Child Support If You Make $500 a Week in Texas
A single paycheck cannot answer this question by itself. Texas needs to know how many children are in the case too, and the table below shows the real guideline math for each count.
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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. Texas support depends only on that income and the number of children, so the number does not change as the other parent income changes across rows.Every figure is computed with the real Texas 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 | $383.68 | $479.61 | $575.53 |
| $2,000 a month | $383.68 | $479.61 | $575.53 |
| $4,000 a month | $383.68 | $479.61 | $575.53 |
| $6,000 a month | $383.68 | $479.61 | $575.53 |
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.
How Texas actually sets this number
Texas support is a flat percentage of the paying parent net resources, which is income after taxes, not the gross paycheck. Tex. Fam. Code § 154.125 sets the percentage by how many children are in the case: 20 percent for 1 child, 25 percent for 2, and up from there. The receiving parent income plays no part in the guideline formula.
At $500 a week, gross pay comes to about $2,167 a month. Texas has a reduced schedule for parents whose net resources fall under $1,000 a month, but this income does not reach that low once the 2026 tax chart deductions are applied. The standard percentages apply here, not the low-income ones.
How to read the table below
Every row in the table uses the same $500 a week for the paying parent. Only the other parent income and the number of children change between rows and columns. In most states that other-parent row matters a great deal. In Texas it will not move the number at all, because the guideline formula never looks at it. The rows are shown anyway so you can compare this page against other states on the site, and so the honest answer is visible rather than assumed.
What this estimate includes
- The 2026 Office of the Attorney General tax chart used to convert gross pay to net resources
- The guideline percentage for 1, 2, or 3 children in the case
- A check against the $11,700 net resources cap and the under-$1,000 low-income schedule
What it leaves out
- Court-ordered deviations from the guideline amount
- Medical and dental support, which Texas orders separately from the percentage math
- Any effect from the other parent income, since the formula does not use it
- Self-employment tax treatment, which uses a different chart than employee pay
Worth knowing
Texas keeps a separate, lower percentage schedule for parents whose net resources fall under $1,000 a month: 15 percent for 1 child instead of 20, and so on up through 5 children. That schedule exists for parents earning noticeably less than $500 a week, since the standard percentages already apply at this income once taxes come out.
If the paying parent already supports children from another relationship, Texas swaps in a different table under Sec. 154.129 rather than just adding a deduction. A parent with 1 child in this case and 1 other child owes 17.50 percent of net resources instead of the standard 20 percent, and the table shifts further for more other children.
Frequently asked questions
Does the other parent income change child support at $500 a week in Texas?
No. Texas Family Code § 154.125 sets support as a percentage of the paying parent net resources only. The receiving parent income is not part of the formula, which is why every row in the table above shows the same number for a given number of children.
Is $500 a week considered low income under the Texas guideline?
Not quite. Texas applies a reduced percentage schedule when net resources fall under $1,000 a month. At $500 a week gross, net resources after the 2026 tax chart deductions land above that line, so the standard percentages in the table apply rather than the lower ones.
How many children does it take to reach 30 percent of net resources?
Three. The Texas schedule runs 20 percent for 1 child, 25 percent for 2, and 30 percent for 3, rising to 40 percent at 5 or more. Each step is a flat percentage of net resources, not of gross pay.
What happens to net resources between gross pay and the guideline percentage?
The 2026 Attorney General tax chart subtracts Social Security tax, Medicare tax, and federal income tax for a single filer using the standard deduction. What is left is net resources, and the guideline percentage applies to that figure, not to the $500 weekly gross figure.
Does 50/50 custody lower this amount in Texas?
Texas has no formula that adjusts support for overnights, so equal parenting time does not automatically change the guideline number. A judge can consider time of possession as one of several deviation factors, but it is not built into the percentage math shown here.
Where can I check this against an official source?
The Office of the Attorney General publishes a Monthly Child Support Calculator using the same 2026 tax charts and percentages this page uses. The full Texas child support calculator on this site links to it and walks through a complete worked example.
About the numbers on this page
Every figure in the table above comes from running the real Texas child support engine on this site, the same engine and data pack behind the full Texas 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 Texas 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.