Tennessee Child Support Guidelines

Tennessee 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 Tennessee at rank #33 of 51 states by single-child base percentage. Unlike capped states, there is no statutory income ceiling — the formula applies to the full reported income before deductions. Median household income across Tennessee is $59,695 annually, which shapes the real-world dollar obligations families face under these percentages.

On the enforcement side, the Tennessee child support program manages 387,000 active cases and collected approximately $560 million in the most recent OCSE reporting year. The state's collection rate of 55.6% compares to a national average of 60.6% across reporting states — placing Tennessee at rank #42 of 51 on collection efficiency, and rank #11 by caseload volume (national average: 285,686 cases per state). Paternity is established in 93.6% of Tennessee 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 71.4% 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. Tennessee allows a parenting time adjustment, which can materially reduce the base obligation when the non-custodial parent exercises substantial overnight time. Use the official Tennessee calculator linked below for a binding estimate. Data sources: OCSE FY2022 Annual Report, Tennessee Revised Statutes, and Census ACS 2022.