# Iowa — Wage garnishment limits and exempt earnings by state

For Iowa, most one creditor may take in a calendar year is two hundred fifty dollars for each judgment creditor, except as provided in chapter 252D and sections 598.22, 598.23, and 627.12, or when those earnings are reasonably expected to be in excess of twelve thousand dollars for that calendar year; statute is 642.21 Exemption from net earnings, verified against its source on 2026-08-30.

- **State:** Iowa _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Most one creditor may take in a calendar year:** two hundred fifty dollars for each judgment creditor, except as provided in chapter 252D and sections 598.22, 598.23, and 627.12, or when those earnings are reasonably expected to be in excess of twelve thousand dollars for that calendar year _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Statute:** 642.21 Exemption from net earnings. _(verified: appears in the quote below)_

## What the source says

> The disposable earnings of an individual are exempt from garnishment to the extent provided by the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act, Tit. III, 15 U.S.C. §1671 – 1677 (1982). The maximum amount of an employee’s earnings which may be garnished during any one calendar year is two hundred fifty dollars for each judgment creditor, except as provided in chapter 252D and sections 598.22, 598.23, and 627.12, or when those earnings are reasonably expected to be in excess of twelve thousand dollars for that calendar year as determined from the answers taken by the sheriff or by the court pursuant to section 642.5, subsection 1, question number four. When the employee’s earnings are reasonably expected to be more than twelve thousand dollars, the maximum amount of those earnings which may be garnished during a calendar year for each creditor is as follows:

## Source

- https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/642.21.pdf

Last verified: 2026-08-30. Review by: 2027-02-25.
Part of [Wage garnishment limits and exempt earnings by state](https://referencesource.org/wage-garnishment-exemption-thresholds-by-state/).