Ohio does not set support by negotiation, by a flat percentage of one parent’s pay, or by what either parent thinks is fair. To answer how is child support calculated in ohio, start with the state’s income-shares model: a statutory schedule gives one combined basic obligation for both parents’ incomes together, and each parent is responsible for their share of it in proportion to their income. Health insurance and work-related childcare costs are then shared the same way, a self-support reserve protects a low-income paying parent, and parenting time can reduce the result. This guide walks through every step in order, with a complete worked example for one child using the actual schedule values, so you can follow a real calculation from gross incomes to a monthly figure.
How Is Child Support Calculated in Ohio? The Income-Shares Model
The worksheet every Ohio court and child support agency follows has the same skeleton. First, both parents’ gross annual incomes — from all sources, before taxes, not take-home pay — are added together to give combined gross income. Second, that combined figure is looked up in the basic child support schedule in Ohio Revised Code section 3119.021, in the column for the number of children in the order, producing the combined basic obligation: the amount the schedule says it costs, for guideline purposes, to support those children at that income level. Third, the combined obligation is split between the parents in proportion to income. If one parent earns 60% of the combined income, that parent is responsible for 60% of the obligation. When that parent is the one paying support, their share, adjusted as described below, is the starting point for the order.
Two features of the schedule surprise people. The obligation rises with income, but as a shrinking percentage of it: at $25,000 of combined income the one-child obligation is about 17.5% of income, while at $300,000 it is about 7.3%. And each additional child costs less than the one before. At $100,000 of combined income, the schedule obligation is $11,860.31 a year for one child, $17,624.65 for two, and $20,728.92 for three — the second child adds about $5,764 and the third about $3,104. The schedule covers combined incomes from $8,400 to $300,000 and has columns for one to six children; an order covering seven or more children uses the six-child column and the court adjusts from there. You can run your own incomes through the same steps with our Ohio child support calculator as you read.
| Combined gross income | 1 child (per year) | 2 children (per year) | 3 children (per year) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $25,000 | $4,373.87 | $6,643.69 | $8,005.08 |
| $50,000 | $8,247.18 | $12,462.65 | $14,917.25 |
| $75,000 | $10,250.52 | $15,298.22 | $18,074.48 |
| $100,000 | $11,860.31 | $17,624.65 | $20,728.92 |
| $150,000 | $15,009.10 | $22,263.37 | $26,137.05 |
| $200,000 | $17,935.92 | $26,609.81 | $31,251.36 |
| $300,000 | $21,761.94 | $32,301.88 | $37,960.29 |
The Adjustments: Health Insurance and Work-Related Childcare
The basic obligation is not the final number, because two real costs of raising the children are shared separately, in the same income proportions. The first is the children’s share of a health insurance premium — only the cost of covering the children, not the parent’s own coverage. The second is work-related childcare: care a parent pays for so they can work. The two costs are added together into a cost pool, the paying parent owes their income share of that pool, and a parent who already pays one of those costs directly is credited for what they paid.
The direction of the credit is where most informal estimates go wrong. If the parent receiving support pays the premium and the childcare, the paying parent’s share of those costs is added to the order, because the receiving parent is currently carrying costs the guideline says should be shared. If the paying parent pays those costs directly, they are credited back, and the order falls, potentially by a large amount. Always record who pays each cost, not just its size. The same $8,400 of yearly costs can raise or lower an order by thousands of dollars depending entirely on which parent’s name is on the payments.
The Self-Support Reserve and the Minimum Order
Ohio does not let the schedule push a low-income paying parent below subsistence. Under the reserve built into section 3119.021, the protected amount is $13,780.80 a year, which is 116% of the 2016 federal poverty level for one person. If applying the full schedule amount would leave the paying parent below that line, the obligation is reduced instead along a statutory sliding scale. The practical effect is that at low combined incomes the real obligation is often well below the headline schedule figure for the parents’ income, and the lower the paying parent’s income, the stronger the protection.
At the very bottom of the income range a different rule takes over. When combined income is at or below the schedule’s $8,400 floor, Ohio’s minimum order applies instead of the schedule: $80 a month under section 3119.06, a figure raised from $50 in 2024. The minimum and the reserve interact: a court can order less than the $80 minimum — even $0 — if it finds a reason under that section, for example where the reserve shows the paying parent cannot sustain even the minimum. At the opposite extreme, when combined income exceeds the schedule’s $300,000 top, the court sets support case by case, but the order cannot be less than the $300,000 schedule amount unless the court gives reasons, under section 3119.04. An estimator can show you the $300,000 figure; it cannot exercise the court’s discretion above it.
Parenting Time and Deviations
Time with the children enters the calculation at a specific threshold. Under section 3119.051, a paying parent with 90 or more court-ordered overnights a year receives a 10% reduction in the obligation. The threshold is a cliff, not a slope: 89 overnights produces no reduction under this rule, and 90 triggers the full 10%. The overnights must be court-ordered to count for this adjustment. Above 90 overnights, the court must also consider a further deviation under section 3119.231, including explaining any case where it declines to deviate at 147 or more overnights. That further step is discretionary and fact-specific, so no calculator can apply it for you; it is an argument to make on the record, not a box to tick.
Deviations more generally are governed by the factors in section 3119.23. A court can order more or less than the guideline amount, but only for reasons within that list, stated on the record. Real cases also involve factors a simple estimator cannot see: income a court imputes to a parent it finds voluntarily underemployed, other children a parent is legally responsible for, spousal support between the same parties, and whether suitable health insurance is actually available at reasonable cost. Treat every estimate in this guide as the guideline starting point that a court begins from, not as a prediction of the final order in a contested case. The statute itself is published as Ohio Revised Code section 3119.021, and the schedule it contains is reviewed and updated by rule on a four-year cycle.
A Worked Example: $60,000 and $40,000, One Child
Now put every step together. Parent A earns $60,000 a year and Parent B earns $40,000 a year, gross, from all sources. There is one child in the order, and Parent A will pay support to Parent B. The children’s health insurance premium is $2,400 a year and work-related childcare is $6,000 a year, and in the main version of this example both are paid by Parent B, the parent receiving support.
Step 1 — Combined income. $60,000 plus $40,000 equals $100,000 of combined gross income.
Step 2 — The schedule obligation. From the one-child column at $100,000 in the table above, the combined basic obligation is $11,860.31 a year.
Step 3 — Each parent’s income share. Parent A’s share is $60,000 divided by $100,000, which is 60%. Parent B’s share is the remaining 40%.
Step 4 — The paying parent’s share of the basic obligation. $11,860.31 multiplied by 60% equals $7,116.19 a year (the exact product is $7,116.186, rounded). On its own, that would be $7,116.19 divided by 12, or about $593.02 a month.
Step 5 — Share the added costs. The cost pool is the $2,400 premium plus the $6,000 childcare, totalling $8,400. Parent A owes 60% of that pool: $8,400 multiplied by 60% equals $5,040. Because Parent B already pays both costs directly, there is no credit back to Parent A in this version; instead A’s share of the costs is added to the order.
Step 6 — The guideline total. $7,116.19 plus $5,040 equals $12,156.19 a year. Divided by 12, the estimated support is $1,013.02 a month.
Check the reserve before treating that as final: Parent A’s income is far above the $13,780.80 self-support reserve, so no reserve reduction applies here. Now change one fact to see the credit rule work. If Parent A, the paying parent, paid the $2,400 premium and the $6,000 childcare directly instead, A would be credited dollar-for-dollar for the $8,400 paid, and the arithmetic would become $7,116.19 plus $5,040 minus $8,400, which is $3,756.19 a year, or about $313.02 a month. Same incomes, same child, same total costs — a $700-a-month difference driven entirely by who writes the cheques for insurance and childcare. That is why any estimate that ignores who pays those costs is not worth relying on. Two items are deliberately not in this example, because they sit outside the guideline figure: cash medical support, a separate amount set under section 3119.302 when a child is not covered by private insurance or Medicaid, and the child support agency’s 2% processing charge. Both can appear on a real order in addition to the amount calculated above.
How to Estimate Your Own Order, Step by Step
Step 1 — Write down both gross incomes. Use gross annual income from all sources for each parent, not take-home pay, and not only wages if a parent has other income the worksheet would count.
Step 2 — Find the schedule amount. Add the incomes, take the column for your number of children, and read the combined basic obligation — from the table in this article if your combined income is one of the rows shown, or from a calculator that applies the statutory schedule for other incomes.
Step 3 — Split by income share. Divide the paying parent’s income by combined income and multiply the basic obligation by that percentage.
Step 4 — Add the shared costs, then credit whoever pays them. Total the children’s health premium and work-related childcare, take the paying parent’s income share of that total, add it, and subtract any of those costs the paying parent already pays directly.
Step 5 — Apply the remaining checks. Ask whether the self-support reserve reduces the amount, whether the paying parent has 90 or more court-ordered overnights for the 10% reduction, and whether your combined income is below the $8,400 floor, where the $80-a-month minimum order applies instead, or above the $300,000 cap, where a court decides case by case.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is child support in Ohio for one child?
There is no single amount; it depends on combined gross income. The combined guideline obligation for one child is $4,373.87 a year at $25,000 of combined income, $11,860.31 at $100,000, and $21,761.94 at $300,000. The paying parent owes their income share of that figure — 60% in the worked example, giving $7,116.19 a year before the health insurance and childcare adjustments — so your incomes and who pays the children’s costs decide your figure.
What is the Ohio child support worksheet?
It is the guideline calculation courts and child support agencies complete in every case, following the same steps as this article: combined gross income, the basic obligation from the schedule in section 3119.021, each parent’s income share, adjustments for health insurance premiums and work-related childcare, the self-support reserve, and parenting time. Its result is the guideline amount, from which a court may deviate only for the reasons listed in section 3119.23, stated on the record.
Is there a minimum child support order in Ohio?
Yes: $80 a month under section 3119.06, raised from $50 in April 2024, applying when combined income is at or below the schedule’s $8,400 floor. A court can order less, even $0, if it finds a reason under that section, and the self-support reserve of $13,780.80 can reduce amounts above the floor for a low-income paying parent.
What happens at 90 or more overnights?
Section 3119.051 requires a 10% reduction in the obligation when the paying parent has 90 or more court-ordered overnights a year; 89 overnights earns nothing under that rule. Beyond 90, the court must also consider a further deviation under section 3119.231, and must explain itself if it declines to deviate at 147 or more overnights. That further deviation is discretionary and is not included in a standard estimate.
Does the estimate include cash medical support or fees?
No. Cash medical support under section 3119.302, charged when a child is not on private insurance or Medicaid, is a separate amount, and so is the child support agency’s 2% processing charge. Both can be added on a real order over and above the guideline figure calculated here.
What if our combined income is over $300,000?
The statutory schedule stops at $300,000. Under section 3119.04 the court then sets support case by case on the children’s needs and the parents’ circumstances, but it cannot order less than the $300,000 schedule amount — for one child, a combined obligation of $21,761.94 a year, split by income share — unless it states its reasons.
The Bottom Line
Ohio child support is a worksheet, not a negotiation. Add both gross incomes, take the combined basic obligation from the section 3119.021 schedule for your number of children, give the paying parent their income share of it, share the children’s health insurance and work-related childcare in the same proportions with a credit for whoever pays them directly, and then apply the protections: the $13,780.80 self-support reserve at low incomes, the $80-a-month minimum order at the floor, and the 10% reduction at 90 or more court-ordered overnights. In the worked example that process turns incomes of $60,000 and $40,000 with one child into $1,013.02 a month — and turns on who pays the insurance and childcare, which alone was worth $700 a month. Run your own incomes through the same steps before you agree to, or challenge, any figure.
This article is general information about Ohio’s child support guidelines and is not legal advice. Courts and child support agencies set the actual order on the full facts of each case, and they may deviate from the guideline amount for stated reasons. Verify the current statute and consult a qualified Ohio family-law professional about your own case.
