North Carolina Child Support Guide 2026: How the Guidelines Calculate Your Amount

Parents facing a support case in North Carolina usually want one number: how much will the court order? A statewide guideline formula turns both parents’ incomes, the custody pattern and the number of children into a presumptive monthly amount. This guide explains how it works. Run your own figures in the free North Carolina child support calculator.

How is child support calculated in North Carolina?

North Carolina adds both parents’ monthly adjusted gross incomes, looks up the basic obligation for that combined income and number of children on the official schedule, adds work-related child care and health insurance costs, then splits the total between the parents in proportion to income under Worksheet A, B or C.

The guidelines, effective January 1, 2023 and prescribed by the Conference of Chief District Court Judges under N.C.G.S. 50-13.4, use an “income shares” model: the child should receive the same proportion of parental income the child would have received if the parents lived together. Unlike older percentage-of-income systems, there is no flat rate applied to one parent’s pay — both incomes always matter. The amount the formula produces is presumed correct, and a court may only depart from it with written findings.

What are Worksheets A, B and C in North Carolina?

The three worksheets match three custody patterns: A for primary custody, where a child lives with one parent at least 243 nights a year; B for shared custody, with at least 123 nights at each home; and C for split custody, where different children live primarily with different parents.

On Worksheet A, an obligation is calculated for both parents but only the non-primary parent is ordered to pay. On Worksheet B, each parent must also carry the children’s expenses during their own time, and the two obligations are offset. On Worksheet C, each parent’s obligation covers the children living with the other parent, and again the obligations are offset. If any child in a split arrangement is actually shared — 123 or more nights with each parent — Worksheet B is used instead of C.

What is North Carolina’s child support schedule?

The Schedule of Basic Support Obligations lists a monthly amount for combined incomes from low levels up to $40,000 a month and one to six children. For example, the obligation is $1,727 for two children at $8,000 combined, and $1,913 at $10,000. Amounts between rows are interpolated.

The schedule (form AOC-A-162, Rev. 1/23) took effect on January 1, 2023, and remains the current version in 2026 — the guidelines are reviewed every four years, with the next review scheduled during 2026. The official table runs in $50 income increments. The amounts are built from average household spending on children from birth to 18, but they deliberately leave out child care, health insurance, and uninsured health care costs above $250 per child per year — the first $250 is already included.

Does shared custody change child support in North Carolina?

Yes, completely. Once each parent has the children for at least 123 nights a year, Worksheet B replaces Worksheet A: the basic obligation is increased by 50 percent, each parent’s share is weighted by the other parent’s overnights, and the two obligations are offset, so only the difference is paid.

The 50 percent increase recognizes that children cost more across two real households — two bedrooms, two sets of clothes, food in both homes. The time weighting then pulls the payment back down: the more nights the paying parent has, the less they transfer. With equal incomes and exactly equal time, the offset can bring the basic payment to zero. Just below the line, at 122 nights, none of this applies and Worksheet A charges the full income share — a cliff worth knowing about before agreeing a custody calendar.

How much is child support in North Carolina for two children?

For parents earning $5,000 and $3,000 a month with two children in one parent’s primary custody, the schedule obligation is $1,727. The paying parent’s 37.5 percent share is about $648, plus roughly $319 for child care and health insurance, giving an estimate near $966 a month.

That example assumes the children live with the higher earner 300 nights a year, $600 of work-related child care and a $250 children’s health premium. Change any input and the figure moves: shared custody would rerun the same incomes through Worksheet B and cut the payment sharply, while higher child care costs push it up. Courts use the actual figures proved in the case, so treat any online number as a close preview rather than the exact order.

Are child care and health insurance added to North Carolina child support?

Yes. Reasonable work-related child care costs and the children’s share of a health insurance premium are added to the basic obligation and divided between the parents in proportion to income. Child care counts when it lets a parent work or look for work; school-related care is only a possible deviation.

For health insurance, only the children’s attributable share of a family premium is added — if that share cannot be separated out, the guidelines divide the total premium by the number of people covered and multiply by the number of children in the case. Coverage counts as reasonably priced when the children’s part costs no more than 5 percent of a parent’s gross income (N.C.G.S. 50-13.11(a1)), and a court must order a parent to obtain it when it is available at that cost. Extraordinary expenses — special schooling for a child’s needs, or transportation between the parents’ homes — can also be added by the court and split by income.

What is the self-support reserve in North Carolina?

It is a protected income floor of $1,133 a month, based on the 2022 federal poverty level for one person. If the paying parent’s adjusted gross income is under $1,150 a month, a minimum order of $50 applies. A shaded-area adjustment protects the reserve at somewhat higher incomes too.

The shaded area works like this: when the paying parent’s income falls in the shaded range of the printed schedule, Worksheet A obligations are recomputed using only that parent’s income, and child care and health insurance are left out of the calculation entirely (paying them may still support a deviation). The reserve and the shaded adjustment apply only on Worksheet A — not on the shared or split custody worksheets. One honest limitation of online tools, ours included: the shaded area’s exact boundary appears only on the printed schedule, so calculators can flag when a result dips below the reserve but cannot apply the shaded adjustment precisely.

What happens when combined income is above $40,000 a month in North Carolina?

The schedule stops applying. Above $40,000 a month of combined adjusted gross income, North Carolina courts cannot take the basic obligation from the schedule at all. Instead they set support to meet the child’s reasonable needs, considering living standards and both parents’ circumstances, using the schedule only as a minimum guide.

In practice, high-income cases turn on evidence: the children’s actual expenses, their accustomed standard of living, each parent’s earnings and assets, and contributions such as a homemaker parent’s child care. The $40,000-row amounts — $3,246 a month for one child up to $7,418 for six — are a floor for the discussion, not an answer.

What counts as income for North Carolina child support?

Almost everything: wages, bonuses, commissions, business and self-employment income, rent, pensions, interest, capital gains, Social Security, workers’ compensation, unemployment and disability benefits, gifts and prizes. Means-tested public assistance, adoption assistance and support received for another child never count, and neither does a new partner’s income.

Two adjustments then produce “adjusted gross income.” First, child support a parent actually pays for other children — under a court order, a separation agreement, or a consistently paid voluntary arrangement — is deducted, though arrearage payments are not. Second, a parent’s responsibility for their other children who live in that parent’s home is deducted, measured as the schedule’s basic obligation for those children on that parent’s income alone. Self-employment income means gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary business expenses. Notably, alimony a parent pays is not deducted from their income — it can only be argued as a reason to deviate.

How can you estimate your own North Carolina child support?

Gather both parents’ gross monthly incomes, any support paid for other children, the children’s overnights with each parent, your monthly child care cost and the children’s health premium, then enter them in the free North Carolina child support calculator. It picks the right worksheet and applies the 2023 schedule automatically.

See also our North Carolina income tax calculator and the paycheck calculator for the wider household picture.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a North Carolina court order more or less than the guideline amount?

Yes. The guideline figure is a rebuttable presumption. If a court concludes the amount would not meet the child’s reasonable needs or would be unjust or inappropriate, it may deviate — but it must make written findings explaining the reasons. Most orders still land on the guideline number.

Is alimony deducted from income when calculating NC child support?

No. Alimony or maintenance a parent pays is not subtracted from their gross income under the guidelines, although it may be raised as a deviation factor. Alimony received from someone other than the other parent in the case does count as income for the receiving parent.

What if a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed in North Carolina?

A court can use potential (imputed) income, but only if it finds the unemployment or underemployment results from bad faith or a deliberate suppression of income. Imputation is never allowed for a physically or mentally incapacitated parent, incarceration alone is not voluntary unemployment, and for a parent with no recent work history, potential income should not be set below minimum wage for a 35-hour week.

Who pays uninsured medical bills above $250 per child per year in North Carolina?

The first $250 per child per year of uninsured medical and dental costs is already built into the schedule amounts. For costs above that, the court may order either or both parents to pay the excess, in the proportion the court considers appropriate — it is handled separately from the monthly guideline amount.

Does child support paid for other children reduce a parent’s income in North Carolina?

Yes. Amounts actually paid under an existing order or agreement for children outside the case are deducted from that parent’s gross income, and so is the parent’s responsibility for other children living in their home, valued from the schedule on that parent’s income alone. Both deductions are built into the calculator as optional fields.

Disclaimer: This guide is general information and an estimate only — not legal advice. Support orders are set by the court under the North Carolina Child Support Guidelines (effective January 1, 2023; N.C.G.S. 50-13.4) and may differ from any estimate here. For advice about your case, consult a North Carolina family law attorney.