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State Median Incomes to Increase 7.4% for Bank­ruptcy Means Test on April 1, 2023

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More Peo­ple Will Qual­ify for Chap­ter 7 Bank­ruptcy as of April 1, 2023

The Depart­ment of Jus­tice has released its revised median income amounts for the bank­ruptcy means test, to take effect April 1, 2023.

Legal​Con​sumer​.com has taken this data and turned it into a handy, click­able map.

Click on your state or county and then click on any link in the popup tooltip to go directly to the free means test cal­cu­la­tor for that state or county.

Or you can just hover over each state or county to browse the income and expense data.State Median Income April 2023

Either way,

  • it’s all free (enjoy!)
  • and does­n’t require any registration
  • and that’s been true since 2006 when I launched ver­sion 1.o of the means test cal­cu­la­tor back in 2006.

State Annual Median income num­bers for cases filed on or after April 1, 2023:
Line 13 of Form 1 of the Means Test

Hover over any state to see the median annual income for house­holds of 1 to 4 people.

Click on any link in any tooltip to be taken to the Free Means Test Cal­cu­la­tor for that State.

The new median income num­bers for every state are 7.4% higher than those released in Novem­ber 1, 2022, which can mean a rather size­able increase.

For exam­ple, here’s the median income for one per­son in select states:

One thing that jumps out is the wide dis­par­ity in states.

For exam­ple: If you live in New Jer­sey, you can file for Chap­ter 7 with an income of $80,000, but not if you live across the river in New York, where the New York median income limit is $15,000 lower than New Jersey.

Free Online Means Test Cal­cu­la­tor Has Been Revised With April 1, 2023, Median Income Data

These lat­est updates have been incor­po­rated into the Free Online Means Test Cal­cu­la­tor (Revi­sion Num­ber??) I don’t know what revi­sion num­ber we’re on; I’ve lost count.

But I’m glad to con­tinue to offer the cal­cu­la­tor for free and to make bank­ruptcy more acces­si­ble to every­one, as I have for 17 years, and I hope to con­tinue for as long as I’m able.

Use it in good health. :-)

County expense stan­dards for rent and mortgage:
Line 9 of Form 2 of the Means Test

These amounts are entered on line 9 of form 2 of the means test.

Hover over any county to see the num­bers for house­holds of sizes 1 to 4 peo­ple. Use the + and — but­tons to zoom the map (or zoom with fin­gers if on a smartphone).

Click on any link in any tooltip to be taken to the Free Means Test Cal­cu­la­tor for that county.

County liv­ing expenses (Insur­ance, Util­ties, etc):
Line 8 of Form 2 of the Means Test

These amounts are entered on line 8 of form 2 of the means test. These are hous­ing expenses other than your rent or mort­gage. It includes things like util­i­ties, insur­ance, repairs and main­te­nance, and clean­ing etc.

Hover over any county to see the monthly expense allowances for house­holds of sizes 1 to 4 peo­ple. Use the + and — but­tons to zoom the map (or zoom with fin­gers if on a smartphone).

Click on any link in any tooltip to be taken to the Free Means Test Cal­cu­la­tor for that county.

About Albin Renauer

Albin Renauer is the founder of Legal Consumer, which he began in 2006 as an online companion to his book, How to File for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. Albin received his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1985. He worked for various public-interest law firms in the Bay Area and also as a staff attorney for Chief Justice Rose Bird of the California Supreme Court. He also spent 17 years as an editor at Nolo, where he helped create numerous books and software programs, including the bestselling WillMaker. He edited Law on the Net, the first online directory of legal resources and was the architect of Nolo's Webby Award winning website during the dot-com boom.