Quick answer: Minnesota uses the income-shares guidelines of Minn. Stat. chapter 518A. Each parent’s gross income, less a credit for children outside the case, is the parent’s parental income for determining child support (PICS). The statutory table gives a combined basic support obligation for the number of children (the table stops at $20,000 of combined monthly PICS), each parent owes a share in proportion to his or her PICS, and the parenting expense adjustment, which cubes the overnights, turns the two shares into one payment. Work-related child care and the premium for the children’s health coverage are shared by the same percentages, and the order cannot exceed the obligor’s ability to pay: income above a self-support reserve of 120% of the federal poverty guideline for one person.
How the Minnesota guidelines work
- Income. Gross income from all sources, less the nonjoint children credit. See ability to pay, child care and medical support.
- Basic support table. The combined PICS and the number of children.
- Shares and the adjustment. See the parenting expense adjustment.
- Child care and medical support. Added to the basic support.
- Ability to pay. The self-support reserve and the minimum amounts.
The full walk-through, with a worked example, is in how Minnesota calculates child support.
What this calculator checks
The calculator uses the statutory table and formulas as they read in the 2025 Minnesota Statutes, and was checked against an independent re-implementation. It does not apply Social Security or veterans benefits paid to a child, incarceration or assistance exceptions, deviations, or the unreimbursed medical expense allocation.
Child support across Minnesota
The guidelines apply in every Minnesota district court, from Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester, Duluth, Bloomington or Brooklyn Park, and in the county child support offices that establish and enforce orders. The guideline is a rebuttable presumption, and the court may deviate for the reasons in Minn. Stat. 518A.43.
Frequently asked questions
How is child support calculated in Minnesota?
The parents' incomes for determining child support are combined, the statutory table gives a basic support obligation for the number of children, each parent owes a share by income, and the parenting expense adjustment turns the shares into one payment.
What is the Minnesota parenting expense adjustment?
A formula that cubes the overnights each parent has and weights the two parents' shares of the basic support by the other parent's overnights.
What is the highest income in the Minnesota child support table?
The table runs to $20,000 of combined monthly income; above that the presumed basic support is the $20,000 amount unless the court finds a need for more.
What is the Minnesota self-support reserve?
120 percent of the federal poverty guideline for one person, per month. Support cannot take the obligor's income available for support below it.
How is child care shared in Minnesota?
In proportion to each parent's share of the combined PICS, after the estimated federal and state child care credit.