Nevada: Wage Garnishment Limits

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Nevada's earnings-garnishment cap lives in Nev. Rev. Stat. § 31.295(2), inside
the chapter on attachment and garnishment. The state's general
property-exemption statute, NRS § 21.090(1)(g), independently exempts the same
wages using the mirror-image "percent exempt" framing (82%/75%/50x, whichever
is greater, instead of 18%/25%/50x, whichever is less — the two statutes
describe the same line from opposite sides). A separate section, NRS § 31.298,
bars firing or disciplining an employee over a garnishment.

Maximum garnishment amount

Nevada ties the percentage to how much the debtor earns. Under § 31.295(2),
the garnishable amount can't exceed the least of: 18% of disposable earnings
if the debtor's gross weekly salary on the date the most recent writ issued
was $770 or less; 25% of disposable earnings if it exceeded $770; or the
amount by which disposable earnings exceed 50 times the federal minimum hourly
wage. Whichever of those three numbers is smallest is what the creditor
actually gets.

Federal floor comparison

Nevada beats the federal formula on both ends. The federal CCPA caps
garnishment at 25% of disposable earnings or the amount over 30 times the
federal minimum wage, whichever is less (15 U.S.C. § 1673). Nevada's
lower-income tier caps garnishment at 18%, not 25%, and Nevada's earnings
floor uses 50 times the federal minimum wage instead of 30 times — protecting
substantially more of a modest paycheck than federal law requires.

Minimum wage protection floor

The floor is 50 times the federal minimum hourly wage, not Nevada's own
state minimum wage (which is higher than the federal rate). At the $7.25
federal rate, that floor is $362.50 a week — earnings at or below that amount
can't be touched by an ordinary garnishment at all.

Priority debt exceptions

The ordinary cap doesn't apply to a court support order, a bankruptcy court
order, or a state or federal tax debt (§ 31.295(3)). For support enforcement
specifically, § 31.295(4) allows garnishing up to 50% of disposable earnings
if the debtor supports another spouse or child, or 60% if not, rising to 55%
and 65% respectively once the arrears are at least 12 weeks old — the same
tiered structure federal law uses for support orders. Federal tax levies and
federal student loan wage garnishment (20 U.S.C. § 1095a) operate under their
own federal process and aren't limited by this chapter.

Head-of-household exemption

Nevada has no separate exemption for a debtor supporting a family. The
18%/25%/50x formula above is the only earnings protection; there's no
additional dollar threshold or full exemption for a head of household the way
some states provide.

Multiple garnishments priority

Nevada doesn't use a strict first-in-time rule. Under NRS § 31.260(5), if a
garnishee (typically the employer) is served with more than one writ of
garnishment against the same debtor, the court decides the priority and how
to divide the payments among the competing creditors — except a child-support
garnishment must always be given first priority over everything else.

Employee termination protection

NRS § 31.298 makes it unlawful to discharge or discipline an employee because
the employer has to withhold that employee's earnings under a writ of
garnishment. Unlike the federal rule, which only protects an employee from
being fired over a single garnishment for one debt, Nevada's statute isn't
limited to a first-time garnishment — its text bars discharge for being
subject to a garnishment period, without a one-judgment qualifier.

What trips people up

The 50x floor uses the federal minimum wage, not Nevada's own state minimum
wage, even though Nevada's state minimum wage is higher — don't assume the
more generous state wage rate applies to this calculation the way it does in
some other states. The 18%/25% tier is set by the debtor's gross weekly wage
on the date the most recent writ was issued, not by net pay or an average
over the year, so a garnishment reissued after a raise can shift someone from
the 18% tier into the 25% tier. And when a second garnishment order arrives
while a first is still active, don't assume the second creditor is simply
shut out until the first is paid off — Nevada leaves that division up to the
court, not a fixed queue, except that child support always jumps to the front.

Common questions

Can a Nevada creditor garnish 25% of my paycheck no matter what I earn?
No. 25% is a ceiling, not a flat rate, and only applies if your gross weekly
wage exceeded $770; even then, the actual garnishment is the least of the
tiered percentage and the 50x-minimum-wage floor test.

Does Nevada have a head-of-household exemption like some other states?
No. Nevada's protection for ordinary wage garnishment is the tiered
percentage and minimum-wage floor in §§ 31.295 and 21.090 — there's no
additional family-support carve-out on top of it.

If two creditors both garnish my wages at once, does the first one get paid
off before the second one gets anything?
Not automatically. The court decides how to split payments between competing
garnishments under § 31.260(5); the only rule that isn't discretionary is
that child support always goes first.

Statutes and sources

• Nev. Rev. Stat. § 31.295 — https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-031.html#NRS031Sec295 (accessed 2026-07-05)
• Nev. Rev. Stat. § 21.090(1)(g) — https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-021.html#NRS021Sec090 (accessed 2026-07-05)
• Nev. Rev. Stat. § 31.260(5) — https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-031.html#NRS031Sec260 (accessed 2026-07-05)
• Nev. Rev. Stat. § 31.298 — https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-031.html#NRS031Sec298 (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)