North Dakota Child Support Calculator: Income, Schedule, and Deviations

The North Dakota child support calculator is a downloadable spreadsheet from the Department of Health and Human Services that applies the state’s official guidelines to your numbers. It uses the paying parent’s monthly net income and the number of children to look up a presumptive support amount on a fixed schedule. The custodial parent’s income usually does not enter the calculation at all, because North Dakota follows an obligor’s-income model.

Where to Get the Calculator

The agency publishes an Excel workbook (.xlsm) on its “Estimate Support Amount” page rather than offering an interactive web tool.¹ HHS recommends opening it on Windows; Mac users may run into compatibility problems with the macros.

To fill it in, you need the paying parent’s monthly gross income from every source, tax filing status, the number of children covered by the order, and documentation for each deduction you plan to claim. The result is an estimate for planning purposes, not a court order. It is most useful before a hearing or a negotiation, and before filing a modification request, so you know whether the number would actually move.

What Counts as Gross Income

The guidelines pull from a long list. Wages, salary, overtime, commissions, and bonuses are obvious. Less obvious: dividends, interest, trust distributions, Social Security benefits, workers’ compensation, unemployment, retirement distributions, veterans’ benefits, spousal support received, and net self-employment earnings all count.² Gifts and prizes count once they pass $1,000 in a year. Military subsistence pay, refundable tax credits, and regularly received in-kind income get added in too.

Self-employment is handled on net profit, not gross revenue. If you own a business, expect scrutiny of vehicle use, home office deductions, and depreciation. Those have to reflect real operating costs, not personal spending routed through the company, or they will be added back.

Deductions That Take You From Gross to Net

North Dakota defines net income as gross income minus a specific, closed list of deductions under N.D. Admin. Code 75-02-04.1-01(6). The spreadsheet applies them automatically using hypothetical tax amounts rather than whatever you actually have withheld. That design choice blocks a parent from lowering the support number by changing a W-4.

The allowed subtractions are:

Federal income tax, computed on single filing status with one personal exemption and the applicable child exemptions.
North Dakota state income tax, computed the same hypothetical way.
FICA and Medicare, including self-employment tax where it applies.
The obligor’s share of health, dental, and vision insurance premiums for the children.
Documented out-of-pocket medical expenses for the children.
Union dues and occupational license fees, if employment requires them.
Mandatory retirement contributions required as a condition of employment.
Unreimbursed work expenses: required equipment or clothing, lodging up to $96 per night for required travel, and non-commuting mileage at 65.5 cents per mile.

Each deduction needs documentation.² The common mistake: assuming voluntary 401(k) contributions, HSA deposits, or flexible spending deductions lower your child support income. They don’t. Only contributions that are a required condition of employment reduce the net figure.

Reading the Schedule

Once you have monthly net income, the guidelines point to a dollar amount on a table that runs from $800 per month up to $25,000 or more, with columns for one through six or more children.³ It is not a percentage; it is a lookup.

A few reference points show the shape:

$800/month or less in net income: $0 for any number of children.
$900/month: $90 for one child, $126 for two, $171 for three.
$1,000/month: $140 for one child, $183 for two, $232 for three.
$25,000/month or more: $3,500 for one child, $4,250 for two, $5,000 for three, up to $6,500 for six or more.

The Low End: Self-Support Reserve

The schedule protects very low-income obligors with a self-support reserve equal to 100% of the federal poverty level for a one-person household.⁴ For 2026 that works out to $15,960 per year, or $1,330 per month.⁵ At or below $800 in monthly net income, the schedule assigns zero. Between $800 and roughly $1,330, amounts stay modest so the obligation does not push the parent below subsistence.

The High End: Above $25,000 Per Month

The schedule stops at $25,000 per month in net income. Above that, the top-of-table number is a floor, not a ceiling. A court can order more if the parent asking for the increase proves the child has demonstrated needs justifying it, especially needs tied to activities the child was involved in while the family was intact.²

Extended Parenting Time Lowers the Number

If the obligor has court-ordered parenting time of more than 100 overnights a year, the guidelines reduce support through a formula that divides the base amount by the number of children and then applies a multiplier based on each child’s overnight count. More overnights, larger reduction, because the obligor is paying for the child directly during that time.³

Two limits matter. The order itself has to state the number of overnights; an informal arrangement will not trigger the adjustment. And this formula does not apply to equal residential responsibility, which is governed by a separate provision in the guidelines.

If a Parent Is Not Earning What They Could

A parent who is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed does not get a lower obligation by that choice. The court can impute income, meaning it assigns an earning figure based on realistic capacity.³

The imputed amount is the highest of four benchmarks:

Actual earnings.
Federal minimum wage multiplied by 173.33 hours per month.
Median income for the parent’s gender and occupation as reported by Job Service North Dakota.
Earning capacity in appropriate employment, reduced by actual childcare and health insurance costs.

“Appropriate employment” means work that fits the parent’s qualifications, skills, recent work history, and local job openings. Someone who left an $80,000 position for part-time work will likely be assessed at the higher figure.

Imputation does not apply to a parent who is physically or mentally incapacitated, already working in appropriate employment, caring for a child under one, or otherwise unable to work as determined by the court. A parent in an educational program reasonably expected to lead to appropriate employment can also be excused, at the court’s discretion.

When a Court Can Depart From the Calculator’s Number

The guideline amount is presumed correct. A court can only order something different if the facts fit one of the recognized deviation criteria and the change serves the children’s best interests.³

Grounds to increase support include:

More than six children covered.
Monthly net income over $25,000 with demonstrated child needs.
Private school tuition the obligor previously agreed to in writing.
A child’s disabling condition or chronic illness.
Children age 12 and older, who generally cost more.
Work-, job-search-, or education-related childcare the custodial parent pays for.
An obligor hiding income through asset transactions or inflated depreciation.

Grounds to decrease support include:

Significant travel expenses the obligor pays for court-ordered parenting time.
Ongoing, non-reimbursable extraordinary health care costs exceeding 10% of the obligor’s gross income.
A fixed expense beyond the obligor’s control that is not a normal living cost.
The custodial parent’s net income being at least three times the obligor’s.

That last one is the only standard route by which the custodial parent’s income affects the calculation. Outside that extreme gap, the guidelines assume the custodial parent contributes through direct care and leave their earnings out.

What the Calculator Won’t Tell You

The spreadsheet gives you a monthly dollar figure. It does not tell you whether you qualify to modify an existing order. In North Dakota, the child support agency is required to pursue an adjustment when the current order is less than 85% of what the guidelines would now produce, and any parent can request a review at least every three years, or sooner for a substantial change in circumstances such as involuntary income loss or a new health insurance situation.⁶ Running the calculator first tells you whether a formal review is worth starting.

The calculator also does not address tax treatment, enforcement consequences, or when the obligation ends. Child support is not deductible by the payer and not taxable to the recipient under federal law, and that treatment does not change based on anything the spreadsheet shows.⁷ And the result is an estimate, not legal advice. For a binding number, the figure has to come through a court order or an agency-issued order using the same guidelines.

1
Health and Human Services North Dakota. Estimate Support Amount
2
North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services. North Dakota Administrative Code 75-02-04.1 – Child Support Guidelines
3
North Dakota Legislative Branch. North Dakota Administrative Code 75-02-04.1 – Child Support Guidelines
4
North Dakota Legislative Branch. North Dakota Administrative Code 75-02-04.1 – Child Support Guidelines
5
HealthCare.gov. Federal Poverty Level (FPL)
6
Administration for Children & Families. Changing a Child Support Order
7
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 504 – Divorced or Separated Individuals