Kansas: Wage Garnishment Limits
The short answer
Kansas adopts the plain federal formula: a creditor can take the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount by which earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage ($217.50 a week at $7.25/hour). There's no state-specific cut and no head-of-household exemption; the only extra protection is a temporary full suspension of garnishment while the debtor or a family member is too sick to work. Support orders escape the ordinary cap and can take 50-65% instead. Competing garnishments are resolved first-in-time: a later garnishment waits until an earlier one with priority is satisfied. Kansas law bars firing an employee over a wage garnishment, without the federal rule's limit to a single garnishment.
Ask Ezel about your situation
This is the general rule in Kansas. Ezel applies current Kansas law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law | K.S.A. § 60-2310(b) (ordinary cap), § 60-2310(g) (support-order cap), § 60-2311 (anti-discharge) |
|---|---|
| Maximum that can be garnished | Lesser of 25% of the individual's aggregate disposable earnings for the workweek, or the amount by which disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage (§ 60-2310(b)) — the plain federal CCPA formula, with no state-specific reduction |
| State rule vs. federal floor | Adopts the federal 25%/30x-federal-minimum-wage test exactly, with no lower percentage or higher floor of its own; the support-order percentages in § 60-2310(g) also restate the federal CCPA support tiers (50/55/60/65%) verbatim |
| Minimum-wage protected floor | 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage (defined in § 60-2310(a)(4) by reference to FLSA § 6(a)(1)) — $217.50/week at $7.25/hour; the statute uses the federal wage, not any Kansas state minimum wage |
| Support, tax & student loan debts | Support orders, bankruptcy Chapter XIII orders, and state or federal tax debt are excepted from the ordinary 25%/30x cap entirely (§ 60-2310(e)); a support order instead caps at 50% of disposable earnings (55% with 12+ weeks of arrears) if the debtor supports another spouse or child, or 60% (65% with arrears) if not (§ 60-2310(g)). Federal student-loan administrative wage garnishment (15% under 20 U.S.C. § 1095a) operates outside this statute entirely |
| Head-of-household/family exemption | None. The only extra protection tied to a debtor's household is a temporary full suspension of garnishment — not a percentage exemption — while the debtor or a family member is too ill to work for more than two weeks, lasting until two months after recovery (§ 60-2310(c)) |
| Multiple garnishments at once | First-in-time. A single creditor can't issue more than one earnings garnishment against the same debtor within a 30-day period (§ 60-2310(b)); where an earlier garnishment or other wage lien already has priority, the garnishee withholds nothing on a later garnishment until the earlier one is released or satisfied (§ 60-737(c)) |
| Protection from being fired | K.S.A. § 60-2311 bars an employer from discharging an employee because the employee's earnings were subjected to wage garnishment, with no limit to a single garnishment written into the state text — broader on its face than the federal floor, which only bars discharge for one garnishment for one debt (15 U.S.C. § 1674) |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
Requirements one by one
Governing law
Kansas's ordinary wage-garnishment cap and its illness-based suspension both
live in K.S.A. § 60-2310; the higher cap for support orders is in the same
section's subsection (g). The anti-discharge rule is a separate section,
§ 60-2311, and the rule for resolving competing garnishments sits in the
garnishment-procedure article at § 60-737.
Maximum garnishment amount
The cap is the lesser of 25% of the debtor's aggregate disposable earnings
for the workweek, or the amount by which those earnings exceed 30 times the
federal minimum hourly wage (§ 60-2310(b)). This is the plain federal Consumer
Credit Protection Act formula; Kansas has not enacted its own, more
protective version.
Federal floor comparison
Kansas simply adopts the federal test rather than cutting the percentage or
raising the minimum-wage multiple the way some states do. Even the higher
percentages that apply to support garnishments (50%, 55%, 60%, 65% depending
on other dependents and arrears, § 60-2310(g)) match the federal CCPA support
tiers exactly.
Minimum wage protection floor
30 times the federal minimum hourly wage — $217.50 a week at the current
$7.25 federal rate. The statute defines the multiplier by reference to the
federal Fair Labor Standards Act's minimum wage, not any Kansas state minimum
wage (§ 60-2310(a)(4)).
Priority debt exceptions
Court-ordered support (including alimony), Chapter XIII bankruptcy orders,
and state or federal tax debt are all excepted from the ordinary 25%/30x cap
entirely (§ 60-2310(e)). A support order instead can take up to 50% of
disposable earnings if the debtor is supporting another spouse or child (55%
if the arrears are 12 or more weeks old), or up to 60% if not (65% with old
arrears) (§ 60-2310(g)). Federal student loans have their own separate,
non-court administrative wage garnishment process under federal law, capped
at 15% and untouched by this statute.
Head-of-household exemption
Kansas has no percentage-based exemption for a debtor supporting a family.
The one household-related protection in this statute is different in kind: if
the debtor or a family member is too sick to work for more than two weeks,
garnishment is suspended entirely (not just reduced) until two months after
recovery, once the debtor files a supporting affidavit (§ 60-2310(c)).
Multiple garnishments priority
Kansas resolves competing claims first-in-time. No single creditor can stack
a second earnings garnishment against the same debtor within 30 days of the
first (§ 60-2310(b)). And when a garnishee already has an earlier wage lien
or garnishment with priority, it must withhold nothing on a later garnishment
order until the earlier one is fully released or satisfied (§ 60-737(c)).
Employee termination protection
Kansas bars an employer from firing an employee because the employee's
earnings were garnished (§ 60-2311). Unlike the federal anti-discharge rule,
which only protects an employee against a single garnishment for one debt (15
U.S.C. § 1674), the Kansas statute's text doesn't limit the protection to one
garnishment.
What trips people up
Don't assume Kansas's own statute means a lower percentage than federal law
requires — § 60-2310 restates the federal 25%/30x test rather than improving
on it, so the number is identical either way. And the illness-based
suspension in § 60-2310(c) only kicks in on the debtor's sworn affidavit; it
isn't automatic just because someone is sick.
Common questions
Does Kansas protect more of my paycheck than federal law requires?
Not on the ordinary cap — § 60-2310(b) matches the federal 25%/30x formula.
The one place Kansas may go further is on job protection: its anti-discharge
statute doesn't carry the federal law's limit to a single garnishment.
I'm out sick and can't work — does that stop a garnishment?
It can. File an affidavit showing you (or a family member) have been unable
to work for more than two weeks due to illness, and the garnishment is
suspended until two months after recovery (§ 60-2310(c)).
I already have a garnishment — can a new creditor jump the line?
No. A later garnishment or wage lien waits until an earlier one with priority
is released or satisfied (§ 60-737(c)), except for support orders, which
aren't bound by the ordinary cap at all.
Statutes and sources
- K.S.A. § 60-2310 — https://www.ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch60/060_023_0010.html (accessed 2026-07-05)
- K.S.A. § 60-2311 — https://ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch60/060_023_0011.html (accessed 2026-07-05)
- K.S.A. § 60-737 — https://ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch60/060_007_0037.html (accessed 2026-07-05)
- 15 U.S.C. § 1673 — https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2011-title15/USCODE-2011-title15-chap41-subchapII-sec1673 (accessed 2026-07-05)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
Get the answer for your situation
You just read how Kansas handles this in general. Ezel applies current Kansas law to your facts and answers your specific question, with citations.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer cites the authority it relies on.