Bankruptcy exemptions in Pennsylvania: what you can keep

Every Pennsylvania exemption with its amount and law, plus the federal rules that limit them.

Checked against official sources: October 25, 2026.

Short answer

In Pennsylvania you choose state or federal exemptions (exemptions are the property the law lets you keep). Your home (homestead): none — Pennsylvania law has no homestead exemption.

Exemption system: State or federal, your choice
Wildcard (any property): $300 in any property (cash, bank accounts, real estate or other property).
Amounts: Pennsylvania amounts are fixed by statute and not indexed. The $300 general exemption dates from 1982; the $15,000 retirement limit from 2000.

Exemptions in Pennsylvania, item by item

Exemptions are the property the law lets you keep. You pick one whole set: the Pennsylvania list or the federal list. You can't mix them.

Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(b)(1)-(2); 11 U.S.C. 522(d)

What	Pennsylvania exemption	Federal exemption
Home (homestead)	None. Pennsylvania law has no homestead exemption. You can use the $300 general exemption toward any property, including your home. If you choose the state exemptions, a home owned with your spouse as tenants by the entirety is protected from creditors of only one spouse (11 U.S.C. 522(b)(3)(B); In re O'Lexa, 3d Cir. 2007, which held this applies even to a debt for family necessaries). Debts owed jointly by both spouses are not blocked this way. Law: 42 Pa.C.S. 8123 (general $300 exemption); 11 U.S.C. 522(b)(3)(B); In re O'Lexa (3d Cir. 2007)	$31,575 Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(1)
Car or other vehicle	—	$5,025 Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(2)
Household goods and clothing	Wearing apparel; Bibles and school books; sewing machines used by private families or belonging to seamstresses (not kept for sale or hire); military uniforms and equipment. No dollar cap on these items. Other household goods have no separate exemption. Law: 42 Pa.C.S. 8124(a)	Household goods: $800 per item, $16,850 total Jewelry for personal or family use: $2,125 Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(3); 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(4)
Wildcard (any property)	$300 in any property (cash, bank accounts, real estate or other property). It does not apply against support judgments, or against a mortgage foreclosure on the mortgaged property. Law: 42 Pa.C.S. 8123	$1,675 plus up to $15,800 of any unused part of the (d)(1) homestead amount Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(5)
Tools of your trade	—	$3,175 Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(6)
Wages	Wages, salaries and commissions are exempt while still held by your employer, except for support, divorce-related orders, certain landlord judgments (capped at 10% of net wages), PHEAA student loans, criminal restitution/fines and some other listed debts. Law: 42 Pa.C.S. 8127	—
Retirement accounts	IRAs, Roth IRAs, 401(k), 403(b) and similar plans, plus public employee pensions, are exempt. Not protected: amounts you put in within one year before filing bankruptcy, and contributions over $15,000 in any one-year period (direct rollovers excepted). Law: 42 Pa.C.S. 8124(b)	No dollar limit (IRAs are capped under 522(n)) Money in traditional and Roth IRAs is protected up to $1,711,975 in total. Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(12); 11 U.S.C. 522(n); 90 FR 8941
Public benefits	Unemployment compensation and workers' compensation payments are exempt. Accident or disability insurance benefits are also exempt. Law: 42 Pa.C.S. 8124(c)(2), (c)(7), (c)(10)	Your right to receive Social Security, unemployment, public assistance, veterans' and disability benefits; alimony and support you reasonably need; and certain pension or annuity payments you reasonably need: No dollar limit (some only as much as you reasonably need) Your right to certain payments: crime victim awards, wrongful-death and life-insurance payments for someone you depended on, personal bodily injury payments (not pain and suffering or actual money losses), and payments for lost future earnings: Crime-victim awards: no limit. Personal injury payment: up to $31,575. Others: as much as you reasonably need Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(10); 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(11)
Other exemptions	Life insurance or annuity payable to your spouse, children or dependent relative: the net amount payable is exempt (42 Pa.C.S. 8124(c)(6)). Group insurance policies and their proceeds are exempt (42 Pa.C.S. 8124(c)(5)). Insurance or annuity where you are the beneficiary: exempt up to an income of $100 per month (42 Pa.C.S. 8124(c)(3)).	An unmatured life insurance policy you own (not credit life insurance): No dollar limit Cash value of life insurance: $16,850 Health aids prescribed by a professional for you or a dependent: No dollar limit Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(7); 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(8); 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(9)

Amounts: Pennsylvania amounts are fixed by statute and not indexed. The $300 general exemption dates from 1982; the $15,000 retirement limit from 2000. Read on the Pennsylvania General Assembly site, October 2026.

Federal amounts: Amounts in effect for cases filed on or after April 1, 2025 (next automatic adjustment due April 1, 2028)

Law: 11 U.S.C. 104; 90 FR 8941-8942

These amounts are per person. If a married couple files one joint case, each spouse can claim the federal exemptions separately.

Keeping your home in Pennsylvania

None. Pennsylvania law has no homestead exemption. You can use the $300 general exemption toward any property, including your home.

If you choose the state exemptions, a home owned with your spouse as tenants by the entirety is protected from creditors of only one spouse (11 U.S.C. 522(b)(3)(B); In re O'Lexa, 3d Cir. 2007, which held this applies even to a debt for family necessaries). Debts owed jointly by both spouses are not blocked this way.

Law: 42 Pa.C.S. 8123 (general $300 exemption); 11 U.S.C. 522(b)(3)(B); In re O'Lexa (3d Cir. 2007)

IRAs, 401(k)s and pensions

IRAs, Roth IRAs, 401(k), 403(b) and similar plans, plus public employee pensions, are exempt. Not protected: amounts you put in within one year before filing bankruptcy, and contributions over $15,000 in any one-year period (direct rollovers excepted).

Law: 42 Pa.C.S. 8124(b)

Retirement money in tax-exempt accounts is protected whichever set of exemptions you use (IRAs subject to the 522(n) cap).

Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(b)(3)(C), 522(d)(12), 522(n)

The 730-day rule

You use the exemption law of the state where you lived (your domicile) for the full 730 days (2 years) before you filed. If you moved between states during those 2 years, you use the law of the state where you lived for the 180 days before that 2-year period, or where you lived the longest part of those 180 days.

Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(b)(3)(A)

If this rule leaves you with no exemptions at all (for example, the state's exemptions apply only to its residents and you no longer live there), you can use the federal exemptions instead.

Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(b)(3), flush language

State or federal list in Pennsylvania

In some states you can choose either the state exemptions or the federal exemptions. You must pick one whole set; you cannot mix them. Other states allow only the state exemptions. A married couple filing together must both pick the same set.

Law: 11 U.S.C. 522(b)(1)-(2); 11 U.S.C. 522(d)

In nearby states

Maryland: State exemptions only. Home (homestead): your equity in the owner-occupied home you live in, up to the same dollar amount as the federal homestead exemption in 11 U.S.C. 522(d)(1), as adjusted.
District of Columbia: State or federal, your choice. Home (homestead): unlimited: your whole interest in real property you use as your residence, or in a cooperative that owns property you or a dependent use as a residence.
New Jersey: State or federal, your choice. Home (homestead): none — New Jersey state law has no homestead exemption for the equity in your home.
Delaware: State exemptions only. Home (homestead): $200,000 of equity in your principal residence (a house, other real property, or a manufactured home you live in).

What to do now in Pennsylvania

Write down your property
List each thing you own and what it is worth on Official Form 106A/B.
Match each item to an exemption
The table above shows the Pennsylvania amount for each kind of property.
List the exemptions you claim
Exemptions are claimed on Official Form 106C.
Get help
Legal aid can help for free: Philadelphia Legal Assistance / Consumer Bankruptcy Assistance Project (Philadelphia) and Community Legal Services of Philadelphia.

Where to get free help in Pennsylvania

Questions about exemptions in Pennsylvania

Does Pennsylvania let me choose the federal exemptions?

You can. Pennsylvania lets you choose the state exemptions or the federal exemptions in 11 U.S.C. 522(d). You must pick one whole set.

How much home equity can I keep in Pennsylvania?

None. Pennsylvania law has no homestead exemption. You can use the $300 general exemption toward any property, including your home.

What is the wildcard exemption in Pennsylvania?

$300 in any property (cash, bank accounts, real estate or other property). It does not apply against support judgments, or against a mortgage foreclosure on the mortgaged property.

What household goods can I keep in Pennsylvania?

Wearing apparel; Bibles and school books; sewing machines used by private families or belonging to seamstresses (not kept for sale or hire); military uniforms and equipment. No dollar cap on these items. Other household goods have no separate exemption.

Is my 401(k) or IRA protected in a Pennsylvania bankruptcy?

How much of my pay is exempt in Pennsylvania?

Wages, salaries and commissions are exempt while still held by your employer, except for support, divorce-related orders, certain landlord judgments (capped at 10% of net wages), PHEAA student loans, criminal restitution/fines and some other listed debts.