Methodology and sources
State Law Lookup publishes two rules per state: the small claims dollar limit, and the security deposit cap and return deadline. Each value was read on October 21, 2026 from the state's statute, court rule, or an official court or state agency page, and is stored in a data file with the source name, URL and checked date. Every page, table, chart and the lookup tool are generated from those files; no figure is typed into a page.
Data files
| File | What it holds | Records | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
smallClaims.json | Small claims limit, business limit where set, court, citation, verbatim quote, published fees | 51 | October 21, 2026 |
deposits.json | Deposit cap (months of rent), return deadline (days, calendar or business), what starts the clock, verbatim quotes | 44 | October 21, 2026 |
states.json | State names, URL slugs and land-border neighbours, used only to choose comparison rows | 51 | October 20, 2026 |
Calculations
- Does a claim fit? A claim fits when the amount is less than or equal to the limit, because every rule is worded as "does not exceed" or "or less". Where a state sets a separate business limit (California, Washington), the lookup applies it when "filing as a business" is ticked.
- Largest deposit. Monthly rent times the cap in months. Kansas furnished units, North Carolina month-to-month tenancies, pet deposits (Hawaii, Kansas, Nebraska) and New Hampshire's $100 floor follow the statute's own figures. No cap means no dollar ceiling is computed.
- Return date. The start date plus the statutory number of days. For Arizona, which counts business days, Saturdays and Sundays are skipped; legal holidays are not modelled, so the true Arizona date can be later. Charts that compare deadlines draw business days at seven fifths of their count.
- Rankings and medians. Computed over verified records only.
Sources: small claims
Sources: security deposits
Not verified (excluded)
A state is left out of a topic when no official page could be read, rather than filled from a secondary site. These states have no page in that topic and are shown as "not verified" in the tables and the lookup.
| Topic | State | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Deposits | Colorado | Colorado's statutes are published only through the LexisNexis host linked by the General Assembly, which returned an error page on 21 Oct 2026; no Colorado agency page giving both figures was found. |
| Deposits | District of Columbia | D.C. Code § 42-3502.17 (read 21 Oct 2026) sets a 45-day notice of claimed amounts but leaves the cap and return rules to 14 DCMR 308-309, whose text DCRegs serves only as a file download that was not opened. |
| Deposits | Georgia | The Georgia Code is published through the LexisNexis host linked by the General Assembly; on 21 Oct 2026 it required a CAPTCHA to open a section, so O.C.G.A. § 44-7-34 could not be read. |
| Deposits | Kentucky | KRS 383.580 (read 21 Oct 2026 on the Legislature's site) sets no cap and no day-count deadline for returning the deposit; it lets the landlord keep an unclaimed refund 60 days after notifying the tenant, which does not fit a return-deadline figure. |
| Deposits | Louisiana | La. R.S. 9:3251 (read 21 Oct 2026) sets no cap and requires return "within one month after the lease shall terminate", a calendar-month period this site's day-count tool cannot show exactly, so no deadline is stated. |
| Deposits | Mississippi | The Mississippi Code is published through the LexisNexis host, which required a CAPTCHA on 21 Oct 2026; Miss. Code § 89-8-21 could not be read, and no Attorney General page states the figures. |
| Deposits | Tennessee | The Tennessee Code is published through the LexisNexis host, which required a CAPTCHA on 21 Oct 2026, so Tenn. Code § 66-28-301 could not be read. |
Source types and known gaps
- Most records quote the statute or court rule itself. Some quote an official court or state agency page that states the figure and names the statute: California (Judicial Council self-help guide; Attorney General for deposits), Colorado, Hawaii, Kentucky, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota and Utah court pages, Georgia's Council of Magistrate Court Judges, the Texas State Law Library and Texas Attorney General, the Arkansas Attorney General (deposits), and county court pages for Indiana (Madison County), Oklahoma (Oklahoma County Court Clerk), Pennsylvania (Lycoming County) and Tennessee (Hamilton County).
- Alabama's record quotes the enrolled 2015 act that set the current $6,000 figure in § 12-12-31, not a current code compilation.
- New York's small claims record covers New York City only; limits in other city, town and village courts are not verified.
- Filing fees are shown only where the source publishes them; most states leave fees to the clerk of each court.
- Deposit records cover the cap and deadline only. Interest on deposits, penalty damages, local ordinances (for example city rent rules) and exceptions for particular housing types are not covered unless the record's notes say so.
Refresh
Every source is re-read at least once a year and whenever a legislature changes a limit (several, such as Michigan and Nebraska, raise theirs on a schedule). The checked date on each page changes only when the source has been read again. Corrections: hello@statelawlookup.com.