New Jersey Child Support Guidelines

New Jersey operates under the Income Shares model, one of 42 U.S. states using this framework. For a parent supporting one child, the base guideline applies roughly 17% of income, scaling to 25% for two children and 31% for three. That places New Jersey at rank #33 of 51 states by single-child base percentage. The state caps countable income at $187,200 per month, meaning earnings above that threshold fall to judicial discretion rather than the formula. Median household income across New Jersey is $89,703 annually, which shapes the real-world dollar obligations families face under these percentages.

On the enforcement side, the New Jersey child support program manages 332,000 active cases and collected approximately $900 million in the most recent OCSE reporting year. The state's collection rate of 63.2% compares to a national average of 60.6% across reporting states — placing New Jersey at rank #19 of 51 on collection efficiency, and rank #14 by caseload volume (national average: 285,686 cases per state). Paternity is established in 96.1% of New Jersey cases, compared to 94.9% nationally — a critical step because child support orders cannot be enforced without legal parentage on record. Orders are in place for 77.6% of the caseload.

Context matters when interpreting these numbers. A higher percentage-of-income figure does not automatically mean higher dollar obligations — the underlying income brackets, deductions, parenting-time adjustments, and self-support reserves vary meaningfully between states. New Jersey allows a parenting time adjustment, which can materially reduce the base obligation when the non-custodial parent exercises substantial overnight time. Use the official New Jersey calculator linked below for a binding estimate. Data sources: OCSE FY2022 Annual Report, New Jersey Revised Statutes, and Census ACS 2022.