Colorado child support calculator, 2026 edition.

Add both parents’ monthly adjusted gross incomes, find the basic obligation for that combined income and number of children on the statutory schedule (C.R.S. 14-10-115(7)(b), now running to $40,000 a month), and split it between the parents by their shares of income. Each parent’s share is then reduced by a credit for that parent’s overnights from the parenting-time table in 14-10-115(8)(h). The parent left owing the positive amount is the obligor. Add each parent’s share of work-related child care net of the federal credit, the children’s health insurance premium and any extraordinary expenses, subtract what each already pays directly, and the difference is the order.

Four things. The schedule now runs to $40,000 of combined monthly income instead of $30,000. Shared physical care no longer starts at 93 overnights with a 1.5 multiplier; every overnight earns a percentage credit from a statutory table, on one worksheet. Low-income rules now use a self-support reserve tied to the state minimum wage, a $10 minimum order, flat reduced amounts, a ramp and caps. And the $250-a-child threshold for extraordinary medical expenses was removed. Existing orders do not change automatically; the new arithmetic applies when a motion is decided after March 1, 2026.

Any number, now. Under the 2026 table one overnight a year earns a 0.07% credit, 52 earns 5.27%, 92 earns 13.19%, 104 earns 16.54%, 130 earns 25.58% and 182.5 earns 50%. The credit is applied to the basic obligation, so the effect on the final number is gradual rather than the old cliff at 93 nights. Parenting time still has to be real: the court can deviate where a parent spends substantially more or less time than the overnight count reflects.

Yes. Enter 182.5 overnights each, or tick any of the equal-time schedules. With equal time each parent’s credit is 50% of the basic obligation, so the higher earner usually pays the difference between the two shares, adjusted for child care, insurance and expenses each parent pays directly. Equal time does not mean no child support unless the incomes are also equal.

Gross income from any source: wages, salary, bonuses, commissions, consistent overtime, self-employment and business income after ordinary and necessary expenses, rents, interest, dividends, capital gains, pensions, workers’ compensation, unemployment and disability benefits, and more (C.R.S. 14-10-115(5)). Child support received for other children, means-tested public assistance and a new spouse’s income are not counted. If a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed the court may impute potential income, with exceptions for a parent caring for a child under 24 months and a few others.

Maintenance ordered between the same two parents is subtracted from the payor’s income and added to the recipient’s on the worksheet. Because maintenance under orders entered after 2018 is not deductible, the statute grosses the amount up by 1.25 when the parties’ combined income is $10,000 a month or less and by 1.33 when it is more (C.R.S. 14-10-115(3)(a)(II), (5)(a)(I.5)). Maintenance is calculated first for that reason. The combined calculator on this site runs the two statutes in order.

A floor that protects a low-income obligor. For 2026 it is $1,831.83 a month: the state minimum wage of $15.16 times 29 hours times 50 weeks, divided by twelve. An obligor at or below $650 pays a $10 minimum order. Between $650 and the reserve the basic obligation is reduced to $50 to $150 a month depending on the number of children, and the order is capped at 10% of the obligor’s income. Above the reserve the obligation ramps in at 80% to 95% of the income over the reserve, with a 20% cap up to about $2,628 a month.

The schedule stops at $40,000. By statute the basic obligation may not be less than the $40,000 row, and the court has discretion above it (C.R.S. 14-10-115(7)(a)(VII)). The calculator extrapolates the schedule proportionally by default, the way commercial software does, and shows the statutory floor beside it; switch the option off to use the floor. Above the top of the schedule the court is required to translate the children’s actual standard of living into findings, and the case is about evidence.

Work-related child care goes on line 8a net of the federal child and dependent care credit the paying parent is expected to receive (C.R.S. 14-10-115(9)(b)). The calculator estimates that credit from the parent’s income and the number of children, using the 2026 federal rules, and discloses the estimate in the notes. If you know the net figure, enter it and tick the box. Child care while a parent is in school counts on line 8b. The cost is shared by income like the basic obligation.

Yes. The guideline amount is a rebuttable presumption. The court may deviate where applying it would be inequitable, unjust or inappropriate, with findings that state the reasons and the presumed amount, for example where a parent spends substantially more time than the overnight count reflects, for extraordinary costs of parenting time, for a gross disparity in income, or for consistent overtime not counted as income (C.R.S. 14-10-115(8)(e)). Parents can also agree to a different number, which the court reviews for adequacy.

It follows JDF 1821 line for line, and the results are checked against a published test set and a commercial Colorado calculator. The one place the worksheet’s printed instructions are ambiguous, the final netting when one parent’s line 6 is negative, the calculator treats the negative amount as zero, which is how the Child Support Commission’s own worked example comes out. If your filing needs the form itself, the numbers transfer directly.

File a motion to modify. The statute deems a change substantial and continuing when the recalculated amount differs from the current order by ten percent or more (C.R.S. 14-10-122(1)(b)), and applying the 2026 rules can itself produce that change. The new amount runs from the date the motion is filed, not from the date circumstances changed, so timing matters. The modification pages explain the process.