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The Means Test · Chapter 7 · Arizona
The Chapter 7 means test, explained.
With the current Arizona numbers.
The income test that decides who can file Chapter 7, in plain English. The numbers below are current, and this page changes when they do.
What the test is
The means test compares your household’s income over the last six months to the median income for a household your size in Arizona. Under the median, Chapter 7 is open to you — and most people who need it pass. Over it, there’s a second step, not a closed door. And if more than half of what you owe is business debt or taxes, the test doesn’t apply to you at all.
The number below is the whole first step, and the number is the part most sites get wrong: the medians change twice a year, and what’s published online is often years behind.
The current numbers
EFFECTIVE · APRIL 2026
Find your household size. That’s your line.
These figures change twice a year, and this page changes with them. I keep this table current.
Household size
I count heads on beds. Your spouse and your kids, if they live with you. A nephew you support. Your parents, in most cases. The bigger the household, the higher the line.
The income
The test looks at the six full months before the month you file: your gross income, and your spouse’s if you have one, from every source but Social Security. Double the six-month total, and that’s the number you compare to the table.
Bring your last six months of pay. I’ll tell you which side of the line you’re on — and it’s a short call.
Both sides of the line
The table is where you start, not where you decide.
Find your line in the table above. Here’s what each side of it means.
Under
If your doubled six-month income comes in under your line, Chapter 7 is open to you. The conversation moves to the house, the cars, and what you want to keep — and most people keep all of it.
Over
If it comes in over your line, the second step subtracts the costs the rules allow — housing, the car payments, taxes, child care, medical — from your income and looks at what’s left. Often that’s enough to get you into Chapter 7 after all. When it isn’t, Chapter 13 is the alternative.
A note from Mark
The most expensive mistake I see is someone reading this table and deciding they don't qualify.
The table is where you start. The call is where you find out.