasons listed in RCW 26.19.075 include a parent’s wealth, income that won’t continue (like bonuses or overtime), large debt a parent didn’t choose, a child’s special medical, educational, or psychological needs, time the children spend with the paying parent, and children from other relationships. A new spouse’s income isn’t a reason by itself.

Ask the Division of Child Support (DCS) to review your order, or file to change it in superior court. A new amount can only start from the date you file, so keep following the current order and file soon.

• When: after a big change in circumstances, or once every 24 months if either parent’s income or the economic table has changed, under RCW 26.09.170.
• Through DCS: if your case is with DCS, you can ask for a review. DCS asks to change the order when the new amount would differ by at least 15% and $100 a month (WAC 388-14A-3903).
• Through the court: WashingtonLawHelp explains which forms to file.

The Washington child support guide walks through each step.

Yes. The Division of Child Support’s Washington State Child Support Schedule Worksheet Calculator fills in the state’s child support worksheets, which every case must use.

Use the worksheet calculator to add health care, child care, and other costs. Every support order must be based on the Washington State Child Support Schedule worksheets. Parents sign them under penalty of perjury, a legal promise that the information is true (RCW 26.19.035).