PA Child Support Calculator

How Pennsylvania Calculates Child Support

Pennsylvania uses an income-shares model. The premise: the children should receive roughly the same share of the parents' combined income they would have received in an intact household. The math has three pieces.

Step 1: Combined monthly net income

Both parents' monthly net incomes are added together. For Pennsylvania support purposes, net income is gross monthly income minus federal, state, and local taxes; FICA (Social Security and Medicare); mandatory retirement contributions; and mandatory union dues. It does not include voluntary deductions. Support owed to other families is accounted for separately under Rule 1910.16-7.

Step 2: Basic obligation

The basic monthly obligation is read from the schedule at Pa.R.C.P. 1910.16-3. The schedule is a table indexed by combined monthly net income and number of children. The amounts reflect what an intact family at that income level would typically spend on the children (Betson economic data, updated for 2026 effective January 1). The calculator reads it for you. The official schedule is published in the Pennsylvania Code under Pa.R.C.P. 1910.16-3 if you want to verify any figure yourself.

The schedule covers combined incomes up to $30,000 per month. Above that, Pa.R.C.P. 1910.16-3.1(a)(2)(i) applies a presumptive-minimum-plus-percentage formula:

In high-income cases, the trier-of-fact also performs a reasonable-needs analysis under Rule 1910.16-3.1(a)(2)(iii) and may adjust the figure upward or downward, subject to the presumptive minimum.

Step 3: Each parent's proportionate share

The basic obligation is split between the parents in proportion to their share of combined net income. If the obligor earns 60% of combined net, the obligor's preliminary share is 60% of the basic obligation; the obligee's share (presumed spent directly on the children) is 40%.

Substantial or Shared Physical Custody: Pa.R.C.P. 1910.16-4(c)

When the obligor has the children for 40% or more of annual overnights (146 nights or more), the Part D adjustment applies. The obligor's percentage share of combined income is reduced by the difference between their overnight share and 30%. So at 40% overnights, the share drops by 10 percentage points; at 50%, by 20.

The adjustment recognizes that the obligor is already directly absorbing more child-related costs during their custodial periods. Below 40% overnights, no Part D adjustment applies; the basic income-shares math controls.

When custody is equally shared (50/50), Rule 1910.16-4(c)(2) adds two constraints on top of the Part D adjustment: the higher-income parent is the obligor, and the order may not leave the obligee with more net income than the obligor. In practice, that caps 50/50 support at the amount that equalizes the parties' net incomes. The calculator applies both.

Self-Support Reserve: Pa.R.C.P. 1910.16-2(e)(1)

The 2026 self-support reserve is $1,255 per month. The schedule is built so that an obligor at low income retains at least that amount. When the obligor's monthly net income falls within the schedule's shaded (low-income) area for the relevant number of children, the rule requires the trier-of-fact to use the lesser of two calculations: one based on the obligor's income alone, the other based on combined income. If the obligor's income is at or below the SSR, the court considers actual financial circumstances rather than applying the formula mechanically.

What this calculator does, and what it does not

It runs the income-shares math, reads the basic obligation from the 2026 schedule automatically, applies the high-income formula above $30,000 and the substantial-custody adjustment, and flags the SSR for review when the obligor's income is low. When you start from gross pay, it estimates net income for support purposes using 2026 federal tax rates, the standard deduction, the child tax credit, FICA, Pennsylvania income tax, and your local rate, which are the deductions Rule 1910.16-2(c) allows. That estimate assumes W-2 wages; self-employment, bonuses, stock compensation, and irregular income are calculated differently, and the court uses actual tax figures.

It does not handle:

• Additional expenses under Rule 1910.16-6: health insurance premiums, work-related child care, unreimbursed medical expenses over $250 per person per year, and private school tuition where appropriate are allocated separately, prorated by income share.
• Deviations under Rule 1910.16-5: unusual needs, fixed obligations, the parties' standard of living, age and health, and other discretionary factors.
• Earning capacity: if a party is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, the court may impute earning capacity, which changes the inputs.
• Multiple-family situations: existing orders for children of other relationships affect the calculation in specific ways under Rule 1910.16-7.
• Spousal support or APL interaction: when a child support order coexists with a spousal support or APL order, the calculations interact. A separate tool handles the spousal support / APL piece.
• Self-employed income: courts often adjust apparent net income for owner-spouses of small businesses; the figure entered should already reflect those adjustments.