Child Support If You Make $500 a Week in Colorado
At $500 a week the Colorado self-support reserve is the story: every row in the table below lands on the same figure because the reserve absorbs the income differences.
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Guideline child support scenarios at $500 a week
The paying parent earns $500 a week ($2,166.67 a month) in every cell below. The other parent's monthly income changes across rows, and the number of children changes across columns; both genuinely change the result.Every figure is computed with the real Colorado guideline engine, the same one behind the full calculator, not a lookup table built for this page.
| Other parent's income | 1 child | 2 children | 3 children |
|---|---|---|---|
| No reported income | $267.87 | $284.61 | $298.01 |
| $2,000 a month | $267.87 | $284.61 | $298.01 |
| $4,000 a month | $267.87 | $284.61 | $298.01 |
| $6,000 a month | $267.87 | $284.61 | $298.01 |
Every dollar figure is a monthly amount, the presumptive guideline result before add-ons like child care or health insurance and before any court deviation. "Not available" means the engine behind this site declined to compute that specific combination rather than guess; the reason is shown next to it.
Why every row matches at this income
Colorado rewrote its child support law with HB25-1159, effective March 1, 2026, moving to one worksheet with shared physical care recognized from the first overnight through a per-overnight table. The same rewrite set a self-support reserve that tapers from 80 to 95 percent as income rises, protecting a minimum standard of living for each parent.
At $500 a week, $2,166.67 a month gross, the payer sits low enough that the reserve determines the obligation, and the result stops responding to the other parent income. That is why the table below shows the same figure across all four other-parent rows for each child count.
Reading a table where the reserve flattens the rows
Every row uses the same $500-a-week gross pay for the payer, and the other parent income ranges from none up to $6,000 a month. Under most formulas that range would move the result, but at this income the self-support reserve holds the obligation steady, so the columns read the same top to bottom.
The fixed baseline on this page is zero overnights with the payer and all 365 with the recipient. Colorado no longer has an arrangement selector, so sole custody is expressed directly as an overnight split.
What this estimate includes
- The HB25-1159 per-overnight credit system at its zero-overnight endpoint
- The self-support reserve with its 80 to 95 percent taper
- Results for 1, 2, or 3 children at the fixed 0/365 overnight baseline
What it leaves out
- Shared physical care credits, which begin only with the first overnight
- Child care and health insurance add-ons
- Court-ordered deviations from the guideline amount
Worth knowing
The 80 to 95 percent taper in the self-support reserve is a distinctive 2026 feature. It means the protection does not disappear at one income line; it phases out gradually, which is why the low-income rows behave differently from the higher-income pages in this series.
Because Colorado recognizes shared care from the first overnight, a reader with even one overnight would see a different result than this page. The zero-overnight baseline is the most conservative, sole-custody-equivalent starting point.
Frequently asked questions
Why is every other-parent row the same at $500 a week?
Colorado protects a self-support reserve for each parent, and at $2,166.67 a month gross the payer income is low enough that the reserve sets the obligation. The other parent income stops moving the result because the reserve dominates.
What changed in Colorado in 2026?
HB25-1159 took effect March 1, 2026. It replaced the old system with one worksheet, recognizes shared physical care from the first overnight, extends the schedule to $40,000 a month with linear interpolation, and sets a self-support reserve.
What does the fixed baseline of 0 overnights mean?
It means this page family expresses sole custody as zero overnights with the paying parent and all 365 with the recipient. Colorado has no arrangement selector, so the overnight split is how the calculation expresses the custody arrangement.
Is the self-support reserve the same as a minimum order?
It is related but distinct. The reserve protects a minimum standard of living and tapers from 80 to 95 percent as income rises, rather than cutting off at a flat floor. At very low income it can hold the obligation at a low figure.
Does the number change with more children?
Yes. The 1, 2, and 3-child columns differ, and at this income they are $267.87, $284.61, and $298.01 respectively. The reserve does not flatten the child-count columns, only the other-parent rows.
Where can I check this against the official worksheet?
The Colorado Judicial Branch publishes an electronic worksheet linked from its self-help pages, and the full Colorado child support calculator on this site links to it alongside the HB25-1159 schedule.
About the numbers on this page
Every figure in the table above comes from running the real Colorado child support engine on this site, the same engine and data pack behind the full Colorado child support calculator. Nothing on this page is a separate estimate or a reimplementation of the math. See the sources below for the statutes and official worksheets behind the Colorado guideline.
Reviewed by SupportDecode Editorial Team Page content reviewed Sources Methodology Update log
Changelog: page first published as part of the child support by income series. Material changes are dated in the update log.