Colorado: Wage Garnishment Limits
The short answer
Colorado protects the greater of 80% of disposable earnings or the amount up to 40 times the minimum hourly wage (state or federal, whichever produces more protection -- in practice Colorado's own, higher minimum wage) -- so an ordinary judgment creditor can reach at most the lesser of 20% of disposable earnings or the amount above that 40x floor. That's more protective on both numbers than the federal formula, following a 2020 reform. A debtor can also petition for an even bigger exemption by showing actual living expenses make the standard cut insufficient. Only one continuing garnishment writ is paid at a time; competing writs queue up strictly by date of service, except that a child-support garnishment always jumps to the front of the line.
| Governing law | C.R.S. § 13-54-104 (the exemption formula, disposable-earnings definitions, and the carve-outs for support, bankruptcy, and tax debt) works together with Article 54.5 (§§ 13-54.5-101 to -111), which creates the continuing-garnishment writ itself, its 182-day duration, notice and hearing procedures, priority among competing writs (§ 13-54.5-104), and the anti-discharge rule (§ 13-54.5-110) |
|---|---|
| Maximum that can be garnished | Under § 13-54-104(2)(a)(I), for an ordinary debt the reachable amount is the LEAST of: (A) 20% of disposable earnings for the week; (B) the amount by which disposable earnings exceed 40 times the federal minimum hourly wage; or (C) the amount by which disposable earnings exceed 40 times the Colorado state minimum hourly wage. Because Colorado's own minimum wage is higher than the federal rate, option (C) is the smallest number and effectively controls, locking the exemption to the state's higher wage floor. A debtor can also petition under § 13-54-104(2)(a)(I)(D) for an even larger exemption by proving actual necessary living expenses make the standard cut insufficient |
| State rule vs. federal floor | More protective than federal law on both axes at once, the product of a 2020 reform (HB 19-1189, effective October 1, 2020): the reachable percentage dropped from the federal 25% to 20%, and the minimum-wage multiplier rose from the federal 30x to 40x -- and because that 40x multiplier is applied against whichever of the state or federal minimum wage produces the smaller garnishable amount, Colorado's own (currently higher) minimum wage effectively sets the real-dollar floor rather than the lower federal rate |
| Minimum-wage protected floor | 40 times the minimum hourly wage -- the statute lists both the federal rate (29 U.S.C. § 206(a)(1)) and Colorado's own constitutional minimum wage (Colo. Const. art. XVIII, § 15) as alternative multiplier bases, and because the whole formula is a 'lesser of' test, the higher of the two rates ends up controlling in practice. Colorado's current minimum wage is $15.16/hour (adjusted annually), well above the $7.25 federal rate, so the 40x-state floor is the one that actually protects a low-wage Colorado worker's paycheck |
| Support, tax & student loan debts | Section 13-54-104(3) excludes support orders, debts under a federal chapter 13 bankruptcy plan, and any state or federal tax debt from the ordinary 20%/40x cap entirely. Support garnishment instead follows its own tiers written directly into the same statute, § 13-54-104(3)(b): 50% of disposable earnings if supporting another spouse or child, 60% if not, rising to 55%/65% if arrears predate the current 12-week period -- the federal CCPA support percentages, codified into Colorado's own text rather than left to a cross-reference. A debtor who is totally and permanently disabled, with at least 75% of income from disability benefits, can separately petition to reduce even that support percentage. A THIRD, distinct category exists for debts for fraudulently obtained public assistance: the lesser of 35% of disposable earnings or the amount over 30 times the federal or state minimum wage (§ 13-54-104(2)(a)(II)). Federal student loan administrative garnishment (15% of disposable pay, 20 U.S.C. § 1095a) proceeds under independent federal authority |
| Head-of-household/family exemption | Not a fixed per-dependent dollar figure, but a hardship-hearing process aimed at the same goal: under § 13-54-104(2)(a)(I)(D), a debtor can file a written objection and get a hearing where the court must determine whether post-garnishment earnings, combined with any other family income, are insufficient to cover actual necessary living expenses from the 60 days before the hearing -- the statute lists rent or mortgage, utilities, food and household supplies, medical and dental expenses, child care, clothing, education, transportation, and maintenance, alimony, or child support as the expenses the court must weigh. If the court finds insufficiency, it must order MORE of the debtor's earnings exempt than the standard 20%/40x formula would otherwise protect |
| Multiple garnishments at once | Only one continuing garnishment writ is satisfied at a time. Section 13-54.5-104(1)(a): when more than one writ has been issued against the same debtor's earnings, they are satisfied strictly in the order they were served on the garnishee, and a lien from an earlier-served writ outranks any later one. If a garnishment is paused by written agreement between creditor and debtor, it keeps its priority over any writ served during that pause. Two categories cut ahead of this ordinary queue regardless of service date: a child-support continuing garnishment always has top priority, and a garnishment for fraudulently obtained public assistance outranks every other garnishment except child support |
| Protection from being fired | Colorado's rule, like a handful of other states surveyed, is broader than the federal one-debt limit: § 13-54.5-110 bars an employer from discharging an employee because a creditor 'subjected or attempted to subject' the employee's earnings to garnishment, with no limitation to a first or single garnishment. A violation gives the employee a private right to sue within 91 days for reinstatement plus lost wages (capped at six weeks), costs, and reasonable attorney fees -- a civil remedy, not a criminal penalty |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
The short answer
If an ordinary creditor — a credit card company, a hospital, a personal-loan lender — already has a money judgment against you in Colorado, the law protects the greater of 80% of your disposable earnings, or the amount up to 40 times the minimum hourly wage. Flip that around and a creditor can reach at most the lesser of 20% of your disposable earnings, or the amount above that 40x floor. Both of those numbers are more protective than federal law, thanks to a 2020 reform, and because the formula uses whichever of the state or federal minimum wage produces more protection, Colorado's own, higher minimum wage effectively sets the real floor. If even that isn't enough to cover your actual living expenses, you can ask a court for a bigger exemption. And only one garnishment runs against your paycheck at a time — a second creditor has to wait its turn, unless it's a child-support order, which always jumps the line.
Requirements one by one
Governing law
The actual exemption math lives in C.R.S. § 13-54-104. The separate mechanics of the garnishment itself — how the writ is created, how long it lasts, how notice and hearings work, and what happens when more than one writ competes for the same paycheck — live in Article 54.5, §§ 13-54.5-101 through -111.
Maximum that can be garnished
Section 13-54-104(2)(a)(I) sets the reachable amount as the LEAST of three figures: 20% of disposable earnings for the week, the amount by which disposable earnings exceed 40 times the federal minimum wage, or the amount by which disposable earnings exceed 40 times Colorado's own state minimum wage. Because Colorado's minimum wage is higher than the federal rate, the state-minimum-wage version of that test always produces the smallest number, so it's effectively Colorado's own wage floor — not the lower federal one — that controls in practice. On top of that formula, a debtor who can show that even this exemption doesn't cover actual necessary living expenses can petition for an even larger cut protected.
State rule vs. federal floor
Colorado beats the federal formula on both of its moving parts at once. A 2020 reform, HB 19-1189, cut the reachable share from the federal 25% down to 20%, and raised the minimum-wage multiplier from the federal 30x up to 40x — and it applied that bigger 40x multiplier to BOTH the federal and the state minimum wage as alternative options, so whichever produces the smaller number (currently, the state's higher wage) is what actually protects the paycheck.
Minimum-wage protected floor
The statute states two alternative floors — 40 times the federal minimum hourly wage, and separately 40 times Colorado's own constitutional minimum wage — and because the whole test picks whichever protects more, the higher of the two effectively controls. Colorado's current minimum wage is $15.16 an hour, adjusted annually and well above the federal $7.25, so it's this higher state rate, not the federal one, that sets the real dollar floor for a low-wage Colorado worker.
Support, tax & student loan debts
Support orders, debts under a federal chapter 13 bankruptcy plan, and state or federal tax debt are excluded from the ordinary 20%/40x cap entirely. Support garnishment runs on its own tiers, written directly into the same section of Colorado's code rather than left to a bare cross-reference: 50% of disposable earnings if you're supporting another spouse or child, 60% if you're not, rising to 55% or 65% once arrears run more than 12 weeks back. A debtor who is totally and permanently disabled, getting at least three-quarters of their income from disability benefits, can separately ask a court to lower even that support percentage. There's also a third, distinct category for debts arising from fraudulently obtained public assistance — capped at the lesser of 35% of disposable earnings or the amount over 30 times the minimum wage, a different formula from both the ordinary and the support tracks. Federal student loan collection (15% of disposable pay, administratively) runs under its own separate federal authority.
Head-of-household/family exemption
Colorado doesn't add a flat per-dependent dollar amount, but it gives the same protection a different shape: a debtor can file a written objection and get a hearing where the court weighs actual necessary living expenses — rent or mortgage, utilities, food, medical and dental costs, child care, clothing, education, transportation, and any support obligations of their own — incurred over the 60 days before the hearing. If the standard 20%/40x formula leaves the debtor and their family unable to cover those costs, the court must order a bigger share of earnings protected than the formula alone would provide.
Multiple garnishments at once
Colorado runs on strict first-in-time priority. Only one continuing garnishment writ is satisfied at a time, and when more than one has been served against the same paycheck, they're paid off in the order they were served on the employer — the earlier one blocks any effect from a later one until it's resolved. If a garnishment is paused by written agreement between the creditor and debtor, it keeps its place in line over anything served during that pause. Two things cut to the front of this queue regardless of when they were served: a child-support garnishment always has top priority, and a garnishment for fraudulently obtained public assistance outranks everything except child support.
Protection from being fired
Colorado bars an employer from firing an employee because a creditor "subjected or attempted to subject" their earnings to garnishment — with no limit to a first or single garnishment, broader on its face than the federal one-debt rule. An employee fired in violation of this has 91 days to sue for reinstatement, lost wages capped at six weeks, costs, and attorney fees.
What trips people up
The 2020 reform changed two numbers at once — the percentage AND the minimum-wage multiplier — and it's easy to find sources (including some garnishment-package templates) that mix up which multiplier applies to which minimum wage; the current statute uses 40x for both the federal and state alternatives, not a leftover 30x figure for one of them. It's also easy to assume the standard 20%/40x formula is the end of the story — Colorado is one of the states that lets a debtor go further and ask a court for an even bigger exemption by documenting actual living costs, a step that isn't automatic and requires filing a written objection and attending a hearing.
Common questions
Does Colorado use the federal minimum wage or its own for the wage-garnishment floor?
The statute lists both as alternative options, but because the test picks whichever protects more, Colorado's own (currently higher) minimum wage is what actually sets the real dollar floor.
Can I get more of my paycheck protected than the standard 20%/40x rule allows?
Yes — file a written objection and request a hearing; if the court finds your actual living expenses aren't covered even with the standard exemption, it must order more of your earnings protected.
If two creditors both want to garnish me, do they split the 20%?
No — only one continuing garnishment is paid at a time; the second one served waits until the first is resolved, unless it's a child-support order, which always goes first regardless of timing.
Statutes and sources
- C.R.S. § 13-54-104(2)(a) — "the maximum part of the aggregate disposable earnings of an individual for any workweek... may not exceed: ...the lesser of: (A) Twenty percent...; or (B) The amount by which... disposable earnings... exceed forty times the federal minimum hourly wage...; or (C) The amount by which... disposable earnings... exceed forty times the state minimum hourly wage..." — https://www.olls.info/crs/crs2025-title-13.htm (accessed 2026-07-05)
- C.R.S. § 13-54-104(2)(a)(I)(D) — "a judgment debtor may file a written objection... and seek a hearing... [to] establish that a greater portion of the judgment debtor's disposable earnings should be exempt... the living expenses the court must consider include... Rent or mortgage; utilities; food and household supplies; medical and dental expenses; child care; clothing; education; transportation; and maintenance, alimony, or child support." — https://www.olls.info/crs/crs2025-title-13.htm (accessed 2026-07-05)
- C.R.S. § 13-54-104(2)(a)(II) — "For debts for fraudulently obtained public assistance... the lesser of: (A) Thirty-five percent...; or (B)... thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage...; or (C)... thirty times the state minimum hourly wage." — https://www.olls.info/crs/crs2025-title-13.htm (accessed 2026-07-05)
- C.R.S. § 13-54-104(3) — "The restrictions of subsection (2) of this section do not apply in the case of: (I) Any order for the support of any person...; (II) Any order... under chapter 13...; (III) Any debt due for any state or federal tax... shall not exceed: (A)... fifty percent...; and (B)... sixty percent." — https://www.olls.info/crs/crs2025-title-13.htm (accessed 2026-07-05)
- C.R.S. § 13-54.5-104(1)(a) — "Only one writ of continuing garnishment against earnings due the judgment debtor shall be satisfied at one time... they shall be satisfied in the order of service on the garnishee." — https://www.olls.info/crs/crs2025-title-13.htm (accessed 2026-07-05)
- C.R.S. § 13-54.5-104(1)(c) — "a continuing garnishment obtained... for the satisfaction of debts or judgments for child support shall have priority over any other continuing garnishment... [a garnishment] for the satisfaction of a judgment for fraudulently obtained public assistance... has priority over any other continuing garnishment other than a garnishment for collection of child support." — https://www.olls.info/crs/crs2025-title-13.htm (accessed 2026-07-05)
- C.R.S. § 13-54.5-110 — "No employer shall discharge an employee for the reason that a creditor... has subjected or attempted to subject unpaid earnings of the employee to any garnishment... the employee may, within ninety-one days, bring a civil action for the recovery of wages lost... Damages recoverable shall be lost wages not to exceed six weeks, costs, and reasonable attorney fees." — https://www.olls.info/crs/crs2025-title-13.htm (accessed 2026-07-05)
- 15 U.S.C. § 1673(a) — "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... whichever is less." — https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2011-title15/USCODE-2011-title15-chap41-subchapII-sec1673 (accessed 2026-07-05)
- 20 U.S.C. § 1095a(a)(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://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title20-section1095a&num=0&edition=prelim (accessed 2026-07-05)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.