Kentucky Wage Garnishment Calculator
Kentucky’s exemption statute mirrors the federal limit exactly: the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount above $217.50 a week.
KRS 427.010 and its 2017 text
(a) Twenty-five percent (25%) of his disposable earnings for that week, or (b) The amount by which his disposable earnings for that week exceed thirty (30) times the federal minimum hourly wage
A Louisville weekly check
Kentucky’s statute repeats the federal limit, so a Louisville worker with $690.00 gross and $95.00 of required withholding loses $148.75 a week to a judgment creditor and takes home $446.25. The 25% test decides because $595.00 is well above the $290 point where it overtakes the floor.
Minimum wage and the floor
- The current text of KRS 427.010 took effect June 29, 2017; the wage formula itself tracks federal law.§1
- Kentucky’s minimum wage equals the federal $7.25; a full-time minimum-wage week is $290 gross, and even if all of it were disposable no more than $72.50 could be garnished.§2
- The 25% cap does not apply to support orders, Chapter 13 bankruptcy orders or state and federal tax debts, which follow their own limits.§1
- For pay periods longer than a week, Kentucky adopts the multiple set by the U.S. Secretary of Labor rather than writing its own: $435 every two weeks, $471.25 twice a month, $942.50 a month.§1
- Wages are the main protection: the same statute caps the household-goods exemption at $3,000 and a vehicle at $2,500, and property you pledged as collateral loses its exemption up to the balance owed.§1