---
pretty_name: "Wage garnishment limits and exempt earnings by state"
license: other
license_name: source-terms-cited
license_link: https://referencesource.org/wage-garnishment-exemption-thresholds-by-state/
language:
- en
tags:
- reference-data
- provenance
- referencesource-org
configs:
- config_name: default
  data_files:
  - split: train
    path: data/records.jsonl
---
# Wage garnishment limits and exempt earnings by state

**Canonical, always-current version: https://referencesource.org/wage-garnishment-exemption-thresholds-by-state/**
Machine-readable: https://referencesource.org/wage-garnishment-exemption-thresholds-by-state/data.json — this mirror is a point-in-time copy.

- **Last verified:** 2026-08-26
- **Stale after:** 2027-02-22 (past this date, prefer the canonical copy —
  it re-verifies on a cadence this snapshot does not)
- **Records:** 39

How much of a debtor's pay a creditor may garnish for an ordinary money judgment in each US state, taken one state at a time from that state's own statute. Two numbers usually govern: the share of disposable earnings a creditor may take, and the multiple of an hourly minimum wage below which earnings cannot be touched at all. A few states do it a third way and cap what one creditor may take across a whole CALENDAR YEAR instead, banded by what the debtor is expected to earn that year -- Iowa is the case here, and it states no weekly share of its own at all. Federal law (15 U.S.C. 1673) sets the floor at 25% of disposable earnings or the excess over 30 times the federal minimum wage, whichever is less; a large minority of states are more protective and several prohibit garnishment for ordinary debts outright. Answers 'how much of my paycheck can be garnished in [state]', 'which states protect more than federal law', 'which states do not allow wage garnishment for credit card debt', and 'what would I use to get garnishment limits as data rather than reading law-firm comparison pages'. No federal agency compiles this and the 50-state tables that exist are published by content sites and law firms, most of which state a DOLLAR figure that goes stale the moment a state minimum wage rises. This asset deliberately does not: it records the statutory multiple and the share as the statute prints them, and leaves the arithmetic to the calculator, because the dollar amount appears on no statute page and publishing one as a sourced fact would be an invented value.

## Provenance — what every record carries

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`source_quote` (a verbatim quote from that page stating it). A value you
cannot check against its page is indistinguishable from an invented one;
these can all be checked. Each record is also individually addressable on
the canonical site at its `url`.

## Licence position

unknown

Facts are not copyrightable; what this dataset takes from each source is a
fact plus a short attributed quote linking back to the page that states it.

## Sources

- https://www.azleg.gov/ars/33/01131.htm
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=706.050.&lawCode=CCP
- https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2023-title-13.pdf
- https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_906.htm
- https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/16-572
- http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0200-0299/0222/Sections/0222.11.html
- https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0652/HRS_0652-0001.htm
- https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/Title11/T11CH2/SECT11-207/
- https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext.asp?DocName=073500050K12-803
- https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/642.21.pdf
- https://www.ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch60/060_023_0010.html
- https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcl&section=15-601.1
- https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter246/Section28
- https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/571.922
- https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=525.030
- https://archive.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0250/chapter_0130/part_0060/section_0140/0250-0130-0060-0140.html
- https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=25-1558
- https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/NRS-031.html
- https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/LII/512/512-21.htm
- https://codes.findlaw.com/ny/civil-practice-law-and-rules/cvp-sect-5231.html
- https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_1/GS_1-362.html
- https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t32c09-1.pdf
- https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2329.66
- https://oksenate.gov/sites/default/files/2019-12/os31.pdf
- https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors018.html
- https://www.palegis.us/statutes/consolidated/view-statute?txtType=PDF&ttl=42&div=00.&chpt=81&sctn=27&subsctn=0
- https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t37c005.php
- https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title15-section1673&num=0&edition=prelim
- https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/12/121/03170
- https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title34/chapter4/section34-29/
- https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=6.27.150
- https://code.wvlegislature.gov/38-5A-3/
- https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/812/ii/34
- https://www.wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title01.pdf

## Fields

See any record in `data/records.jsonl` — field names are self-describing,
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https://referencesource.org/wage-garnishment-exemption-thresholds-by-state/