Wage Garnishment Limits in Arizona
At a glance
| Governing law | Wage-exemption cap in Title 33 (Property), A.R.S. § 33-1131; garnishment procedure in Title 12, §§ 12-1598 to 12-1598.17. Both rewritten by voter-approved Proposition 209 (Predatory Debt Collection Protection Act), effective December 5, 2022 |
|---|---|
| Maximum that can be garnished | Lesser of 10% of disposable earnings for the week, or the amount disposable earnings exceed 60x the applicable minimum hourly wage (§ 33-1131(B)) — down from a pre-2022 25%/30x formula. A court may reduce the 10% to not less than 5% on clear and convincing evidence of extreme economic hardship (§ 12-1598.10(F)) |
| State rule vs. federal floor | Arizona's 10%/60x-highest-applicable-wage formula is stricter than the federal 25%/30x-federal-wage formula (§ 33-1131(B); 15 U.S.C. § 1673(a)) |
| Minimum-wage protected floor | 60x the highest applicable federal, Arizona, or local hourly minimum wage; Arizona's 2026 rate is $15.15, making the statewide weekly floor $909 before any higher local rate (§ 33-1131(B); ICA 2026 notice) |
| Support, tax & student loan debts | A support order isn't subject to the ordinary cap at all — instead, 50% of disposable earnings is exempt, so up to 50% can be garnished (§ 33-1131(C)). A bankruptcy-court order and any state or federal tax debt are also carved out of the cap entirely, with no percentage limit under this section (§ 33-1131(D)). Federal student loan administrative wage garnishment (15%, 20 U.S.C. § 1095a) proceeds independently of this chapter |
| Head-of-household/family exemption | The wage cap applies to a debtor's disposable earnings; a court may reduce the 10% rate to at least 5% on clear and convincing evidence of extreme hardship to the debtor or family (§§ 33-1131(B), 12-1598.10(F)) |
| Multiple garnishments at once | Generally first-in-time: conflicting garnishments and levies rank by priority in time of service (§ 12-1598.14(A)) — but a wage assignment, garnishment, or levy for the support of a person always outranks one that isn't for support, regardless of timing (§ 12-1598.14(B)). If a junior garnishment recovers nothing for two consecutive paydays because of these priority rules, that junior lien becomes invalid (§ 12-1598.14(C)) |
| Protection from being fired | Federal law bars discharge because of garnishment for any one indebtedness (15 U.S.C. § 1674(a)) |
Requirements one by one
Maximum that can be garnished
A.R.S. § 33-1131(B) requires the smaller of 10% of weekly disposable earnings or the amount above 60 times the highest applicable minimum hourly wage. The Industrial Commission of Arizona sets the 2026 state rate at $15.15. At that rate, the statewide weekly floor is $909 (60 × $15.15). For $1,000 in weekly disposable earnings, 10% is $100, but only $91 exceeds the floor, so an ordinary judgment creditor may take at most $91. A higher applicable local minimum wage would raise that floor.
Section 12-1598.10(F) lets a court reduce the 10% figure to no less than 5% when clear and convincing evidence shows extreme economic hardship to the debtor or the debtor's family. The court must make that finding at a hearing.
Exceptions for support and public debts
A.R.S. § 33-1131(C) says that for a support order, “one-half of the disposable earnings of a debtor for any pay period is exempt from process.” Section 33-1131(D) removes this section's exemptions for bankruptcy-court orders and state or federal tax debts. Federal student-loan collection has a separate 15% limit under 20 U.S.C. § 1095a(a)(1).
Multiple garnishments
Under A.R.S. § 12-1598.14(A), conflicting garnishments and levies ordinarily rank by when they were served. Subsection (B) puts support assignments and support garnishments ahead of non-support process. If those priorities leave a junior creditor without any nonexempt earnings for two consecutive paydays, subsection (C) invalidates the junior lien and requires employer notice.
Protection from being fired
The federal rule in 15 U.S.C. § 1674(a) says: “No employer may discharge any employee by reason of the fact that his earnings have been subjected to garnishment for any one indebtedness.”
What trips people up
The current Arizona hardship provision is labeled “§ 12-1598.10; Version 1” and identifies Proposition 209. Its 10% and 5% figures match the current wage cap in § 33-1131(B). The unversioned page still displays older percentages, so use the version that matches the current wage-cap statute.
Common questions
Do bonuses, commissions, and retirement payments count as earnings? Yes. Section 33-1131(A) includes bonuses, commissions, pensions, retirement-program payments, and deferred compensation in disposable earnings after deductions required by law.
Does a continuing wage lien follow me if I leave the employer? Section 12-1598.10(D)(2) makes it invalid after the debtor leaves that employer for more than 60 days. The provision gives certain school employees with school-year pay contracts a 90-day period.
Statutes and sources
- A.R.S. § 33-1131(A) — “For the purposes of this section, "disposable earnings" means that remaining portion of a debtor's wages, salary or compensation for his personal services, including bonuses and commissions, or otherwise, and includes payments pursuant to a pension or retirement program or deferred compensation plan, after deducting from such earnings those amounts required by law to be withheld.” https://www.azleg.gov/ars/33/01131.htm (accessed 2026-10-07).
- A.R.S. § 33-1131(B) — “Except as provided in subsection C, the maximum part of the disposable earnings of a debtor for any workweek that is subject to process may not exceed ten percent of disposable earnings for that week or the amount by which disposable earnings for that week exceed sixty times the applicable minimum hourly wage in effect at the time the earnings are payable, whichever is less. The applicable minimum hourly wage is the minimum wage required by federal, state or local law, whichever is highest.” https://www.azleg.gov/ars/33/01131.htm (accessed 2026-10-07).
- A.R.S. § 33-1131(C) — “The exemptions provided in subsection B do not apply in the case of any order for the support of any person. In such case, one-half of the disposable earnings of a debtor for any pay period is exempt from process.” https://www.azleg.gov/ars/33/01131.htm (accessed 2026-10-07).
- A.R.S. § 33-1131(D) — “The exemptions provided in this section do not apply in the case of any order of any court of bankruptcy under chapter XIII of the federal bankruptcy act or any debt due for any state or federal tax.” https://www.azleg.gov/ars/33/01131.htm (accessed 2026-10-07).
- A.R.S. § 12-1598.10(F) — “If at the hearing the court determines that the judgment debtor is subject to the ten percent maximum disposable earnings provision under section 33-1131, subsection B and based on clear and convincing evidence that the judgment debtor or the judgment debtor's family would suffer extreme economic hardship as a result of the garnishment, the court may reduce the amount of nonexempt earnings withheld under a continuing lien ordered pursuant to this section from the ten percent to not less than five percent.” https://www.azleg.gov/ars/12/01598-10.01.htm (accessed 2026-10-07).
- A.R.S. § 12-1598.14 — “A. Except as provided in subsections B and C, conflicting wage garnishments and levies rank according to priority in time of service. B. Garnishments, levies and wage assignments which are not for the support of a person are inferior to wage assignments for the support of a person. Garnishments which are not for the support of a person and levies are inferior to garnishments for the support of a person. C. If a judgment debtor's earnings become subject to more than one writ of garnishment pursuant to this article, and because of the application of the priorities set forth in subsections A and B a judgment creditor recovers no nonexempt earnings for two consecutive paydays, the lien on earnings of such judgment creditor is invalid and of no force and effect, and the garnishee shall notify the judgment creditor accordingly.” https://www.azleg.gov/ars/12/01598-14.htm (accessed 2026-10-07).
- 15 U.S.C. § 1673 — “Except as provided in subsection (b) and in section 1675 of this title, the maximum part of the aggregate disposable earnings of an individual for any workweek which is subjected to garnishment may not exceed (1) 25 per centum of his disposable earnings for that week, or (2) the amount by which his disposable earnings for that week exceed thirty times the Federal minimum hourly wage prescribed by section 206(a)(1) of title 29 in effect at the time the earnings are payable, whichever is less.” https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2024-title15/USCODE-2024-title15-chap41-subchapII-sec1673 (accessed 2026-10-07).
- 15 U.S.C. § 1674 — “(a) No employer may discharge any employee by reason of the fact that his earnings have been subjected to garnishment for any one indebtedness. (b) Whoever willfully violates subsection (a) of this section shall be fined not more than $1,000, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.” https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2024-title15/USCODE-2024-title15-chap41-subchapII-sec1674 (accessed 2026-10-07).
- 20 U.S.C. § 1095a(a)(1) — “Notwithstanding any provision of State law, a guaranty agency, or the Secretary in the case of loans made, insured or guaranteed under this subchapter that are held by the Secretary, may garnish the disposable pay of an individual to collect the amount owed by the individual, if he or she is not currently making required repayment under a repayment agreement with the Secretary, or, in the case of a loan guaranteed under part B on which the guaranty agency received reimbursement from the Secretary under section 1078(c) of this title, with the guaranty agency holding the loan, as appropriate, provided that— (1) the amount deducted for any pay period may not exceed 15 percent of disposable pay, except that a greater percentage may be deducted with the written consent of the individual involved;” https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2024-title20/USCODE-2024-title20-chap28-subchapIV-partG-sec1095a (accessed 2026-10-07).
- A.R.S. § 12-1598.10(D)(2) — “The judgment debtor leaves the garnishee's employ for more than sixty days or, if the judgment debtor is an employee of a school district, a charter school, the Arizona state schools for the deaf and the blind or an accommodation school and the judgment debtor is subject to an employment contract that specifies that paydays are restricted to the school year, for more than ninety days.” https://www.azleg.gov/ars/12/01598-10.01.htm (accessed 2026-10-07).
- Industrial Commission of Arizona, 2026 Minimum Wage notice — “In accordance with A.R.S. § 23-363(B), Arizona's minimum wage will increase from $14.70 to $15.15, effective January 1, 2026.” https://www.azica.gov/sites/default/files/2025-10/2026%20Minimum%20Wage.pdf (accessed 2026-10-07).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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