How Much Is Child Support in Texas: Caps and Percentages

In Texas, child support is calculated as a percentage of the paying parent’s monthly net resources: 20% for one child, 25% for two, 30% for three, 35% for four, and 40% for five, with six or more children set at no less than the five-child amount.¹ Those percentages apply only to the first $11,700 of monthly net resources, so the highest guideline amount for one child in 2026 is $2,340 per month.²

What Counts as Monthly Net Resources

The percentage is not applied to gross pay or take-home pay. It’s applied to a specific figure the Texas Family Code calls “monthly net resources,” and getting that number right is the whole ball game.

The court starts by adding up every source of income the paying parent receives: wages, salary, commissions, overtime, tips, bonuses, self-employment earnings, net rental income, retirement benefits, trust income, capital gains, Social Security benefits, unemployment and workers’ compensation, interest, dividends, royalties, and even gifts and prizes.³

From that total, only a specific list of items can be subtracted:

Social Security taxes (the employee’s share of FICA)
Federal income tax, calculated as if the parent were a single filer with one personal exemption and the standard deduction
State income tax, if any is owed to another state
Union dues
Health and dental insurance premiums the paying parent covers for the child
Mandatory retirement contributions, but only if the parent does not pay into Social Security

Notice what’s missing: credit card payments, car loans, rent, mortgage, and normal household bills are not deductions. The federal tax piece is also formulaic. Regardless of the parent’s real filing status or actual number of dependents, the court runs the numbers as a single person with one exemption. Your net resources on paper can end up meaningfully different from what actually hits your bank account.³

The $11,700 Cap and Maximum Guideline Amounts

Texas caps the automatic percentage calculation at the first $11,700 of monthly net resources. That figure took effect September 1, 2025, replacing the prior $9,200 cap, and it adjusts for inflation every six years based on the consumer price index, with the state’s Title IV-D agency publishing any new figure in the Texas Register before it takes effect.¹

At the cap, guideline support works out to:

One child: $2,340 per month
Two children: $2,925
Three children: $3,510
Four children: $4,095
Five or more children: $4,680

For a parent who earns more than $11,700 in monthly net resources, the guideline percentage still only applies to the capped amount. Anything above that requires the parent asking for more to prove the child’s specific needs justify a higher payment.

Lower Percentages for Parents Earning Under $1,000 a Month

When a paying parent’s monthly net resources fall below $1,000, the percentages drop by five points across the board:¹

One child: 15%
Two children: 20%
Three children: 25%
Four children: 30%
Five children: 35%
Six or more: not less than the five-child amount

On a $900 monthly income, that’s $135 instead of $180 for one child. Small in the abstract, meaningful when someone is barely covering rent.

How Other Children Change the Number

A parent who has a legal duty to support children from another relationship doesn’t pay the full standard percentage in the current case. The Texas Family Code provides a separate “multiple family adjusted” table that reduces the percentage to reflect the parent’s obligations to children outside the case.

The pattern is consistent: each additional child the parent supports elsewhere pulls the percentage in the current case down. For a parent with one child in the current case and one other child to support, the applicable percentage drops from 20% to 17.50%. The reductions get more layered as the counts climb on either side, but the principle stays the same. A parent’s resources are treated as stretching across every child they’re legally responsible for, not just the ones in front of this particular judge.

When a Judge Can Order a Different Amount

The guideline percentages are presumed to be in the child’s best interest, but they aren’t mandatory in every case. A judge can order a higher or lower amount when the evidence shows the standard calculation would be unjust or inappropriate. Factors the court is allowed to weigh include:⁴

The child’s age and needs, including disability
Extraordinary expenses like special education or ongoing medical treatment
Travel costs for visitation when parents live far apart
Each parent’s financial resources, including property and non-cash benefits like employer-provided housing or a company car
Child care costs either parent incurs to keep working
Debts either parent has taken on, particularly debts from the marriage
Post-secondary education expenses

Any deviation has to be documented. The order must include specific findings explaining why the guideline amount wasn’t appropriate and how the court got to the different figure.

Imputed Income for Unemployed or Underemployed Parents

A parent cannot lower a child support obligation by quitting a good job or refusing to work. If the court finds a parent is intentionally unemployed or underemployed, it can calculate support based on what that parent could reasonably earn rather than what they’re actually earning.⁴ Judges look at education, work history, and the local job market to set that number.

Medical and Dental Coverage on Top of Support

Every Texas child support order has to address medical and dental insurance for the child.⁵ If a parent has affordable group coverage through an employer, the court usually orders that parent to add the child. Medical and dental support are separate obligations layered on top of the child support amount, and they can be collected through wage withholding the same way.⁶

The premium the paying parent covers for the child is one of the allowed deductions when calculating net resources, so a parent isn’t paying the premium and then paying the guideline percentage on top of that same money.³

How Long Payments Continue

Child support in Texas generally runs until the child turns 18 or graduates from high school, whichever comes later. If the child is still in high school on their 18th birthday, payments continue through graduation. For a child with a physical or mental disability that requires substantial care and supervision, the court can order support to continue indefinitely. Support also ends if the child marries, is legally emancipated, or enlists in the armed forces.

Support does not automatically stop on the child’s 18th birthday. The obligation stays in place until the order is formally modified or the termination conditions in the order are met. Stopping early on your own can trigger enforcement action and contempt.

Changing the Amount Later

Either parent can ask a court to modify child support when circumstances change. Texas law allows a modification if there has been a material and substantial change in circumstances since the last order, or if at least three years have passed and the current order differs by 20% or $100 from what the guidelines would produce today. Common reasons include a real change in either parent’s income, a job loss, a new child, or a shift in what the child needs.

Filing a modification does not change the amount owed. The parent asking for the change has to prove it, and the existing order stays in force until a judge signs a new one. Pay the current amount until that happens.

1
State of Texas. Texas Family Code 154.125 – Application of Guidelines to Net Resources
2
Office of the Attorney General of Texas. Monthly Child Support Calculator
3
State of Texas. Texas Family Code 154.062 – Net Resources
4
State of Texas. Texas Family Code 154.123 – Additional Factors for Court to Consider
5
State of Texas. Texas Family Code 154.008 – Provision for Medical Support and Dental Support
6
Office of the Attorney General of Texas. Medical Support General Information