Chapter 7 has no fixed income cap. What people call the “income limit” is the first step of the means test: your household’s average monthly income over the six full calendar months before the month you file, times 12, set against the median family income for your state and household size. At or below the median, the forms stop there. Above it, a second form does more arithmetic to see whether a “presumption of abuse” arises. Being above the median does not on its own rule out Chapter 7, and the forms never decide a case: the court does.
This page is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice, and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Bankruptcy law and exemption amounts vary by state and change. Ask a bankruptcy lawyer, legal aid or the court about your situation.
This section follows the means test in the order the official forms run it. Each part links to a full guide or calculator with the statute, the US Trustee’s tables and the dates we read them. The calculators show sums, never an outcome.
Where the means test fits
The means test is one of several Chapter 7 conditions in the Bankruptcy Code. The others cover who can be a debtor, a credit counselling briefing in the 180 days before filing, a 180-day bar after certain dismissals, and the time since any earlier discharge. Our guide to whether you qualify for Chapter 7 sets out every one of those tests with the exact rule; whether you do is for you, your lawyer and, in the end, the court.
The test comes from 11 U.S.C. 707(b) and runs on Official Forms 122A-1, 122A-1Supp and, above the median, 122A-2.
Step 1: does the test apply at all?
Section 707(b) covers an individual “whose debts are primarily consumer debts”, meaning debts incurred “primarily for a personal, family, or household purpose” (11 U.S.C. 101(8)). Someone whose debts come mainly from a business files Form 122A-1Supp instead of working through the comparison. How to classify a particular debt is a question for a lawyer.
Two military groups are also outside it (707(b)(2)(D)): disabled veterans whose debts arose mainly on active duty or in homeland defense, and, until December 2027, reservists and National Guard members called up for at least 90 days after 11 September 2001, while serving and for 540 days after.
Step 2: what counts as income
The figure compared with the median is “current monthly income” times 12. The Code defines it in 11 U.S.C. 101(10A) as the average monthly income from all sources, taxable or not, over the six full calendar months ending on the last day of the month before you file. Form 122A-1’s own example: file on 15 September, and the period is 1 March to 31 August. It is gross income, not take-home pay, and a bonus or a lost job inside those six months moves the average.
- Counted: wages before deductions, alimony, net business and rental income, interest and dividends, unemployment pay, pensions, and money someone else pays regularly toward your household’s expenses, such as child support or a partner’s contributions.
- Left out: benefits under the Social Security Act; payments to victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity or terrorism; and military and veterans’ payments connected with a service member’s disability, combat-related injury or death, including VA disability compensation.
A spouse’s income counts if you file together, or if your spouse lives with you and you are not legally separated. It is left out only if you are legally separated, or living apart for reasons other than getting around the means test, and you say so under penalty of perjury (707(b)(7)(B)). Our guide to bankruptcy and your spouse covers the rest.
Step 3: the median in force
The medians come from a table the US Trustee Program publishes. For cases filed on or after 1 April 2026 (republished unchanged for cases filed on or after 15 July 2026), the figures for one to four people run, across the states and DC, from $53,978 a year for one person in Mississippi to $178,524 for a family of four in Massachusetts. In Texas it is $66,837 for one person and $117,962 for four; in Ohio, $102,504 for three. Chapter 7 income limits by state has the full table for all 50 states, DC and the territories, with a lookup by household size.
Two rules in 707(b)(7)(A) change which figure applies. For a household of 2, 3 or 4, you use the highest median for a family “of the same number or fewer individuals”. For more than 4, you take the highest figure for 4 or fewer and add $925 a month, or $11,100 a year, for each extra person (for cases filed on or after 1 April 2025, 90 FR 8941; next adjustment 1 April 2028). A household of 6 in Ohio: $123,702 + 2 × $11,100 = $145,902.
Neither the Code nor Form 122A-1 defines “household” for this test, and one person more or fewer can move the median by thousands of dollars. If yours isn’t simple, ask a lawyer or legal aid how your court counts it.
At or below the median
Form 122A-1 has you check “There is no presumption of abuse”, and you don’t file Form 122A-2. No one may then bring a motion based on the means test formula (707(b)(7)(A)), though the judge or the US Trustee can still raise bad faith or “the totality of the circumstances” (707(b)(3), (b)(6)).
Step 4: above the median, the Form 122A-2 arithmetic
Form 122A-2 takes allowed expenses off current monthly income: IRS standards for living costs, housing and vehicles (the current set applies to cases filed on or after 15 July 2026), actual amounts in listed categories such as taxes and childcare, and secured and priority debt payments due over the next 60 months, divided by 60. It multiplies what is left by 60. For cases filed on or after 1 April 2025 (next adjustment 1 April 2028), it then reads the result like this:
| 60 months of disposable income | What Form 122A-2 says |
|---|---|
| Less than $10,275 | No presumption of abuse |
| $10,275 up to $17,150 | Compare with 25% of your nonpriority unsecured debt: a presumption arises if the 60-month figure is equal to or more than that 25% |
| More than $17,150 | Presumption of abuse |
Our Chapter 7 means test calculator runs both steps on figures you enter: the median comparison, then Form 122A-2 line by line, with each figure dated. Its worked example is a household above the median whose 60-month figure still lands below $10,275: being above the median is only the start of the form, not its result. The result is an estimate.
What a presumption does and doesn’t mean
“Presumption of abuse” is the Code’s term, not an accusation. The official instructions say it “does not mean you are actually trying to abuse the bankruptcy system”. It can be rebutted only by documented, sworn “special circumstances”, such as a serious medical condition or a call to active duty (707(b)(2)(B)). After notice and a hearing, the court decides whether to dismiss the case or, with the debtor’s consent, convert it to Chapter 11 or 13 (707(b)(1)).
The same median table also matters in Chapter 13: at or above the median, the plan’s commitment period is 5 years rather than 3 (11 U.S.C. 1325(b)(4)). How the chapters differ is in Chapter 7 vs Chapter 13; which fits a household is for the reader and a lawyer to decide.
Out-of-date figures you may see
- $9,075 and $15,150, or $825 a month per extra person. Those applied to cases filed from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2025. Since 1 April 2025 they are $10,275, $17,150 and $925 (90 FR 8941).
- A median table with no date. The table that applies is the one for your filing date; medians changed on 1 April 2025, 1 November 2025 and 1 April 2026.
- “You qualify” or “you pass” as a calculator result. The forms only compute; the court decides.
Your next step
- Gather pay stubs and every other income record for the six full calendar months before the month you might file, for you and, if you live together, your spouse; your most recent tax return; a list of everyone in your household; and a list of debts split into secured, priority and unsecured.
- Read Forms 122A-1, 122A-1Supp and 122A-2 on uscourts.gov, and the US Trustee’s means testing page for the date you expect to file. On 7 November 2026 its newest entry was for cases filed on or after 15 July 2026.
- Ask your bankruptcy court clerk or its self-help pages about local procedure (clerks can’t give legal advice), legal aid or a law school clinic, or a bankruptcy lawyer about your own figures.
- What can’t wait: a scheduled foreclosure sale, repossession or wage garnishment matters more than the means test. Take that date to a lawyer or legal aid first.
Sources checked on 7 November 2026: 11 U.S.C. 101, 707 and 1325 on uscode.house.gov with the 1 April 2025 adjustments in 90 FR 8941; Official Forms 122A-1, 122A-1Supp and 122A-2 and their instructions on uscourts.gov; the US Trustee Program’s means testing page and median family income table for cases filed on or after 1 April 2026.
