Why Iowa Collects 68.4% of Child Support While Mississippi Collects 49.3%

Findings

Iowa leads at 68.4% — the top of a 19.1-point spread

PlainChildSupport's states table lists Iowa's enforcement_collection_rate at 68.4% in the enforcement dataset, the highest value across 51 jurisdictions.US Office of Child Support Enforcement — FY2023 Preliminary Data Report This rate exceeds North Dakota's enforcement_collection_rate by 0.9 points. Minnesota's enforcement_collection_rate follows at 67.2% in the states table. Idaho records 66.8% in enforcement_collection_rate. Wisconsin places fifth with 66.5%.PlainChildSupport enforcement dataset, 2023

The states table enforcement_collections_m column captures millions collected for Iowa alongside enforcement_cases totals. enforcement_orders_pct tracks the fraction of cases with orders in Iowa's row. enforcement_paternity_pct logs paternity establishment rates for the state. North Dakota's row in the states table mirrors this structure with its 67.5% enforcement_collection_rate value. Minnesota's states table entry includes 67.2% in enforcement_collection_rate next to enforcement_collections_m data.

• Iowa: 68.4% enforcement_collection_rate in states table
• North Dakota: 67.5% enforcement_collection_rate
• Minnesota: 67.2% enforcement_collection_rate
• Idaho: 66.8% enforcement_collection_rate
• Wisconsin: 66.5% enforcement_collection_rate

Iowa's position creates a 19.1 percentage point spread to the lowest enforcement_collection_rate in the enforcement dataset.US Office of Child Support Enforcement — FY2023 Preliminary Data Report Developers join the states table enforcement_collection_rate column to formula types from the National Conference of State Legislatures data. Iowa child support guidelines detail Income Shares implementation in the state's row. The states table enforcement_cases column supports volume-based analysis for Iowa at the leading recovery ratio.

enforcement_collections_m in Iowa's states table row quantifies dollars recovered at the leading rate. enforcement_orders_pct provides order coverage metrics for the jurisdiction. North Dakota's 67.5% enforcement_collection_rate pairs with its enforcement_paternity_pct value in the states table. Idaho's states table entry holds 66.8% in enforcement_collection_rate with linked enforcement_cases data. View full profiles via all 51 state enforcement profiles.

The bottom five: Mississippi at 49.3%, New Mexico, Louisiana, DC, Georgia

Mississippi anchors the states table with 49.3% in enforcement_collection_rate, the minimum across 51 jurisdictions in the enforcement dataset.US Office of Child Support Enforcement — FY2023 Preliminary Data Report New Mexico ranks 50th at 51.2% enforcement_collection_rate in its states table row. Louisiana holds 49th place with 52.8% in enforcement_collection_rate. District of Columbia records 53.5% as 48th. Georgia lists 54.3% enforcement_collection_rate in 47th position.

• Mississippi: 49.3% enforcement_collection_rate in states table
• New Mexico: 51.2% enforcement_collection_rate
• Louisiana: 52.8% enforcement_collection_rate
• District of Columbia: 53.5% enforcement_collection_rate
• Georgia: 54.3% enforcement_collection_rate

The states table enforcement_collections_m column shows Mississippi's recovered millions at the trailing-jurisdiction rate next to enforcement_cases volumes. enforcement_orders_pct in Mississippi's row measures active orders fraction. enforcement_paternity_pct tracks paternity metrics for the state. New Mexico's states table entry pairs 51.2% enforcement_collection_rate with enforcement_collections_m data. Louisiana's 52.8% enforcement_collection_rate appears alongside enforcement_orders_pct.PlainChildSupport enforcement dataset, 2023

District of Columbia's states table row holds 53.5% in enforcement_collection_rate with enforcement_cases totals. Georgia's enforcement_paternity_pct joins its 54.3% enforcement_collection_rate value. Mississippi child support guidelines outline Percentage of Income usage at 14% base rate in the state's profile. The bottom-state recovery figure in Mississippi's states table contrasts the top spread of 19.1 points.

enforcement_collections_m quantifies shortfalls for New Mexico at 51.2% enforcement_collection_rate. Louisiana's states table enforcement_orders_pct supports order analysis at 52.8%. Developers reference enforcement_paternity_pct across bottom states like Georgia at 54.3%. Full 51 state enforcement profiles expose these states table columns for comparison.

Formula and income do not predict enforcement performance

Of top five states in enforcement_collection_rate, Iowa, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Idaho use Income Shares formula per National Conference of State Legislatures data.National Conference of State Legislatures — Child Support Guidelines Wisconsin employs Percentage of Income at 17% base rate yet achieves 66.5% enforcement_collection_rate in states table. Mississippi's bottom-tier collection ratio pairs with Percentage of Income at 14% base—the lowest in its six-state cluster.

Iowa's median household income stands at $73,147 per US Census Bureau ACS 2022 B19013.US Census Bureau — ACS 2022 B19013 Median Household Income This value trails District of Columbia's $90,842 median household income. Maryland records $90,203 median household income. New Jersey lists $89,703. Massachusetts holds $89,026 median household income. Iowa's states table top-of-fleet collection ratio succeeds despite mid-tier income.

Mississippi's states table row links its bottom-of-fleet collection ratio to Percentage of Income formula details. Wisconsin's 66.5% enforcement_collection_rate in states table uses 17% Percentage of Income base. enforcement_orders_pct across top states like North Dakota at 67.5% aids formula analysis. Income Shares in Idaho's row supports 66.8% enforcement_collection_rate without high median household income.

enforcement_paternity_pct in Minnesota's states table complements 67.2% enforcement_collection_rate under Income Shares. North Dakota child support guidelines specify Income Shares for its 67.5% performance. District of Columbia's $90,842 median household income aligns with 53.5% enforcement_collection_rate—below top performers. How to modify a child support order references states table metrics like enforcement_cases.

Georgia's 54.3% enforcement_collection_rate in states table ignores its income position. Louisiana's 52.8% enforcement_collection_rate joins enforcement_collections_m data without formula-income correlation. New Mexico at 51.2% enforcement_collection_rate follows suit in the enforcement dataset.

PlainChildSupport states table enforcement_collection_rate column reveals Iowa's leading position spans 19.1 points to Mississippi's lagging position. Top performers blend Income Shares in four states—Iowa, North Dakota, Minnesota, Idaho—with Wisconsin's 17% Percentage of Income at 66.5%. Mississippi deploys 14% Percentage of Income yet posts the bottom-of-fleet collection ratio. Iowa's $73,147 median household income lags District of Columbia's $90,842, Maryland's $90,203, New Jersey's $89,703, and Massachusetts's $89,026, decoupling income from enforcement success. states table columns enforcement_orders_pct, enforcement_paternity_pct, enforcement_cases, and enforcement_collections_m enable deeper queries into these patterns across 51 jurisdictions.ACF Form 157 — Child Support Enforcement Program

Comparative jurisdictional notes

Comparing IV-D child-support administration across the 51 jurisdictions reveals administrative patterns that defy simple aggregation. Income-Shares states like Iowa, North Dakota, and Minnesota deliver collection-efficiency ratios above 67% by leveraging integrated state-disbursement-unit (SDU) ledger reconciliation, employer-direct income-withholding-order (IWO) routing under OMB-0970-0154 standardized templates, and aggressive licensure-suspension referrals through driver-license-suspension and professional-license-revocation administrative pathways. Percentage-of-Income states such as Texas, Illinois, and Wisconsin emphasize lump-sum-payment intercept reporting through new-hire-directory clearinghouses and Federal-Parent-Locator-Service (FPLS) cross-jurisdictional asset-trace queries. Melson-formula jurisdictions Delaware, Hawaii, and Montana incorporate self-support-reserve subtraction before percentage application, producing materially lower obligations at low-income brackets while preserving guideline-presumption integrity at higher earnings. Tribal-court IV-D coordination adds another layer in Alaska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and New Mexico where Bureau-of-Indian-Affairs comity considerations interact with state-court continuing-exclusive-jurisdiction (CEJ) doctrine under the Uniform-Interstate-Family-Support-Act (UIFSA) framework. Cooperation-with-paternity-establishment is a TANF eligibility precondition under Title IV-A, creating direct programmatic linkage between cash-assistance enrollment and child-support-establishment caseload growth. Bradley-Amendment-1986 prohibits retroactive modification of arrears, while Personal-Responsibility-and-Work-Opportunity-Reconciliation-Act-1996 (PRWORA) standardized state new-hire reporting, in-hospital-paternity acknowledgment programs, and license-suspension authority. State-court-rule-of-civil-procedure variation governs contempt-enforcement procedures, with civil-contempt confinement bounded by Turner-v-Rogers-560-US-431 due-process requirements and criminal-contempt subject to jury-trial threshold doctrine.

Family-services reference notes

Modern child-support administration draws on Title IV-D of the Social Security Act (42 USC 651-669b), the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), and a federal-state cooperative-agreement structure that channels federal-financial-participation (FFP) reimbursement at varying match rates. Paternity-establishment proceeds through voluntary acknowledgment under the in-hospital paternity-affidavit pathway, judicial adjudication, or administrative determination via genetic-testing under 45 CFR 303.5 with chain-of-custody buccal-swab DNA-collection protocols. Income-withholding implements through OMB-Form-0970-0154 standardized Income-Withholding-Order (IWO) employer service, with lump-sum-payment reporting requirements covering bonuses, severance, and stock-vesting events. The National-Medical-Support-Notice (NMSN) directs employers to enroll dependents in employer-sponsored group health insurance under ERISA-preemption-exemption provisions. Tax-intercept enforcement uses the Federal-Tax-Refund-Offset-Program coordinated through the Treasury-Offset-Program (TOP) and Department-of-Treasury Bureau of the Fiscal Service, with state-tax-refund offsets layered separately under Franchise-Tax-Board or Department-of-Revenue cooperative agreements. Passport-denial under 22 USC 2714a triggers when arrears exceed $2,500. License-suspension authority spans driver-license, professional-license, recreational-license, and business-license categories under PRWORA-1996 mandatory-state-law provisions. Interstate-case processing under UIFSA codifies long-arm jurisdiction, registration of foreign orders, continuing-exclusive-jurisdiction (CEJ) preservation, and direct income-withholding without intervening state-court action. The Hague-Convention-on-the-International-Recovery-of-Child-Support extends UIFSA principles to 40+ treaty countries with central-authority case-coordination protocols. The Income-Withholding-for-Support-Act (ICSA) federalized employer-compliance penalties. State-law guideline-models include Income-Shares (parental-income combined with schedule-table lookup), Percentage-of-Obligor-Income (flat or graduated rate against non-custodial-parent gross or net), and Melson formula (three-step self-support-reserve / primary-need / standard-of-living-adjustment SOLA stages). Self-support-reserve provisions under low-income-adjustment subtables reduce obligations when obligor income falls below subsistence thresholds. Modification standards apply substantial-change-in-circumstances doctrine, with PRWORA mandating three-year automatic-review opportunities. Arrears compute with statutory-interest-rate (typically 6%-12% APR depending on jurisdiction), retroactive-support computed back to filing date, and prospective-support starting at the order date. Title IV-A TANF cooperation-requirements link cash-assistance enrollment to child-support-establishment caseload growth, while Title IV-E foster-care reimbursement intersects with paternity-establishment for placement-eligible children. The Family-Support-Act-1988 created mandatory guideline rebuttable-presumption requirements, and the Federal-Case-Registry (FCR) plus State-Case-Registry (SCR) combined with the National-Directory-of-New-Hires (NDNH) deliver integrated locate-and-enforcement infrastructure. Methodology page documents how PlainChildSupport reconciles OCSE Annual Report aggregates with state-statute base-percentage tables and FCIC-style data-quality assertions.