Did you hear Chapter 7 turns on a means test? Learn how the income line is drawn for you.
The Chapter 7 Means Test: Your Income Against Your State's Median, Step by Step
Learn where your line sits: the median income for a household your size in your state, which can run from $53,978 for one person in Mississippi to $178,524 for four in Massachusetts, plus $11,100 per extra person. If your income is at or below it, the presumption of abuse does not arise.
By the end you will know: what "current monthly income" means on Form 122A-1; what happens above the median and how the presumption can be rebutted; how the same table sets a Chapter 13 plan at 3 or 5 years.
Quick answer
The test begins by comparing your current monthly income, annualized, with the median family income for a household your size in your state, from the U.S. Trustee Program's table for cases filed on or after July 15, 2026 (the medians can run from $53,978 for one earner in Mississippi to $178,524 for four people in Massachusetts, plus $11,100 for each person above four). At or below the median, the presumption of abuse does not arise. Above it, uscourts.gov says abuse is presumed when income over five years, net of allowed expenses and secured debt payments, reaches the dollar thresholds on its Chapter 7 Basics page, and the presumption can be rebutted only by special circumstances. Nothing here tells you whether to file.
Free tool
Choose your state in this free check to place your monthly income band against your state median; your result says below, above or too close to call, with the table it read.
By the Legal Cost by State Editorial Team·Last updated and source-checked October 14, 2026
What to do next
Three things to do before you open Form 122A-1.
1
Find your state's row in the chart and the column for your household size
Add $11,100 for each person above four; the chart in this section has every state with the source on its row.
2
Use the table labeled for your filing date
The U.S. Trustee Program posts a new page several times a year; the current one covers cases filed on or after July 15, 2026, and the ones before it took effect April 1, 2026 and November 1, 2025 (through March 31, 2026).
3
Run the real comparison on Form 122A-1
The federal courts publish the form, and it defines current monthly income line by line before it asks for the comparison; the free check linked above places your income band, not your case.
This page explains the steps; it does not run the test or tell you whether to file.
Does the means test apply to me? Individuals with mostly consumer debt
The court may dismiss a Chapter 7 case filed by an individual whose debts are primarily consumer debts if granting relief would be an abuse of Chapter 7 (11 U.S.C. 707(b)); when current monthly income is above the state median, the Bankruptcy Code requires the means test to decide whether the filing is presumptively abusive (uscourts.gov).
The test does not set the court fee, and it is separate from the counseling requirement and from exemptions, which decide what property a filer keeps; the cost guide and the exemptions chart in this section cover those.
Learn more. Tap a topic to open it.
Learn which median table applies to you, how to read its columns, and how far the medians spread by state.
The median comes from the U.S. Trustee Program's "Census Bureau Median Family Income By Family Size" table, formatted for Official Forms 122A-1 (Chapter 7) and 122C-1 (Chapter 13): a row for each state and territory, columns for one to four people, and $11,100 added for each person above four. Use the table labeled for your filing date.
The spread is wide. For cases filed under the current table, the one-earner median can run from $53,978 in Mississippi to $88,585 in Washington, and the four-person median from $93,672 in West Virginia to $178,524 in Massachusetts.
Learn why the income on Form 122A-1 is not your last month's pay, and where the form stops.
The figure compared with the median is not simply your last month's pay: "current monthly income" is a Bankruptcy Code term that Official Form 122A-1 works through line by line, and the form decides what counts.
If you are at or below the median, the form stops there and the presumption of abuse does not arise. If you are above it, the form continues to the expense step.
Learn the expense step, the dollar thresholds that presume abuse, and how a presumption is rebutted.
From uscourts.gov's Chapter 7 Basics page: abuse is presumed if the debtor's current monthly income over five years, net of certain statutorily allowed expenses and secured debt payments, is not less than the lesser of 25 percent of the debtor's nonpriority unsecured debt or $10,275, whichever is greater, or $17,150. Those thresholds are as printed there on October 14, 2026 and are adjusted periodically; use the figures in force on your filing date.
The allowed expenses are the standards the U.S. Trustee Program publishes beside the median table. Within 10 days after the meeting of creditors, the U.S. trustee reports whether the case should be presumed an abuse, and a debtor may rebut the presumption only by showing special circumstances that justify additional expenses or adjustments of current monthly income.
Learn how the same median sets the length of your Chapter 13 plan.
uscourts.gov's Chapter 13 Basics page uses the same median for the plan's length: three years when current monthly income is below the state median for the household size, five years when above. A plan may be shorter only if unsecured debt is paid in full, and none may run longer than five years.
Learn when a new median table is posted and what the 2026 updates changed.
The U.S. Trustee Program posts a new table several times a year, each labeled with the filing date it applies to: the 2026 pages are dated April 1 and July 15, after one covering November 1, 2025 through March 31, 2026. Every median rose 2.63 percent in April 2026; the July page changed only the expense standards. The chart tells you the date it was last checked.
Learn the limits of this page: it explains the steps and runs no test.
It explains the steps as the federal courts and the U.S. Trustee Program describe them. It does not calculate a result, say which chapter fits, or predict what a trustee or a court will decide.
The test is run on Official Forms 122A-1 (Chapter 7) and 122C-1 (Chapter 13). Nothing on this site is legal advice.
Learn where each statement and median comes from and the date it was checked.
Each statement on how the test works comes from the uscourts.gov Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 Basics pages, and each median from the U.S. Trustee Program's table for cases filed on or after July 15, 2026, all checked October 14, 2026. Nothing is estimated.
The one labeled for your filing date on the U.S. Trustee Program's means-testing pages; the current table covers cases filed on or after July 15, 2026.
uscourts.gov describes the presumption of abuse as applying to an individual whose debts are primarily consumer rather than business debts. Whether a particular mix of debts is "primarily consumer" is a question for the form and, if contested, the court.
Take the four-person median for your state and add $11,100 for each additional person; that is the add-on printed on the U.S. Trustee Program's table.
Abuse is presumed when five years of income, net of allowed expenses and secured debt payments, is not less than the lesser of 25 percent of nonpriority unsecured debt or $10,275, whichever is greater, or $17,150 (uscourts.gov, October 14, 2026). The figures are adjusted periodically.
Only by showing special circumstances that justify additional expenses or adjustments of current monthly income, uscourts.gov says.
No. The court fee is $338 for Chapter 7 and $313 for Chapter 13 under the Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule regardless of your income, and a lawyer's fee is separate. The fee waiver in 28 U.S.C. 1930(f) uses a different figure, 150 percent of the official poverty line, not the median.
No. Being below the median only means the presumption of abuse does not arise. Eligibility, dismissal on other grounds and the discharge itself are separate questions, decided in the case, that this page does not answer.
The U.S. Trustee Program says its median table is formatted for Official Forms 122A-1 (Chapter 7) and 122C-1 (Chapter 13); the federal courts publish the forms. This site does not run the test.
Information on this page reflects laws and published figures as of October 14, 2026. This is general information, not legal advice, and not a prediction for any matter. Rules and fees change; check the court or agency page linked for each figure.
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