Child Support If You Make $500 a Week in Minnesota
Minnesota protects a minimum amount of income before child support applies at all. At $500 a week, this page shows exactly where that protection sits.
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Guideline child support scenarios at $500 a week
The paying parent earns $500 a week ($2,166.67 a month) in every cell below. The other parent's monthly income changes across rows, and the number of children changes across columns; both genuinely change the result.Every figure is computed with the real Minnesota guideline engine, the same one behind the full calculator, not a lookup table built for this page.
| Other parent's income | 1 child | 2 children | 3 children |
|---|---|---|---|
| No reported income | $215.31 | $271.88 | $309.44 |
| $2,000 a month | $335.04 | $454.32 | $513.08 |
| $4,000 a month | $349.21 | $488.82 | $557.38 |
| $6,000 a month | $295.07 | $413.00 | $470.89 |
Every dollar figure is a monthly amount, the presumptive guideline result before add-ons like child care or health insurance and before any court deviation. "Not available" means the engine behind this site declined to compute that specific combination rather than guess; the reason is shown next to it.
The self-support reserve, explained
Minnesota Statute 518A.42 sets a self-support reserve at 120 percent of the federal poverty guideline for one person, an amount the paying parent keeps before any support is calculated. Below that reserve, the guideline amount drops to a small minimum basic support figure, $50 to $100 a month depending on the number of children, rather than the full income-shares math.
At $500 a week, gross pay is about $2,167 a month, comfortably above the self-support reserve. The full parental income for determining child support, or PICS, formula in the table below applies rather than the reduced minimum, though the reserve still shapes how much of that income actually counts toward support if the other parent income pushes the total obligation close to it.
- Weekly gross income
- $500 a weeksource
- Monthly gross equivalent
- $2,166.67 a month (weekly income x 52 / 12)source
- Self-support reserve
- 120 percent of the federal poverty guideline for one person, monthlysource
- Below-minimum figure
- $50 to $100 a month by child count, when income available for support is too lowsource
How the reserve shows up in the table
Every figure in the table below comes from the full Minnesota formula: combined parental income for determining child support looked up on the 518A.35 basic support table, split by each parent PICS share, then checked against the self-support reserve before the final number is set. If a scenario income were low enough to fall under the reserve, the guideline amount would drop to the small minimum basic support figure instead of the full formula result. At $500 a week that floor is not reached in any of the four other-parent scenarios shown.
What this estimate includes
- The 518A.35 basic support table lookup for combined PICS
- Each parent share of the combined obligation
- A check of the paying parent income against the self-support reserve
What it leaves out
- The 518A.36 parenting expense adjustment, which assumes the paying parent has some overnights (this table uses zero)
- Child care and medical support add-ons beyond the basic obligation
- Court deviations for a parent unusual circumstances
Worth knowing
The self-support reserve exception in 518A.42 does not apply to every low-income parent automatically. It is unavailable to a parent who is incarcerated, receiving need-based public assistance, or has no income or ability to earn income, situations the statute treats separately.
Minnesota minimum basic support figures are small on purpose. They exist to keep an order on the books, not to fully fund a child needs, on the theory that a parent below the reserve genuinely cannot pay more without falling below subsistence themselves.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Minnesota self-support reserve?
120 percent of the federal poverty guideline for one person, set monthly under Minn. Stat. 518A.42. It is the amount of income the paying parent keeps before the guideline support formula fully applies, protecting a baseline standard of living even for a parent who owes support.
Does $500 a week fall under the self-support reserve?
No. At about $2,167 a month gross, this income sits above the reserve, so the full parental income for determining child support formula applies in the table above rather than the reduced minimum basic support amounts.
What happens below the self-support reserve?
The guideline drops to a minimum basic support amount, ranging from $50 a month for 1 child up to $100 for 6 or more, rather than running the full income-shares percentage. That floor exists so support obligations do not push a low-income parent below subsistence.
Does the other parent income matter in Minnesota?
Yes. Minnesota combines both parents parental income for determining child support before looking up a basic support figure on the 518A.35 table, then splits that figure by each parent share of the combined total, so both incomes genuinely shape the result.
Are overnights part of this table?
Minnesota has a parenting expense adjustment based on each parent overnights, using an overnights-cubed formula effective since August 1, 2018. This table assumes the paying parent has no overnights, to keep the comparison focused on income alone; a real case with shared parenting time would compute differently.
What is PICS?
Parental income for determining child support, the Minnesota term for each parent income figure after certain deductions like spousal maintenance paid. It plays the same role the term "gross income" plays in several other states guideline formulas.
About the numbers on this page
Every figure in the table above comes from running the real Minnesota child support engine on this site, the same engine and data pack behind the full Minnesota child support calculator. Nothing on this page is a separate estimate or a reimplementation of the math. See the sources below for the statutes and official worksheets behind the Minnesota guideline.
Reviewed by SupportDecode Editorial Team Page content reviewed Sources Methodology Update log
Changelog: page first published as part of the child support by income series. Material changes are dated in the update log.