Colorado Child Support Calculator
Updated for the guidelines that took effect March 1, 2026.
This Colorado child support calculator follows the court's own 2026 worksheet. You'll need both parents' gross monthly income, the overnights each parent has in a year, and any child care or children's health insurance costs. It shows the monthly figure and every line that produced it.
Prepared by The Reputation Law Group · Updated · Meet our attorneys
Your estimate
Turn this on if your children keep different schedules. Colorado averages the overnights across the children.
Overnights a year with each parent
Every overnight now counts toward the parenting time credit.
This calculator is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Results are estimates and may differ from court-ordered amounts. For a comprehensive assessment of your specific situation, please contact our attorneys.
What Changed on March 1, 2026
Colorado rewrote its child support guidelines in 2025, and the new rules apply to orders entered or changed on or after March 1, 2026. If you last looked at child support before then, four things work differently now:
- A new schedule that runs higher at most incomes and now reaches $40,000 a month combined
- Credit for every overnight, replacing the old cliff at 92 overnights
- A self-support reserve tied to Colorado's minimum wage, $1,831.83 a month in 2026
- One worksheet for every family, instead of separate sole and shared custody worksheets
The overnight change matters most to parents with less than equal time. Under the old rules a parent with 92 overnights got no credit at all, and the 93rd night brought a large one all at once. Now the credit climbs a little with every night:
Keep In Mind: the credit is a share of the whole basic support figure, not of one parent's share, so twenty or thirty more overnights can move a monthly payment by a real amount even when the time split barely seems to change.
How the Calculator Works Out Your Number
The calculator runs the same steps as the court's Support Worksheet, form JDF 1821:
- Add up each parent's monthly gross income, after maintenance and support for other children
- Read basic support for the combined income from the state schedule
- Split basic support by each parent's share of that combined income
- Credit each parent for their overnights using the parenting time table
- Share child care, the children's health insurance and extraordinary costs by income
Whichever parent still owes after the credits pays that amount to the other. Gross income means income before taxes: wages, salary, commissions and bonuses, and for a self-employed parent, receipts minus ordinary business expenses. If you need to count overnights from a real schedule, our parenting schedule calculator counts them across a full year.
Limits at the Bottom and the Top
Colorado doesn't cap child support for higher earners. Above $40,000 a month combined, the schedule stops and its top row becomes the floor, so a judge can set more. At the other end, the law limits what a parent with little income pays:
- A $10 minimum order when the paying parent earns $650 a month or less
- A reduced amount, $50 for one child, at or under the self-support reserve
- No more than 20% of income for a parent earning up to full-time minimum wage, $2,627.73 a month
A Worked Example
Say one parent earns $5,000 a month, the other earns $3,000, and they have one child. Together they earn $8,000, and the 2026 schedule sets basic support at $1,209 a month. The higher earner brings in 62.5% of the household income, so their share is $755.63.
If the child lives with the other parent full time, that $755.63 is the monthly payment. Under the rules before March 1, 2026, the same family's figure was $670. Now give the paying parent 93 overnights a year, roughly every other weekend plus several weeks in summer. The table credits them 13.45% of $1,209, which is $162.61, and the payment drops to $593.02.
The Bottom Line: the schedule went up and the overnight credit got smoother, so a parent paying support with little or no overnight time will usually see a higher figure under the 2026 rules, while one with real shared time may see a lower one.
How Much the 2026 Schedule Raised Basic Support
The new schedule is higher across the range most families fall in. Here's basic support from the schedule, before any overnight credit, at five combined incomes:
| Combined income | One child | Two children |
|---|---|---|
| $3,000 | $533 → $582 +9.2% | $821 → $886 +7.9% |
| $5,000 | $820 → $934 +13.9% | $1,256 → $1,404 +11.8% |
| $8,000 | $1,072 → $1,209 +12.8% | $1,631 → $1,808 +10.9% |
| $12,000 | $1,372 → $1,541 +12.3% | $2,076 → $2,287 +10.2% |
| $20,000 | $1,824 → $2,152 +18.0% | $2,751 → $3,136 +14.0% |
The rise runs from about 8% to 18% in this range, and it's largest for higher-earning households. Basic support is only the starting point, though, and the overnight credit, child care and insurance can move the final figure further in either direction.
What the New Schedule Means for an Existing Order
It doesn't change it by itself. An order entered before March 1, 2026 stays in force at its old amount until a court modifies it. Either parent can ask, and Colorado treats a recalculated amount that differs by 10% or more as a substantial change, which is the usual threshold for filing a motion to modify child support.
That cuts both ways. If you run your numbers and the new figure lands within 10% of what you pay or receive now, filing usually isn't worth the cost. And if you and the other parent agree on the numbers and your incomes are steady wages, the court's own worksheet and guided software may be all you need.
What a Calculator Can't Weigh
A calculator takes your numbers at face value. A court doesn't always, and these are the places a real order most often moves away from an online estimate:
- Income a court imputes to a parent who is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed
- Self-employment income, where expenses and draws are often disputed
- A deviation the court finds fair on the facts, with written reasons
- Combined income above $40,000 a month, where the schedule stops
- Overnights that look different on paper than they do in practice
Remember: an estimate is a starting point for a conversation with the other parent or with a lawyer, and the closer your inputs are to what you can document, the closer it tends to land to what a court would order.
How We Help With Child Support
At The Reputation Law Group, we handle child support from the first order through modification and enforcement. We can check the numbers behind an order, raise the questions a calculator can't, and represent you when the other parent disagrees. We approach this the way we approach all of our family law work, with clear guidance and genuine care for the families involved.
If you have questions about child support in Colorado, reach out to schedule a consultation. We'll help you understand where you stand and whether the 2026 guidelines change anything for you.