How the Bankruptcy Means Test Works: A Plain-English Guide

The bankruptcy means test is the income check for Chapter 7 filers with mostly consumer debts. Your average monthly income from the six full months before filing, times 12, is compared with your state's median for your household size. At or below the median, you pass. Above it, Form 122A-2 subtracts allowed expenses to see what's left for creditors.

This article is general legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by state and situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice about your case, talk to a licensed attorney.

Key takeaways

• The test applies only to individuals filing Chapter 7 with mainly personal or household debts. Business-debt filers and some disabled veterans, reservists and Guard members are excluded.
• Income is your six-month average from all sources, not counting Social Security and certain military and VA disability payments.
• For cases filed on or after April 1, 2026, the four-person state median runs from $93,672 in West Virginia to $178,524 in Massachusetts.
• Above the median, Form 122A-2 subtracts allowances and debt payments. A 60-month remainder under $10,275 passes, one over $17,150 fails, and anything between is compared with 25 percent of your unsecured debt.
• You can rebut a presumption of abuse with documented special circumstances. Otherwise the court can dismiss the case or, with your consent, convert it to Chapter 13.

Who has to take the bankruptcy means test

The means test, in 11 U.S.C. §707(b), applies only when an individual files Chapter 7 with "primarily consumer debts," meaning debts taken on mainly for a personal, family or household purpose (§101(8)). If most of what you owe comes from a business, you say so on Official Form 122A-1Supp, check the "no presumption of abuse" box on Form 122A-1, and skip the income questions.

Two military groups are also excluded (§707(b)(2)(D)):

• Disabled veterans whose debts arose mostly during active duty or a homeland defense activity. That means a VA disability rating of 30 percent or more, or a discharge for a disability incurred or aggravated in the line of duty (38 U.S.C. §3741(1)).
• Reservists and National Guard members called to at least 90 days of active duty or homeland defense activity after September 11, 2001, during that service and for 540 days afterward. This exclusion covers cases filed through December 18, 2027, unless Congress extends it again, as it last did in December 2023.

Everyone else completes Form 122A-1, and if your income is at or under the median, it's the only means test form you file.

Step one: your income against your state's median

Form 122A-1 asks for your "current monthly income" (11 U.S.C. §101(10A)): the average of everything you received from any source, taxable or not, in the six full calendar months before the month you file. File in mid-November 2026 and the window is May 1 through October 31, 2026. A $6,000 bonus in June adds $1,000 to the monthly average.

That includes gross wages, net business and rental income, interest, pensions, unemployment compensation, and money others regularly pay toward your household, such as child support. Social Security benefits, payments to victims of war crimes or terrorism, and military or VA disability and death benefits are left out. A spouse you live with counts even if only you file.

Multiply the monthly figure by 12 and compare it with the median for your state and household size (lines 12b and 13). At or below the median, there's no presumption of abuse and you don't file Form 122A-2.

The medians are Census Bureau figures, adjusted for inflation in years without a new release (§101(39A)). The U.S. Trustee Program publishes them by filing date, and these apply to cases filed on or after April 1, 2026:

State	1 person	2 people	3 people	4 people
California	$79,253	$102,797	$116,541	$139,071
Florida	$69,876	$86,523	$97,540	$114,761
Georgia	$68,478	$84,965	$101,479	$123,481
Illinois	$73,180	$93,934	$113,625	$137,902
New York	$73,272	$92,902	$115,579	$139,040
Ohio	$66,239	$83,725	$102,504	$123,702
Pennsylvania	$72,230	$87,534	$110,151	$135,862
Texas	$66,837	$86,714	$99,273	$117,962

Add $11,100 for each person beyond four. The program has usually posted new medians each spring and fall, but no November 2026 set had appeared by November 3, 2026, so check its means testing page for the date range your filing falls in.

Form 122A-1 asks how many people are in your household, while line 5 of Form 122A-2 uses the number you could claim on your federal tax return plus other dependents you support, and the form says the two can differ. In Ohio a fourth person raises the median by $21,198, so if someone lives with you part-time or you support a relative elsewhere, ask a lawyer how to count them.

## A worked example: a Columbus family just over the median

The household is hypothetical; the allowances and multiplier are the U.S. Trustee Program's figures for cases filed on or after July 15, 2026, entered on Official Form 122A-2.

A married couple in Franklin County, Ohio, with two children, files Chapter 7 jointly in November 2026. From May through October, their combined gross pay averaged $10,450 a month ($6,300 and $4,150). Times 12, that's $125,400, or $1,698 above Ohio's four-person median of $123,702, so they complete Form 122A-2. Franklin County is in the Southern District of Ohio and in the Midwest region the IRS uses, outside the metro areas that region lists separately.

Line	What it covers	Amount
6	Food, clothing and other items for 4 people	$2,176
7	Out-of-pocket health care, 4 people under 65 at $90 each	$360
8	Housing and utilities, insurance and operating, Franklin County	$850
9c	Mortgage standard of $1,737 minus their $1,540 average payment	$197
12	Operating costs, two vehicles, Midwest region	$526
13c, 13f	$703 per car minus each loan's 60-month average ($255 and $351)	$448 and $352
16 to 21	Taxes $1,780, required retirement contribution $210, term life $45, child care $480	$2,515
24	Subtotal of lines 6 to 23	$7,424
25	Health insurance premiums	$640
33e	Average secured debt payments: mortgage plus both car loans	$2,146
36	Chapter 13 administrative expense: $350 projected plan payment times 9.2 percent	$32
38	Total deductions	$10,242
39c	Monthly disposable income ($10,450 minus $10,242)	$208
39d	Line 39c times 60	$12,480

Lines 6, 7, 8 and 12 are flat allowances the couple gets whatever they spend; the amounts on lines 16 to 21 and 25 are their real costs.

Housing and cars work as pairs with line 33. Line 9c is the county standard minus the real average mortgage payment, and line 33a adds that payment back, so the couple effectively deducts whichever is larger ($1,737 here). Each financed car works the same way against the $703 ownership allowance, while a paid-off car gets the operating allowance and no ownership allowance.

Secured payments are averaged over the 60 months after filing. Their $510 car payment with 30 payments left totals $15,300, which counts as $255 a month.

Line 36, open to anyone eligible for Chapter 13, adds the cost of administering a Chapter 13 plan in your district: the projected plan payment times the district's multiplier, capped at 10 percent by statute. The Southern District of Ohio's is 9.2 percent. Filers in Alabama and North Carolina use a multiplier list published by the U.S. Courts.

Their $12,480 falls between $10,275 and $17,150, so line 41 compares it with 25 percent of their nonpriority unsecured debt, such as credit cards and medical bills. They owe $54,000, and a quarter of that is $13,500. Since $12,480 is lower, no presumption arises.

The margin is thin. With $45,000 of unsecured debt, the same $12,480 would create a presumption. With $78 more income a month, line 39d would top $17,150 and the debt total wouldn't matter.

Other households may use lines this couple left at zero, such as line 29 (up to $214.58 a month per child under 18 for documented school costs) or line 35 (past-due support or priority taxes, divided by 60).

How to read your result

The box at the top of page 1 is your result. On Form 122A-1, box 1 means no presumption of abuse, box 2 sends you to Form 122A-2, and box 3 means the military exclusion applies for now. Form 122A-2 ends in one of two boxes, set by line 39d: under $10,275 is no presumption, more than $17,150 is a presumption, and anything between passes only if it's less than 25 percent of your nonpriority unsecured debt (lines 41 and 42). Those amounts took effect April 1, 2025, and are next due for adjustment April 1, 2028.

"Abuse" sounds like an accusation, but the form instructions say the presumption doesn't mean you're trying to abuse the system. It means the formula treats your income as enough to deny Chapter 7 relief unless you overcome it.

Below-median filers get extra protection: no one can move to dismiss under the presumption formula, and only the judge or the U.S. trustee can bring any abuse motion under §707(b) (§707(b)(6) and (7)). Passing doesn't end every inquiry: the court can still dismiss for bad faith, or if the totality of your circumstances shows abuse (§707(b)(3)).

## What happens if you don't pass

Within 10 days after the first meeting of creditors, the U.S. trustee files a statement on whether your case is presumed abusive, and the court sends it to creditors within 7 days (§704(b)(1)). If it is and your income is above the median, the U.S. trustee has 30 more days to move to dismiss or convert, or to explain why not (§704(b)(2)). Other abuse motions are generally due within 60 days after the first date set for that meeting (Bankruptcy Rule 1017(e)).

One response is to rebut the presumption in Part 4 of Form 122A-2. The statute's examples of special circumstances are a serious medical condition and a call to active duty, and the circumstance must justify an added expense or income adjustment that has no reasonable alternative. You itemize, document, explain and swear to each one, and together they must bring the 60-month figure under the threshold (§707(b)(2)(B)).

The other is to convert to Chapter 13, which you can do at any time if the case hasn't been converted before and you qualify (§706(a) and (d)); the court can't put you in Chapter 13 without your consent. Above-median Chapter 13 plans generally must run at least five years unless they pay unsecured creditors in full sooner, and Form 122C-2 uses the same expense rules to figure the disposable income that goes into the plan (§1325(b)(3) and (4)). Our guide to Chapter 7 vs. Chapter 13 bankruptcy compares the two. If you do neither, the court can dismiss the case (§707(b)(1)).

Because the average looks back six months, a recent pay cut lowers it one month at a time. Filing later may help, but a pending foreclosure, repossession or garnishment can make waiting costly, so choose the date with a lawyer.

When to have a bankruptcy lawyer run the numbers

In the example, $78 a month separated passing from failing. Talk to a bankruptcy lawyer before you file if:

• You're within a few thousand dollars of the median, or line 39d lands between $10,275 and $17,150.
• Your spouse isn't filing, or the people in your household aren't the people on your tax return.
• You're self-employed, have rental income, or got a bonus, severance or settlement in the six-month window.
• You're a veteran, reservist or National Guard member and an exclusion may apply.
• The U.S. trustee says your case is presumed abusive, or someone has moved to dismiss it.

You can find a bankruptcy lawyer near you. For a quick first read, our Bankruptcy Qualification Checker compares your monthly income and household size with your state's median from the same U.S. Trustee table. It covers only that first step, so the second part of the test still needs your real expense figures.

Frequently asked questions

Does Social Security count as income on the means test?

No. 11 U.S.C. §101(10A) excludes benefits paid under the Social Security Act, so Social Security retirement, survivor and disability benefits stay off Form 122A-1. Military and VA payments tied to a service member's disability, combat-related injury or death are excluded too. A pension from a former employer still counts.

Does my spouse's income count if only I file Chapter 7?

Usually. If you're married, living together and not legally separated, your spouse's income goes in Column B of Form 122A-1. Line 3 of Form 122A-2 then lets you subtract what your spouse doesn't spend on your household, such as their own tax debt. If you're legally separated, or living apart for reasons unrelated to the test, you leave it out and say so under penalty of perjury.

What is the means test median income in 2026?

For cases filed on or after April 1, 2026, the one-person median is $66,837 in Texas and $79,253 in California, and four-person figures run from $93,672 in West Virginia to $178,524 in Massachusetts. Add $11,100 per person beyond four, and check the U.S. Trustee Program's site for a newer set.

Is there a means test for Chapter 13?

There's no pass or fail. Chapter 13 filers complete Form 122C-1, which compares income with the same state medians. Below the median, the required plan period is generally three years. Above it, it's generally at least five years unless the plan pays unsecured creditors in full sooner, and Form 122C-2 uses the means test expense rules to set how much goes into the plan.