California Wage Garnishment Calculator

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California Wage Garnishment Calculator

How much a California paycheck can lose to a judgment, support order, tax withholding order, student loan or Chapter 13 plan. CCP 706.050-706.052, 15 U.S.C. 1671-1677. Estimates only.

Rules encoded (VERIFY): an earnings withholding order for an ordinary judgment takes the lesser of 20% of weekly disposable earnings or 40% of the amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed 48 times the state minimum wage (CCP 706.050, as amended); at or below that 48x floor nothing is withheld. State minimum wage: $16.00 (2024), $16.50 (2025), $16.90 (2026). Support orders cap at 50% of disposable earnings (CCP 706.052) and take priority. CCP 706.051 exempts the portion of earnings needed to support the debtor or family on a claimed exemption the court approves. FTB earnings withholding orders for taxes use their own table, modeled here at the lesser of 25% of disposable or 50% of the excess over the 48x floor (VERIFY; use the FTB calculator for the official figure). IRS levies use Publication 1494. Federal student loan AWG uses 15% with the federal floor. The employer may deduct $1.50 per payment made under an EWO. No discharge for one garnishment (15 U.S.C. 1674).

1. Mode, county and pay date

Stack uses the order boxes in section 3.
Sets the 48x floor wage.
Superior Court venue; 58 counties.
CCP 706.050 tests are weekly; scaled by 52 / periods.
Select a county to see the venue note, the 48x floor and the 20% / 40% caps.

2. Gross pay and legally required withholding

Includes bonuses and commissions.
Voluntary 401(k) excluded.
State Disability and Paid Family Leave premiums are required by law.
Take-home only; not in the garnishment base.

3. Order type and amounts

0 applies the statutory maximum.
Reduces the 25% aggregate room.
Shares the 25% ceiling.

4. Balance and payoff

California post-judgment interest is 10% (CCP 685.010 – VERIFY).

How it works

  • Disposable = gross minus deductions required by law, including CA SDI and PFL; voluntary shown separately.
  • Weekly conversion = 52 / periods (1, 2, 2.1667, 4.3333); CCP 706.050 tests run weekly.
  • Floor = 48x state minimum wage per week ($811.20 in 2026); at or below it no ordinary garnishment.
  • Consumer cap = lesser of 20% of disposable and 40% of the weekly excess over the floor, then reduced by support and other garnishments within the 25% CCPA aggregate.
  • A CCP 706.051 claim of exemption, if checked, zeroes the consumer garnishment pending court approval.
  • Support = lesser of ordered and 50% of disposable (CCP 706.052), priority over other orders.
  • Student loan = lesser of 15% disposable and above the federal 30x floor.
  • IRS = disposable above Pub 1494 exempt; FTB = modeled at lesser of 25% disposable and 50% of the excess over the 48x floor (VERIFY against the FTB calculator).
  • Stack applies ceilings in priority order and the 25% aggregate on non-support, non-tax orders.
  • Payoff amortizes at the entered rate and flags non-amortizing or zero-withholding cases.

Sources

  • CCP 706.050 (20% / 40% over 48x state minimum wage), 706.051 (family-support exemption), 706.052 (support 50%): leginfo and findlaw
  • Judicial Council self-help guide to earnings withholding orders (20% and 40% amounts, $1.50 employer fee per payment): selfhelp.courts.ca.gov
  • FTB withholding orders, wage garnishments for taxes and the FTB garnishment calculator: ftb.ca.gov
  • 15 U.S.C. 1671-1677 and DOL Fact Sheet 30: dol.gov
  • DIR minimum wage ($16.00 / $16.50 / $16.90): dir.ca.gov
  • IRS Pub 1494 and Form 668-W: irs.gov
  • 20 U.S.C. 1095a, 34 CFR 34.19: studentaid.gov
  • CCP 685.010 (10% post-judgment interest): leginfo

Test cases

TC1 Los Angeles County, 2026, weekly. Gross $1,500.00; required $350.00; disposable $1,150.00. 20% cap $230.00; 40% of the $338.80 excess over the $811.20 floor = $135.52. Withheld $135.52, take-home $1,014.48, 11.78%. $5,000 at 10% clears in 39 weeks, total $5,285.28, interest $285.28.
TC2 Sacramento County, 2026, weekly. Gross $900.00; required $180.00; disposable $720.00, at or below the 48x floor of $811.20. Withheld $0.00. The 20% cap would have allowed $144.00 had the floor not barred it.
TC3 San Diego County, 2026, biweekly. Gross $3,000.00; required $700.00; disposable $2,300.00. Child support ordered $1,200.00 against the CCP 706.052 ceiling of 50% = $1,150.00. Withheld $1,150.00, take-home $1,150.00.
TC4 Alameda County, 2026, biweekly, stack. Gross $3,000.00; required $700.00; disposable $2,300.00. Support $400.00; no IRS or FTB order; consumer requested $300.00 but the 25% aggregate room is $575.00 minus $400.00 = $175.00, below the $271.04 cap40 and $460.00 cap20. Consumer $175.00, total $575.00, take-home $1,725.00.
TC5 Santa Clara County, 2026, semimonthly. Gross $2,600.00; required $600.00; disposable $2,000.00. Federal student loan AWG 15% = $300.00; federal floor $471.25 per period leaves $1,528.75; the state 20% cap does not limit a federal AWG (VERIFY). Withheld $300.00, take-home $1,700.00. $9,000 at 0% clears in 30 periods, about 1.25 years.
Estimates only; not legal advice. All figures VERIFY, including the 20% / 40% / 48x formula of CCP 706.050 as amended, the 50% support ceiling, the CCP 706.051 claim procedure, the FTB tax withholding model, the $1.50 per payment employer fee, answer and service deadlines and the 10% post-judgment rate. Local minimum wages (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley and others) exceed the state rate but CCP 706.050 keys to the state minimum wage (VERIFY). Pub 1494 estimate uses 2026 standard deductions ($16,100 / $24,150 / $32,200) plus $5,300 per dependent plus $1,600 per age-65 or blind box. Not modeled: service-date priority, contested exemption hearings, automatic stays, self-employment income, bonuses, severance, pensions, unemployment or workers compensation, and community property offsets. Consult a California attorney or the court self-help center. Deploy: replace the block, Update, purge cache, hard refresh; verify document.getElementById(“california-wage-garnishment-calculator”).getAttribute(“data-js-ready”) returns “true” with no SyntaxError.

What Is a California Wage Garnishment Calculator?

A California wage garnishment calculator estimates the amount that may be withheld from one pay period by calculating disposable earnings and applying the programmed limit for the selected order. For an ordinary judgment, this calculator compares 20% of disposable earnings with 40% of earnings above its 48-times-state-minimum-wage floor and other applicable limits.

The calculator provides three modes. Single Order calculates one selected withholding type. Stacking processes five entered order categories in a priority sequence. Payoff Timeline treats the calculated withholding as a recurring payment and estimates how many pay periods are needed to satisfy an entered balance at the selected annual interest rate.

County selection is required and covers all 58 California counties. The county is used for the displayed Superior Court venue information. It does not change the monetary garnishment formulas.

How the California Wage Garnishment Calculation Works

The calculator first determines disposable earnings. It adds federal income tax, California income tax, Social Security and Medicare, mandatory retirement, and other required withholding. The required-withholding total cannot exceed gross pay in the calculation.

D=max⁡(G−min⁡(G,R),0)D=\max\left(G-\min(G,R),0\right)

Here, G is gross pay, R is total required withholding, and D is disposable earnings. Voluntary deductions are kept separate and do not reduce the garnishment base.

The calculator converts the pay period to an equivalent number of weeks. It uses 52 annual periods for weekly pay, 26 for biweekly pay, 24 for semimonthly pay, and 12 for monthly pay.

w=52Nw=\frac{52}{N}

N is annual pay periods and w is weeks per pay period. The code then uses the California minimum wage selected by year: $16.00 for 2024, $16.50 for 2025, or $16.90 for 2026.

For a consumer or contract judgment and for a private student loan judgment, the calculator compares two California limits. The first is 20% of disposable earnings.

C20=0.20DC_{20}=0.20D

The second is 40% of the amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed 48 times the selected state minimum wage.

C40=0.40×max⁡(Dw−48M,0)×wC_{40}=0.40\times\max\left(\frac{D}{w}-48M,0\right)\times w

M is the state minimum wage used for the selected year. If weekly disposable earnings do not exceed the 48-times floor, this branch produces zero.

The calculator also creates a 25% aggregate room after subtracting Support Already Withheld and Other Garnishments.

Croom=max⁡(0,0.25D−S−O)C_{room}=\max\left(0,0.25D-S-O\right)

S is existing support and O is other garnishments. The ordinary judgment limit is the smallest of the 20% amount, the 40%-of-excess amount, and remaining aggregate room.

Cjudgment=min⁡(C20,C40,Croom)C_{judgment}=\min\left(C_{20},C_{40},C_{room}\right)

If the CCP 706.051 Claim of Exemption box is checked, the code sets this consumer-style garnishment limit to zero. The calculator does not determine how much income is actually necessary for support or whether a court approves the claim.

A positive Amount Demanded below the calculated maximum reduces the result to the demanded amount. Entering zero causes the Single Order calculation to use its programmed maximum.

Other Order-Type Formulas

Child support and spousal support use 50% of disposable earnings in the implemented calculation. A smaller positive Amount Demanded can reduce the result.

Wsupport=0.50DW_{support}=0.50D

The calculator's explanatory note refers to federal support ceilings as an outer limit, but the JavaScript does not separately calculate another federal support percentage. Its displayed support amount is based on the 50% formula above.

Federal student loan administrative wage garnishment uses the smaller of 15% of disposable earnings and disposable earnings above 30 times the encoded federal minimum wage of $7.25.

Wstudent=min⁡(0.15D,max⁡(Dw−30×7.25,0)w)W_{student}=\min\left(0.15D,\max\left(\frac{D}{w}-30\times7.25,0\right)w\right)

The FTB tax-order branch is modeled as the smaller of 25% of disposable earnings and 50% of the amount above the same California 48-times-minimum-wage floor used in the base calculation.

WFTB=min⁡(0.25D,0.50×max⁡(Dw−48M,0)w)W_{FTB}=\min\left(0.25D,0.50\times\max\left(\frac{D}{w}-48M,0\right)w\right)

An IRS levy instead subtracts an estimated exempt amount. A positive Override Exempt Amount is used directly. Otherwise, the calculator combines its built-in standard deduction for the selected year and filing status with $5,300 per dependent and $1,600 for each age-65-or-blind box.

EIRS=SD+5300d+1600bNE_{IRS}=\frac{SD+5300d+1600b}{N}
WIRS=max⁡(D−EIRS,0)W_{IRS}=\max(D-E_{IRS},0)

For Chapter 13, the entered monthly plan payment is converted to the current pay frequency and capped at disposable earnings.

W13=min⁡(12PmN,D)W_{13}=\min\left(\frac{12P_m}{N},D\right)

Worked Example

Suppose a worker is paid weekly in 2026, earns $1,200 gross, and has $200 in legally required withholding. Assume a consumer judgment, no existing support or other garnishments, no voluntary deductions, no exemption claim, and an Amount Demanded of zero.

Disposable earnings equal $1,000. Twenty percent equals $200. The calculator's 2026 minimum wage is $16.90, so the 48-times floor is $811.20 per week. Disposable earnings exceed that floor by $188.80. Forty percent of that excess equals $75.52. The 25% aggregate room is $250.

min⁡(200,75.52,250)=75.52\min(200,75.52,250)=75.52

The calculator therefore displays $75.52 withheld for the pay period. With no voluntary deductions, estimated take-home pay is $924.48. The withheld amount equals 7.55% of disposable earnings when displayed to two decimal places.

How to Use the California Wage Garnishment Calculator

  1. Select Single Order, Stacking, or Payoff Timeline mode.
  2. Select the year wages are payable, one of California's 58 counties, and the pay frequency.
  3. Check the CCP 706.051 exemption-claim box if you want the calculator to apply its programmed exemption treatment to an ordinary judgment.
  4. Enter gross pay and the amounts for federal tax, California tax, Social Security and Medicare, mandatory retirement, and other required withholding.
  5. Enter voluntary deductions separately. They affect take-home pay but do not reduce disposable earnings.
  6. Select the order type and enter an Amount Demanded if applicable. A zero value generally lets Single Order mode use the programmed maximum.
  7. Enter Support Already Withheld and Other Garnishments when modeling a consumer or private student loan judgment.
  8. Complete the additional IRS levy or Chapter 13 fields if those order types are selected.
  9. In Stacking mode, enter the requested amounts for support, IRS levy, FTB tax order, student loan AWG, and consumer judgment.
  10. For Payoff Timeline mode, enter the Balance Owed and Interest per Year.
  11. Check the required acknowledgment and select Calculate.

Gross pay must be greater than zero. Most money inputs accept values from $0 through $10,000,000. Balance Owed accepts up to $100,000,000. The APR input accepts 0% through 40%. IRS Dependents accepts 0 through 20, and Age 65 or Blind accepts 0 through 2.

The primary result is Withheld per Pay Period. The calculator also displays gross and disposable earnings, weekly equivalents, minimum-wage and federal reference floors, each major cap, remaining room, yearly withholding, estimated take-home pay, the share of disposable earnings withheld, and a description of the factor controlling the result.

Important Assumptions and How to Read Your Result

The selected pay year affects the California minimum wage used for the 48-times floor and the calculator's built-in IRS exemption estimate. County selection affects the venue text only. The code does not use different wage floors for different counties or cities.

The CCP 706.051 checkbox has a strong calculator effect. When selected, the ordinary consumer or private student loan judgment calculation is reduced to zero. The code does not ask for an amount needed for family support and does not model a court decision on the exemption claim.

The calculator lists California SDI and PFL as examples for the Other Required field. Whatever amount the user enters there is included with the other required deductions when disposable earnings are calculated. The calculator does not calculate those deductions automatically.

Voluntary deductions are used only when estimating take-home pay. The take-home formula subtracts required deductions, voluntary deductions, and the calculated garnishment from gross pay and does not allow a negative result.

T=max⁡(G−R−V−W,0)T=\max(G-R-V-W,0)

V represents voluntary deductions and W represents the calculated withholding.

The calculator displays a note that an employer may deduct $1.50 for each payment under an earnings withholding order. That $1.50 amount is not subtracted by the JavaScript when it calculates the displayed garnishment or take-home amount.

How Stacking Mode Works

Stacking mode processes five order types in this sequence: support, IRS levy, FTB tax order, federal student loan AWG, and consumer judgment. Its dedicated stack fields are separate from the main Amount Demanded field.

Support is limited to 50% of the original disposable earnings and the amount still remaining. The IRS levy then uses the remaining disposable earnings above the estimated IRS exemption. The FTB step is limited by its modeled tax cap and the amount still remaining.

The federal student loan step uses the requested stack amount and a cap based on 15% of original disposable earnings or the federal 30-times floor. In the supplied code, this step is not separately limited to the amount remaining after earlier support and tax orders before it is subtracted. In some input combinations, that can make the internal remaining amount negative.

The final consumer judgment is limited by its consumer cap, a separate 25% room calculation that subtracts the stacked student-loan amount, and the remaining earnings. Its normal consumer-cap function also uses the separate Support Already Withheld and Other Garnishments inputs from the main form.

Stack mode displays Total Withheld and Take-Home After Waterfall. Take-home is prevented from falling below zero even if a particular combination of stacked inputs produces withholding greater than disposable earnings.

How the Payoff Timeline Works

Payoff Timeline mode uses the calculated withholding amount as the recurring payment. The annual interest rate is converted into a rate for each pay period.

i=APR100Ni=\frac{APR}{100N}

If the payment exceeds one period of interest on the balance, the calculator estimates the number of payments with an amortization formula and rounds upward to a whole pay period.

n=⌈−ln⁡(1−BiP)ln⁡(1+i)⌉n=\left\lceil\frac{-\ln\left(1-\frac{Bi}{P}\right)}{\ln(1+i)}\right\rceil

B is the balance, P is the recurring payment, i is the periodic interest rate, and n is the number of pay periods. If the payment is no greater than one period of interest, the calculator reports that the balance does not amortize.

At 0% interest, the calculator divides the balance by the payment and rounds up. It displays pay periods to satisfy the balance, approximate calendar time, Total Paid, and Interest Paid. Stack mode also displays this payoff panel using total stacked withholding as its payment.

The payoff formula uses the APR entered in the form. It does not independently verify a judgment rate or change the rate based on the selected order type.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are disposable earnings in this calculator?

Disposable earnings are gross pay minus the deductions entered in the calculator as legally required. Those fields are federal income tax, California income tax, Social Security and Medicare, mandatory retirement, and other required withholding. Voluntary health, 401(k), or dues deductions are not included in this garnishment base.

How does the 48-times-minimum-wage floor work?

The calculator multiplies the selected year's California minimum wage by 48. It compares that weekly floor with weekly disposable earnings. For an ordinary judgment, one branch of the garnishment calculation is 40% of the disposable earnings above that floor. If there is no excess, that branch is zero.

What happens if I check the CCP 706.051 exemption box?

The calculator sets the ordinary consumer or private student loan judgment limit to zero when the box is checked. It treats the checkbox as a full calculator exemption for that branch. It does not evaluate the amount needed for support or determine whether a court would approve the claim.

Does county selection change the garnishment calculation?

No. The calculator requires a county and uses it in the displayed Superior Court venue information. The monetary formulas use the selected pay year, pay frequency, paycheck values, order information, and other entered amounts rather than a county-specific garnishment percentage or wage rate.

How does the FTB tax-order estimate work?

The calculator models an FTB earnings withholding order as the smaller of 25% of disposable earnings and 50% of the earnings above its 48-times-state-minimum-wage floor. A smaller positive Amount Demanded can reduce the result. The calculator itself labels this treatment as a modeled estimate that should be verified.

What happens when Amount Demanded is zero?

In Single Order mode, zero generally means the calculator uses the maximum amount allowed by its programmed formula for the selected order type. A positive demanded amount reduces withholding only when it is below that maximum. In the Stack fields, zero means no requested amount for that order category.

How are the calculator's results formatted?

Dollar results are displayed in U.S. currency style with thousands separators and two decimal places. The share of disposable earnings withheld is shown as a percentage with two decimal places. The calculator also displays weekly and yearly equivalents of the per-period withholding amount.

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