Home Affordability Calculator

How much house can I afford?

Lenders rarely look at the sticker price of a home first — they look at your income and your existing debts. This calculator works backwards from those numbers: it finds the largest monthly payment you can comfortably carry, then converts that payment into a maximum loan and, with your down payment added, a maximum home price. Your property tax, home insurance and any HOA fee are subtracted first, so the figure reflects the full monthly cost of ownership rather than just principal and interest. Once you have a target price, the mortgage calculator shows the payment and full schedule, and the rent vs buy calculator checks whether buying beats renting over your timeline.

The 28/36 rule explained

The most widely used affordability guideline is the 28/36 rule. The front-end ratio says your housing payment should stay at or below 28% of your gross monthly income. The back-end ratio says all of your monthly debt — housing plus car loans, student loans and credit cards — should stay at or below 36%. Whichever limit you hit first is the one that caps your budget. Some loan programs stretch these ratios (for example many approvals allow up to 43%), so the calculator lets you choose a more generous guideline if that fits your situation.

Front-end vs back-end ratios

Lenders lean on two debt-to-income (DTI) ratios. The front-end ratio divides your total monthly housing cost — principal, interest, property tax, insurance, PMI and any HOA fee — by your gross monthly income. The back-end ratio takes that same housing cost and adds every other recurring debt (car payments, student loans, minimum credit-card payments) before dividing by income. Because the back-end ratio captures more of your obligations, it is the one most lenders weigh the hardest, and it is the figure this calculator uses for its custom DTI options.

Conventional, FHA and VA limits

Different loan programs allow different DTI ceilings, which is why the guideline dropdown matters:

• Conventional (28/36) — the classic benchmark for loans that follow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidelines. Conservative and widely accepted.
• FHA (31/43) — insured by the Federal Housing Administration, FHA loans permit more debt (about 31% front-end and 43% back-end) and smaller down payments, in exchange for mortgage-insurance premiums.
• VA (41%) — available to eligible veterans and service members and guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. VA loans focus on a single back-end ratio near 41% and often need no down payment.
• Custom 10%–50% — pick your own comfort level. Lower percentages give a safer, more conservative budget; higher ones stretch further but leave less breathing room.

When your down payment is below 20%, the calculator automatically adds an estimate for private mortgage insurance (PMI), since that cost is normally required on lower-down-payment conventional loans.

If the home you want is out of reach

If the number comes back lower than you hoped, a few levers can raise it over time: pay down existing debts to free up your back-end ratio, grow your down payment to lift the price ceiling and drop PMI, improve your credit score to earn a lower rate, or increase your qualifying income. Even a modest rate improvement or debt reduction can move your affordable price meaningfully. Once you have a target price, the mortgage calculator shows the exact monthly payment, and the down payment calculator helps you weigh how much to put down.

Ways to afford more

• Grow your down payment — it lifts your price ceiling and can remove PMI.
• Pay down debts to free up your back-end ratio.
• Choose a longer term to lower the monthly payment (you pay more interest overall).
• Shop lenders for a lower rate — even 0.25% helps.

Estimate only — not a loan offer or financial advice. Lenders verify income, credit and documents and may use different ratios, taxes and insurance figures.

How to use it & key terms

Enter your income, monthly debts, down payment and rate, then press Calculate to see the home price and payment you can comfortably afford.

What you can borrow versus what you can live with

A lender's approval and a comfortable budget are two different numbers, and the gap between them catches many first-time buyers by surprise. Approval is based on ratios a lender can see: your gross income, your reported debts and the loan program's limits. It says nothing about the parts of your life that never appear on a credit file — childcare, commuting, hobbies, saving for the future, or simply the wish to spend without checking the balance first. The most a lender will offer is a ceiling, not a target.

The two figures diverge because approval uses gross, pre-tax income, while you live on what lands in your account after tax, pension and everything else. A payment that looks fine as a share of gross income can feel very tight measured against take-home pay. Two households with identical incomes and debts can be approved for the same loan and yet have completely different room to breathe, because their other commitments and their appetite for risk are not the same.

A useful discipline is to separate the two questions. First, use the ratios to find what a lender is likely to approve; that tells you what is on the table. Then set your own limit below it, based on the payment you could keep making through a lean month, a job change or a surprise bill. Borrowing to the very top of your approval leaves nothing in reserve, and it is that missing cushion, rather than the size of the loan itself, that turns an affordable home into a stressful one.

It also helps to remember that the mortgage payment is not the whole cost of owning. Property tax, insurance, maintenance, utilities and the occasional large repair all arrive whether or not the budget expected them, and they tend to rise over time. A payment that leaves room for these is far safer than one that assumes nothing will go wrong. To pressure-test a specific figure, run it through our DTI calculator and see how much of your income the whole package would really claim.