Minnesota child support calculator

How Minnesota calculates child support

• Each parent’s monthly gross income, less spousal maintenance they are ordered to pay, is reduced by court-ordered support for other children and by a deduction for other children they support without an order (75% of the guideline amount for those children). The result is each parent’s PICS.
• The combined PICS and the number of joint children give the combined basic support from the guideline table, capped at the $20,000 row; each parent’s share follows their share of the combined PICS.
• The parenting expense adjustment then sets who pays and how much: each parent’s yearly overnights are cubed and weighted by the other parent’s share. A parent with more than 55% of the parenting time is presumed to owe no basic support.
• The cost of private health insurance for the children is divided by income share.
• The paying parent keeps a self-support reserve (120% of the federal poverty guideline for one person, $1,596 a month in 2026). If what is left is less than the support, medical support and then basic support are reduced; at very low incomes a minimum basic support of $50 to $100 a month applies.

What the calculator asks

• How many joint children is the support for?
• How many court-ordered overnights a year are the children with you?
• Your monthly gross income
• Spousal maintenance you are ordered to pay, per month
• Court-ordered child support you pay for other children, per month
• How many other children are you legally responsible for without a support order?
• The other parent’s monthly gross income
• Spousal maintenance the other parent is ordered to pay, per month
• Court-ordered child support the other parent pays for other children, per month
• How many other children is the other parent legally responsible for without a support order?
• Private health and dental coverage for the joint children that you pay, per month
• Private health and dental coverage for the joint children that the other parent pays, per month
• Is a joint child covered by Medical Assistance or MinnesotaCare?
• Are there work- or school-related child care costs for the joint children?
• Does a joint child receive Social Security or veterans’ benefits because of a parent?
• Is either parent in jail or prison, or receiving General Assistance, SSI, or an MFIP/TANF cash grant?

It never asks for names, Social Security numbers or account numbers, and your answers are not saved.

What the estimate leaves out

• Child care support (§ 518A.40), which is reduced by the state’s child care credit tables
• Public health care coverage contributions (Medical Assistance or MinnesotaCare) and unreimbursed or uninsured medical expenses
• Social Security or veterans’ benefits paid for a child because of a parent
• Potential (imputed) income and the overtime exclusion (§§ 518A.29(b), 518A.32)
• Deviations the court may make (§ 518A.43) and the cost-of-living adjustment (§ 518A.75)

When a situation is outside what the calculator covers, it says so and points you to the official worksheet instead of guessing.

Official sources

• Minn. Stat. § 518A.35, guideline table (effective January 1, 2023)
• Minn. Stat. § 518A.34, computation of child support
• Minn. Stat. § 518A.36, parenting expense adjustment (effective August 1, 2018)
• Minn. Stat. § 518A.42, ability to pay, self-support reserve and minimum support (effective January 1, 2025)
• Minn. Stat. § 518A.33, deduction for nonjoint children
• Minn. Stat. § 518A.29, gross income
• Minn. Stat. § 518A.41, medical support
• Minn. Stat. § 518A.26, definitions (55% parenting time presumption)
• 2026 HHS poverty guidelines ($15,960 for one person, effective January 13, 2026), Federal Register
• Minnesota Child Support Guidelines Calculator (version 5.3): income shares in whole percents, amounts in whole dollars

Minnesota Child Support Guidelines Calculator (Department of Children, Youth, and Families) →