Wisconsin Child Support Calculator

Wisconsin child support is a percentage of the paying parent’s income before taxes: 17% for one child, 25% for two, 29% for three, 31% for four, and 34% for five or more. Lower rates can apply when the paying parent’s income is low or over $7,000 a month. Once each parent has the children at least 92 nights a year, a different formula uses both incomes.

The table turns weekly pay into monthly pay (× 52 ÷ 12). It assumes the paying parent isn’t already supporting children from another relationship. It uses Wisconsin’s lower rates when the paying parent earns $1,995 a month (about $460 a week) or less, and on income over $7,000 a month (about $1,615 a week), as the state’s own calculators do. A judge can use the regular percentage instead. The percentages are in DCF 150.035(2) of the Wisconsin Administrative Code.

Wisconsin uses a percentage of income standard. The paying parent pays a set percentage of their monthly income before taxes, based on the number of children. The other parent’s income counts only when each parent has the children at least 92 nights a year.

The rules are in chapter DCF 150 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code:

1. Find the paying parent’s monthly income before taxes. It includes wages, self-employment income after reasonable business expenses, Social Security, and unemployment. W-2 cash assistance, SSI, food stamps, and child support received don’t count. A judge can also count income a parent could earn or get from savings and property.
2. Multiply it by the percentage for the number of children.
3. Use the shared placement formula if each parent has at least 25% of the overnights.
4. Adjust for special cases: children from another relationship, a low or high income, or children who live with different parents.
5. Decide who pays health costs and, with shared time, child care and other big costs.

Example

One parent earns $4,000 a month and the other $2,000. With one child living mostly with the lower earner, the higher earner pays 17% of $4,000, or $680 a month. The other parent’s income doesn’t change that amount.

Yes, and it starts well before 50/50. Once each parent has at least 25% of the overnights (92 a year), a shared placement formula lowers support, and support drops more as the time gets closer to equal. With one child and gross incomes of $4,000 and $2,000 a month, the higher earner pays $680 a month below 25%, about $638 at 25%, about $408 at 40%, and about $255 at 50/50.

Wisconsin calls parenting time “placement,” and only the time in the court order counts. Under DCF 150.035(1), each parent’s percentage amount is multiplied by 150%, then by the other parent’s share of the time. The parent who owes more pays the difference, but never more than the regular percentage amount. Each parent also pays the children’s everyday costs during their own time. Daytime care can count: two blocks of at least 6 hours, each including a meal, count as one overnight.

When each parent has the children at least 92 nights a year, the judge splits child care by each parent’s share of the time. The judge can change that split when one parent earns much more. Otherwise, child care isn’t added to the percentage, but it is one reason a judge can order more or less support.

For example, with a 60/40 split of time, the parent with 60% of the time would usually pay $360 of a $600 child care bill. Tuition, special needs, and other big costs are split the same way. A parent pays their share to the other parent or straight to the provider, under DCF 150.035(1)(b)6. Without shared time, child care is one of the reasons a judge can change the amount, listed in Wis. Stat. §767.511(1m).

Every Wisconsin order must say who pays for the children’s health costs. A judge can order either parent to put the children on a private plan that costs no more than 10% of that parent’s income, and can raise or lower support so the other parent shares the cost.

• Reasonable cost: a plan counts as reasonable if its full cost to the parent who carries it is no more than 10% of their income. The other parent’s share can’t be more than 10% of theirs, under DCF 150.05.
• Low incomes: a parent earning less than 150% of the federal poverty level (about $1,995 a month in 2026) can’t be ordered to buy or pay toward private coverage unless it costs them nothing.
• Uncovered bills: the order can set a monthly amount or a percentage of the costs insurance doesn’t pay. The child support agency enforces a set amount. It doesn’t enforce a percentage, so the parent who is owed has to collect that on their own.
• BadgerCare Plus (Wisconsin’s Medicaid): when no private plan is reasonable, a judge can have a parent help pay the BadgerCare Plus premium. DCF explains medical support.

If you get cash from W-2 (Wisconsin Works, the state’s cash assistance program), you have to help your child support agency get support from the other parent. You keep your full W-2 payment plus 75% of the support paid. FoodShare (Wisconsin’s food stamps, or SNAP) doesn’t require this.

• W-2 cash: while you get cash, the right to the support paid goes to the state, and you get 75% of it. With W-2 help but no cash, such as help paying for child care, you get all of it. DCF explains benefits and child support.
• What helping means: tell the agency what you know about the other parent, keep appointments and court dates, bring your child to paternity (genetic) tests, and report support paid to you directly. If someone in your household doesn’t, the whole household loses W-2 until they do, under DCF’s cooperation rules.
• FoodShare: this hasn’t been required since 2008, under the FoodShare Wisconsin Handbook, 3.18.1. BadgerCare Plus and Wisconsin Shares (child care help) still require it.

If helping could put you or your children in danger, or the child was conceived through sexual assault or incest, ask your benefits worker to excuse you by filing a “good cause” claim. The Wisconsin child support guide has more.

If the paying parent earns $1,995 a month or less before taxes and can’t afford the regular percentage, a judge can use lower rates from Wisconsin’s low-income table, updated every March 1. Under $998 a month, a judge can set any amount the parent can afford.

• Paying parent earning $998 to $1,995 a month: the lower rates for one child range from 11.22% to 16.79%. At $1,500 a month the rate is 14.11%, about $212 instead of $255, under DCF 150 Appendix C (effective March 1, 2026).
• Paying parent earning less than $998: a judge can order less than the table amount, based on the parent’s whole financial situation, under DCF 150.04(4).
• Earning less by choice: a judge can base support on what a parent could earn, after looking at their work history, education, and the jobs available nearby. Time in jail or prison doesn’t count as choosing not to work, under DCF 150.03(3).

The calculator above uses the lower rates when one parent has the children most of the time.

No. All of the paying parent’s income counts. A judge can use lower percentages on income over $7,000 a month and lower ones again over $12,500.

For one child, the rates are 17% of the first $7,000 a month, 14% of income from $7,000 to $12,500, and 10% of income above that. At $14,000 a month, that is $2,380 at the full 17% or $2,110 with the lower rates, which the calculator above uses. The rates for more children are in DCF 150.04(5).

Yes, if a parent asks and the judge decides the percentage amount is unfair to the child or to a parent. The judge must state what the percentage amount was and why the judge changed it.

Reasons in Wis. Stat. §767.511(1m) include the child’s and parents’ resources, the standard of living the child would have had if the marriage hadn’t ended, child care costs, a lot of time with both parents, unusually high travel costs for parenting time, the child’s health and education needs, and each parent’s ability to earn. The rule is DCF 150.035(3).

Ask your county child support agency for a free review, or file a motion with the court. A judge must approve any change. The new amount can start no earlier than the date the other parent is notified, so keep paying the current order and ask soon.

• When: after a big change in your situation. A judge assumes there has been one when 33 months have passed since the last order (unless the order is a percentage of income), or when either parent starts getting W-2, under Wis. Stat. §767.59.
• Through the agency: the agency reviews an order for free when you ask and it is at least three years old, or sooner after a big change, such as a raise or pay cut that would change support by more than $50 a month. A review can take up to 180 days.
• Through the court: if both parents agree, file a Stipulation and Order to Amend Judgment (no filing fee). If not, file a motion to modify ($30 fee).

The Wisconsin child support guide walks through each step.

Yes. The Department of Children and Families offers downloadable Excel calculators and worksheets for shared placement, low and high incomes, parents supporting children from another relationship, and children who live with different parents. There is no online calculator.

Download them from the DCF child support tools page. For a low-income payer, check the rate against the current Appendix C, since the downloadable low-income calculator can use an older year’s figures.