Virginia Child Support Guidelines

Virginia 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 16% of income, scaling to 23% for two children and 28% for three. That places Virginia at rank #46 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 Virginia is $80,615 annually, which shapes the real-world dollar obligations families face under these percentages.

On the enforcement side, the Virginia child support program manages 376,000 active cases and collected approximately $710 million in the most recent OCSE reporting year. The state's collection rate of 60.9% compares to a national average of 60.6% across reporting states — placing Virginia at rank #26 of 51 on collection efficiency, and rank #12 by caseload volume (national average: 285,686 cases per state). Paternity is established in 95.7% of Virginia 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 76.4% 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. Virginia allows a parenting time adjustment, which can materially reduce the base obligation when the non-custodial parent exercises substantial overnight time. Use the official Virginia calculator linked below for a binding estimate. Data sources: OCSE FY2022 Annual Report, Virginia Revised Statutes, and Census ACS 2022.