Wage Garnishment: Federal Limits and Where to Check Your State

Short answer: Wage garnishment is a court or government order that makes your employer send part of your paycheck to someone you owe. For ordinary debts like credit cards and medical bills, federal law caps it at 25% of your disposable earnings, or the amount above $217.50 a week, whichever is less. Your state can protect more.

Last checked October 22, 2026 against the Consumer Credit Protection Act on govinfo.gov, the U.S. Department of Labor's Fact Sheet #30, and CFPB and IRS guidance. This page is general information, not legal advice.

If you just got garnishment papers, skip to what to do first. The deadlines on those papers can be short.

What is wage garnishment?

Wage garnishment is a legal order that tells your employer to hold back part of your pay and send it to a creditor. The federal rules sit in Title III of the Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA), at 15 U.S.C. 1671 to 1677. The Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division enforces them (DOL Fact Sheet #30).

For most private debts, a garnishment doesn't happen out of the blue. The CFPB says most creditors have to sue you and win a court judgment first (CFPB). That's why a debt lawsuit is the moment to act, not the paycheck that comes after it.

Some creditors don't need a lawsuit:

• The IRS can levy wages for unpaid federal taxes.
• The U.S. Department of Education can garnish wages for defaulted federal student loans.
• State child support agencies can garnish for support without going back to court (CFPB).

How much of your paycheck can be garnished?

For ordinary consumer debts, federal law lets a creditor take the smaller of two amounts each week:

1. 25% of your disposable earnings, or
2. whatever your disposable earnings are above 30 times the federal minimum wage ($7.25 × 30 = $217.50 a week).

That's the rule in 15 U.S.C. 1673(a). The Labor Department turns it into dollar amounts for each pay schedule:

Source: DOL Wage and Hour Division, Fact Sheet #30, based on the $7.25 federal minimum wage.

Here's how the math plays out:

• Weekly, $233 disposable pay. That's $15.50 over the $217.50 floor. 25% would be $58.25, so the cap is the smaller number: $15.50 (this is the Labor Department's own example).
• Every two weeks, $1,000 disposable pay. 25% is $250. The amount over the $435 floor is $565. The cap is $250.
• Monthly, $1,100 disposable pay. 25% is $275. The amount over the $942.50 floor is $157.50. The cap is $157.50.

These limits apply to the total. If two creditors both have garnishment orders, they share the same 25%. They don't get 25% each (DOL).

What counts as disposable earnings?

Disposable earnings are what's left of your pay after deductions the law requires. Think federal, state and local taxes, your share of Social Security and Medicare, state unemployment insurance tax, and any retirement withholding the law requires (DOL).

Voluntary deductions usually don't come off first. The Labor Department lists union dues, health and life insurance, charitable contributions and retirement plan contributions that aren't required by law as deductions that usually stay in the number the garnishment is figured on. That surprises a lot of people, because their take-home pay is lower than their disposable earnings.

"Earnings" also covers more than hourly wages. The Labor Department lists salary, commissions, bonuses, periodic pension or retirement payments, and lump sums like severance pay. For tipped workers, the employer's cash wage and any tip credit count as earnings, but tips above that don't (DOL).

Are some debts allowed to take more?

Yes. The 25% cap is for ordinary consumer debts. Some kinds of debt play by different rules:

Sources: DOL Fact Sheet #30; IRS, Information about wage levies.

A few things worth knowing about the bigger ones:

• Child support can leave no room for other creditors. In the Labor Department's example, a worker with $370 a week in disposable pay already has $140 withheld for child support. That's more than 25%, so nothing more can be taken for a defaulted consumer debt (DOL).
• An IRS levy works differently. You keep an exempt amount based on your standard deduction and number of dependents. The IRS sends your employer a Statement of Dependents form. If you don't return it within three days, the employer has to figure the exempt amount as if you were married filing separately with no dependents, which can leave you with a lot less (IRS).
• Federal student loan and other federal non-tax garnishments are capped at 15% and still count toward the CCPA's overall limits, but state garnishment laws don't apply to them (DOL).

Where can you check your state's garnishment rules?

Federal law is the ceiling, not the floor. If your state's law protects more of your pay, the stricter rule wins (15 U.S.C. 1677; DOL). Some states go a long way. Two examples straight from the source text:

• Texas: the state constitution says current wages "shall never be subject to garnishment" except for court-ordered child support or spousal maintenance (Tex. Const. art. XVI, §28). Federal debts like taxes and student loans are a separate matter.
• North Carolina: a court can't apply your earnings from the 60 days before the order to a judgment when your affidavit or other proof shows they're needed for a family you support (N.C.G.S. § 1-362).

Rules in other states range from close to the federal limit to much more protective, and they change. Here's where to get your state's current rules without guessing:

1. Read the garnishment papers themselves. In many states the notice comes with an exemption claim form and a deadline. That form usually lists the exemptions your state allows.
2. Your state court's self-help pages. Search your state's name plus "court self-help garnishment." Court sites often have plain-English guides and the forms.
3. Free legal aid. LawHelp.org lists legal aid groups by state, and the CFPB also points people to the American Bar Association's lawyer referral resources (CFPB).
4. The Wage and Hour Division answers questions about the federal limits at 1-866-487-9243 (DOL).

Can a creditor take Social Security or other benefits?

Usually not from your bank account, if they're direct deposited. When a bank gets a garnishment order, it has to look back two months and protect that much in federal benefits that came in by direct deposit (CFPB).

The CFPB's example: if you get $1,000 a month in Social Security by direct deposit, the bank has to leave you up to $2,000 in the account. Money above two months' worth can be garnished.

The CFPB lists these direct-deposited federal payments as protected:

• Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
• Veterans' benefits
• Civil service and federal retirement and disability benefits
• Servicemember pay, military annuities and survivor benefits
• Federal student aid
• Railroad retirement benefits
• FEMA financial assistance

Two catches. If you deposit a benefits check yourself instead of using direct deposit, the bank doesn't have to protect it automatically, and you may have to go to court to prove where the money came from. And the federal government itself can take part of some benefits: the CFPB says the IRS and the Education Department can collect up to 15% of Social Security or SSDI for taxes or defaulted student loans. SSI is protected even from that (CFPB).

Can you be fired because of a wage garnishment?

Not over a garnishment for one debt. Federal law bars an employer from firing you because your pay is garnished for any one debt (15 U.S.C. 1674). The Labor Department says that holds no matter how many levies or proceedings are brought to collect that one debt (DOL). The federal protection stops there, but 15 U.S.C. 1677 leaves states free to protect workers with garnishments for more than one debt.

What should you do if your wages are being garnished?

Move fast. Most of the useful options come with deadlines measured in days, not months.

1. Find out what kind of garnishment it is. A judgment creditor, the IRS, the Education Department and a child support agency each follow different rules. The paperwork says who's behind it.
2. Check the math on your pay stub. Use the table above with your disposable earnings, not your take-home pay. If more than the limit is coming out, ask your payroll department how they figured it, and contact the Wage and Hour Division if it isn't fixed.
3. File for any exemption you qualify for. If your state gives you a claim of exemption form, fill it out and file it by the deadline on it.
4. Don't ignore a lawsuit. If you've been sued and there's no judgment yet, responding to the lawsuit is how you keep it from turning into a garnishment. The CFPB is blunt about this: ignoring a suit can lead to a judgment against you (CFPB). Our guide on how to stop a judgment for credit card debt walks through the options.
5. For an IRS levy, call the IRS and return the Statement of Dependents. The number to call is on the levy notice. Sending the form back on time is what gets your standard deduction and dependents counted (IRS).
6. Get free legal help if you can. A legal aid lawyer can tell you whether the debt, the judgment or the amount can be challenged in your state.

If the garnishment comes from a collection agency's lawsuit, it helps to know the rules collectors have to follow along the way. Our plain-English guide to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act covers them, and our debt collector pages show what public CFPB complaint records say about specific companies.

Sources

1. 15 U.S.C. 1671 to 1677, Consumer Credit Protection Act Title III, Restrictions on Garnishment (U.S. Code, 2023 edition, govinfo.gov): https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title15/html/USCODE-2023-title15-chap41-subchapII.htm
2. U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, Fact Sheet #30: Wage Garnishment Protections of the Consumer Credit Protection Act (December 2024): https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/30-cppa
3. CFPB, Can a debt collector take or garnish my wages or benefits?: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/can-a-debt-collector-garnish-my-bank-account-or-my-wages-en-1439/
4. CFPB, Can a debt collector take my federal benefits, like Social Security or VA payments?: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/can-a-debt-collector-take-my-federal-benefits-like-social-security-or-va-payments-en-1157/
5. IRS, Information about wage levies: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/information-about-wage-levies
6. Texas Constitution, Article XVI, Section 28: https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CN/htm/CN.16.htm
7. North Carolina General Statutes § 1-362: https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_1/GS_1-362.html
8. 15 U.S.C. 1692e, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, false or misleading representations: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title15/html/USCODE-2023-title15-chap41-subchapV-sec1692e.htm

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DebtHaus is not a law firm and isn't affiliated with the Department of Labor, the CFPB or the IRS. This page explains the law in general terms; it isn't legal advice for your situation. Editorial policy