Pennsylvania: Wage Garnishment Limits

The short answer

Pennsylvania is one of the states where an ordinary creditor generally
cannot garnish a paycheck at all. Section 8127 of the Judicial Code
exempts "wages, salaries and commissions" from attachment while they're
still in the employer's hands, and then lists the only proceedings that
can reach them: divorce, support, short-term board debt, a capped
residential-lease judgment, PHEAA-guaranteed student loans, and criminal
restitution, fines, or bail. A credit card company, hospital, or
personal-loan lender that wins a judgment against you can still collect —
just not by attaching your paycheck directly. Federal debts like unpaid
taxes and defaulted federal student loans are different: federal law
overrides the state exemption, so those can still reach a Pennsylvania
paycheck.

Requirements one by one

Governing law

The exemption itself lives in the Judicial Code, not a dedicated
garnishment title: 42 Pa.C.S. § 8127(a). The general rules for executing
on a judgment (attaching bank accounts, personal property, and other
non-wage assets) are in Pa.R.C.P. 3101 et seq.; the one kind of wage
attachment Pennsylvania does allow for an ordinary private judgment —
the residential-lease exception — has its own separate procedural
rules, Pa.R.C.P. 3301-3313.

Maximum that can be garnished

For an ordinary private judgment creditor, the answer is zero. Section
8127(a) exempts wages "while in the hands of the employer" from "any
attachment, execution or other process" except for the specific list of
proceedings the statute names. A credit card debt, medical bill,
personal loan, or ordinary tort judgment isn't on that list, so none of
it can reach a paycheck through the employer.

State rule vs. federal floor

Federal law alone would allow a judgment creditor to take up to 25% of
disposable earnings. Pennsylvania is far more protective for the debts
most people actually owe: instead of lowering the percentage, it removes
ordinary wage attachment from the table entirely. Only the named
exceptions in § 8127(a), or a separate federal statute, can reach a
Pennsylvania paycheck.

Minimum-wage protected floor

There's no percentage/minimum-wage formula for ordinary debt, because
there's nothing to calculate — wages aren't reachable at all. The one
exception with its own formula is the residential-lease judgment: the
amount attached can't exceed 10% of the debtor's "net wages" per pay
period (gross wages less income taxes, FICA and nonvoluntary retirement
contributions, union dues, and health insurance premiums), or an amount
that would drop net income below the federal poverty income guidelines,
whichever is less.

Support, tax & student loan debts

Support orders sit at the top of the priority list — § 8127(b) gives a
support attachment first priority over any other attachment, execution,
garnishment, or wage assignment. Divorce-related obligations under 23
Pa.C.S. Pt. IV and board debts of four weeks or less are also expressly
carved into § 8127(a). PHEAA (Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance
Agency) student loans get their own exception, § 8127(a)(4). Federal tax
debts and federally-backed (non-PHEAA) student loans in default can
still be collected through administrative wage garnishment under federal
law, because those statutes expressly override state exemptions like
Pennsylvania's — not because Pennsylvania carved out an exception of its
own for them.

Head-of-household/family exemption

There's nothing to layer this exemption on top of. Other states use a
head-of-household or family-support test to protect more than their
ordinary percentage cap already protects. Pennsylvania's ordinary
exemption already protects the whole paycheck from ordinary attachment,
so a separate family-support exemption would be redundant.

Multiple garnishments at once

Section 8127(b) sets the overall priority: a support attachment ranks
first, and an order for criminal restitution, costs, fines, or bail
ranks second, ahead of any other attachment, execution, garnishment, or
wage assignment. Within the one ordinary-debt exception that does allow
wage attachment — a residential-lease judgment — § 8127(c)(1) resolves
multiple orders against the same debtor by service order: each
attachment already served on the employer must be fully satisfied before
a later one served on the same debtor takes effect.

Protection from being fired

Pennsylvania's own statute is broader than the federal floor here.
Section 8127(e) bars an employer from taking "any adverse action"
against an employee solely because their wages have been attached — not
just discharge, and not limited to a single attachment the way the
federal rule (15 U.S.C. § 1674) effectively is by only barring firing
over garnishment "for any one indebtedness."

What trips people up

People sometimes assume "Pennsylvania doesn't allow wage garnishment"
means no creditor can ever reach their pay in any form — it doesn't. The
residential-lease exception, PHEAA loans, and the criminal and
support-related categories are real, enforceable attachments with their
own procedures, and federal tax and student-loan debts bypass the state
exemption entirely through federal administrative garnishment. The
protection in § 8127 also runs to wages "while in the hands of the
employer" — once paid out and deposited in a bank account, that money is
no longer wages for purposes of this exemption and can be reached like
any other asset through an ordinary bank-account attachment.

Common questions

Can a credit card company garnish my wages in Pennsylvania if they sue
me and win?
No. Even with a valid Pennsylvania judgment, an ordinary creditor can't
attach your paycheck while it's still held by your employer — only the
debts § 8127(a) names, or certain federal debts, can reach it that way.

Does this exemption protect my bank account too?
No. Section 8127 only protects wages while they're in the employer's
hands. Once wages are paid and deposited, they lose that specific
protection and a creditor can pursue a separate bank-account attachment,
subject to whatever other exemptions apply to that account.

If I'm behind on both child support and a residential-lease judgment,
which one gets paid first?
Support comes first. Section 8127(b) gives a support attachment first
priority over any other attachment, execution, garnishment, or wage
assignment, including a residential-lease wage attachment.

Statutes and sources

• 42 Pa.C.S. § 8127(a) — "The wages, salaries and commissions of
  individuals shall while in the hands of the employer be exempt from
  any attachment, execution or other process except upon an action or
  proceeding: (1) Under 23 Pa.C.S. Pt. IV (relating to divorce). (2) For
  support. (3) For board for four weeks or less. (3.1) For amounts
  awarded to a judgment creditor-landlord arising out of a residential
  lease upon which the court has rendered judgment which is final. ...
  The sum attached shall be no more than 10% of the net wages per pay
  period of the judgment debtor-tenant or a sum not to place the
  debtor's net income below the poverty income guidelines as provided
  annually by the Federal Office of Management and Budget, whichever is
  less. For the purposes of this paragraph, \"net wages\" shall mean all
  wages paid less only the following items: (i) Federal, State and
  local income taxes. (ii) F.I.C.A. payments and nonvoluntary
  retirement payments. (iii) Union dues. (iv) Health insurance
  premiums. (4) Under the act of August 7, 1963 (P.L.549, No.290),
  referred to as the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency
  Act. (5) For restitution to crime victims, costs, fines or bail
  judgments pursuant to an order entered by a court in a criminal
  proceeding." —
  https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/CT/HTM/42/00.081.027.000..HTM
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• 42 Pa.C.S. § 8127(b) — "An order of attachment for support shall have
  first priority and an order described in subsection (a)(5) shall have
  second priority over any other attachment, execution, garnishment or
  wage assignment." —
  https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/CT/HTM/42/00.081.027.000..HTM
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• 42 Pa.C.S. § 8127(c) — "For any wage attachment arising out of a
  residential lease, the employer shall send the attached wages to the
  prothonotary of the court of common pleas within 15 days from the
  close of the last pay period in each month. ... If an employer is
  served with more than one attachment arising out of a residential
  lease against the same judgment debtor, then the attachments shall be
  satisfied in the order in which they were served. Each prior
  attachment shall be satisfied before any effect is given to a
  subsequent attachment, subject to subsection (a)(3.2)." —
  https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/CT/HTM/42/00.081.027.000..HTM
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• 42 Pa.C.S. § 8127(e) — "The employer shall not take any adverse action
  against any individual solely because his wages, salaries or
  commissions have been attached." —
  https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/CT/HTM/42/00.081.027.000..HTM
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• 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-2011-title15/USCODE-2011-title15-chap41-subchapII-sec1673
  (accessed 2026-07-05)
• 15 U.S.C. § 1674 — "No employer may discharge any employee by reason
  of the fact that his earnings have been subjected to garnishment for
  any one indebtedness." —
  https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title15/html/USCODE-2024-title15-chap41-subchapII-sec1674.htm
  (accessed 2026-07-05)