Missouri Garnishment Limits 2026

This explainer describes the framework as it stands in 2026 and points you to where the numbers can shift. Treat the percentages below as durable. Treat every dollar amount as something to verify against the current minimum wage at the time you are reading. Garnishment math is recalculated each pay period and depends on your exact income, dependents, and the type of debt, so confirm the live figures before acting on them.

Missouri's garnishment caps (RSMo § 525.030)

Missouri's withholding limits for ordinary wage garnishment come from RSMo § 525.030. The structure is a percentage of disposable earnings — your gross pay minus the deductions the law requires, such as federal, state, and local taxes, Social Security, and Medicare. Voluntary deductions like retirement contributions, health insurance, or union dues are generally not subtracted when figuring disposable earnings.

Under RSMo § 525.030, a creditor on an ordinary judgment can generally reach up to 25% of disposable earnings. If the debtor is the head of a family — a person who provides more than half the support of a spouse, child, or other dependent — the limit drops to 10% of disposable earnings. These two percentages, 25% and 10%, are the stable Missouri figures, and they have stayed in place across many years. The 10% head-of-family cap is more protective than the federal percentage and is one of the more meaningful protections in Missouri garnishment practice, but a debtor generally has to claim it; it is not always applied automatically.

The federal floor (15 U.S.C. § 1673) and how it moves with the minimum wage

Layered on top of Missouri's caps is a federal limit from the Consumer Credit Protection Act, found at 15 U.S.C. § 1673. For an ordinary debt, that federal law limits weekly garnishment to the lesser of two amounts: 25% of disposable earnings for the week, or the amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage.

The second prong is the protective floor for lower earners. If 30 times the federal minimum wage equals or exceeds your weekly disposable earnings, then nothing can be garnished that week for an ordinary debt. This is the part of the framework that changes over time. Because the floor is defined as a multiple of the federal minimum wage, the dollar threshold shifts whenever the federal minimum wage changes. For that reason, this page does not state a specific dollar figure for the floor — you should verify the current minimum wage and recompute the threshold yourself, or have it confirmed, before relying on any number.

Missouri also sets its own state minimum wage, which adjusts on its own schedule and is often higher than the federal rate. The federal garnishment floor in 15 U.S.C. § 1673 is tied specifically to the federal minimum wage, but the existence of a separately adjusting state minimum wage is another reason to verify the live figures rather than assume a fixed dollar amount. As of 2026, the mechanism is unchanged even where the underlying rates may have moved.

Which limit applies (the one that protects more)

When both a Missouri cap and the federal floor are in play, the rule is straightforward: the limit that protects more of the paycheck controls. The employer withholds the smaller permitted amount, so the debtor gets the benefit of whichever law leaves more wages untouched.

In practice this means a creditor cannot simply pick the 25% figure and apply it. If the debtor qualifies as head of a family, Missouri's 10% cap under RSMo § 525.030 will usually leave more pay in hand than the federal 25%-of-disposable test, so the 10% limit governs. For a lower earner, the federal floor in 15 U.S.C. § 1673 may shield the entire paycheck even though the Missouri percentage would otherwise allow some withholding. The takeaway is that you compare the outcomes under each rule and apply the one most favorable to the debtor — which is exactly why both the percentage and the minimum-wage-linked threshold have to be known to run the comparison correctly.

Special debts with different limits

Not every obligation follows the ordinary 25%/10% framework. Several categories of debt are governed by their own, generally higher, limits, and the figures above do not describe them:

• Child support and spousal maintenance are collected through income-withholding orders and permit a substantially larger share of disposable earnings than ordinary debts — commonly well above the 25% ceiling.
• Unpaid taxes can be collected under separate state and federal rules that do not track the ordinary garnishment caps.
• Defaulted student loans , particularly federal loans, can be subject to administrative wage garnishment under their own federal limits without an ordinary court judgment.

If the debt driving the garnishment falls into one of these categories, do not assume the 25% or 10% figure applies. The applicable cap, the procedure, and even whether a court judgment is required can all differ.

How to confirm the current numbers

Because part of this framework is stable and part of it moves, confirming the live figures is the practical heart of any 2026 calculation. A few steps keep you grounded:

• Treat the 25% and 10% percentages in RSMo § 525.030 as current and durable, but read the statute as it stands today to confirm nothing has been amended.
• For the federal floor, verify the current federal minimum wage and multiply by 30 to find this week's protected threshold; do not rely on a remembered dollar amount.
• Separately check the current Missouri state minimum wage, since it adjusts on its own schedule and affects broader wage questions even when the federal floor controls the garnishment math.
• Recompute disposable earnings for the specific pay period, since the caps apply to that figure and not to gross pay.
• Confirm the type of debt, because support, tax, and student-loan obligations follow different limits entirely.

When in doubt, the safest approach is to confirm the numbers against the current statute and the current minimum wage rather than relying on a figure that may have shifted.

When to talk to a lawyer

Garnishment turns on details that are easy to get wrong: whether you qualify as head of a family, how disposable earnings are calculated, whether an exemption applies, and which deadline governs a challenge. If your wages are being garnished, if you are an employer unsure how much to withhold, or if more than one garnishment or a special-category debt is involved, a qualified Missouri attorney can confirm which cap applies and whether you have grounds to object. These matters are often time-sensitive, so seek advice promptly rather than waiting.