Child Support If You Make $500 a Week in the District of Columbia
At $500 a week the same monthly figure appears in several cells of the table below, because the DC guideline protects a self-support amount for the paying parent.
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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 District of Columbia 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 | $397.77 | $397.77 | $397.77 |
| $2,000 a month | $397.77 | $397.77 | $397.77 |
| $4,000 a month | $370.73 | $397.77 | $397.77 |
| $6,000 a month | $349.63 | $397.77 | $397.77 |
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 several cells show the same figure
The District guideline starts with the Appendix I schedule on combined adjusted gross income, then applies limits so the order does not push the paying parent below a protected self-support amount. When the schedule result would leave the payer without enough to live on, the engine caps the monthly amount at what the payer can pay after keeping that self-support figure.
At $500 a week, the payer earns about $2,166.67 a month, or roughly $26,000 a year. After protecting the self-support amount the District applies, the maximum monthly obligation works out to a figure that appears in several cells below, especially in the two- and three-child columns where the unadjusted schedule result would be higher.
Reading a table with a repeating figure
Every row uses the same $500-a-week payer income. The repeated figure in the higher child-count columns is not a bug: it is the engine applying the self-support ability limit when the raw schedule share would exceed what this payer can pay. The one-child column at the higher other-parent rows stays below that limit and shows the ordinary schedule share instead.
What this estimate includes
- The Appendix I schedule lookup on combined adjusted gross income
- The proportional share of the obligation assigned to the paying parent
- The self-support ability cap that produces the repeating figure
What it leaves out
- The shared-custody adjustment, which requires a court-ordered time split this page does not supply
- Child care, health insurance, and other add-on expenses
- Court-ordered deviations from the guideline result
Worth knowing
The District also applies a 35 percent cap on the paying parent obligation as a separate limit from the self-support amount. At $500 a week the self-support cap is the one that binds in the repeating cells.
This page shows the base guideline only. A parent with a court-ordered shared time split, child care, or health insurance costs would need the full calculator, which handles those steps.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the same figure repeat in several cells at $500 a week?
The DC engine caps the monthly obligation so the paying parent keeps a self-support amount. When the raw schedule share exceeds that cap, the engine returns the capped figure, which is why the same monthly amount appears in multiple cells.
Is the repeating figure a bug?
No. It is the engine applying a real limit in the guideline. The payer at $500 a week has a limited ability to pay once the self-support amount is protected, and the cap reflects that.
Why does the one-child column differ at higher other-parent rows?
The one-child schedule share is smaller to begin with, so in the higher other-parent rows it stays below the ability cap and the engine returns the ordinary schedule amount rather than the capped one.
Does the shared-custody adjustment appear in this table?
No. That adjustment is a separate calculation step that needs a court-ordered time split between the parents. This page uses a no-order baseline, so the base Appendix I lookup and the ability limits are what apply.
How does DC combine the two parents incomes?
It adds the annualized adjusted gross incomes, reads the Appendix I schedule for that combined total and the number of children, then assigns the paying parent a share in proportion to income, before applying the self-support and 35 percent limits.
Is $500 a week below the DC self-support reserve?
The payer annual income clears the reserve itself, but only narrowly, so the ability cap binds in several cells. A payer below the reserve would get an individualized determination rather than an automatic schedule figure.
About the numbers on this page
Every figure in the table above comes from running the real District of Columbia child support engine on this site, the same engine and data pack behind the full District of Columbia 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 District of Columbia 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.