House Affordability Calculator
Enter your gross annual income, your other monthly debts, the down payment, the loan term and rate, the yearly property tax rate and the yearly home insurance. The calculator shows the highest home price under the 28% rule and under the 36% rule. The maximum mortgage, the monthly payment and the DTI below them come from the lower of the two prices. The monthly payment counts principal, interest, property tax and insurance, plus PMI if you enter a PMI rate. It leaves out HOA dues. Type the rate a lender quoted you, or press a button under the field to fill in a national survey average with its date.
Survey averages as of October 29, 2026
U.S. weekly averages. Source: Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey®. It covers conventional conforming purchase loans with 20% down and good or excellent credit. An average of rates on loan applications is not a quote. A lender's rate for you depends on your credit, down payment and loan. Type your own rate to replace it.
From your lender's quote. Charged only when the loan is over 80% of the price. 0 leaves PMI out.
How to use the House Affordability Calculator
- Enter your numbers in the House Affordability Calculator above.
- Press the Calculate button to see the result.
- To try other numbers, change any value and press the button again.
The 28% and 36% rules
Budget (28% rule) = 0.28 × gross monthly income · · · Budget (36% rule) = 0.36 × gross monthly income − other monthly debts · · · Price = (budget − insurance ÷ 12 + down payment × k) ÷ (k + tax rate ÷ 12)
k is the monthly principal and interest on each dollar borrowed at your rate and term. For each budget the calculator finds the price whose principal and interest, plus property tax on that price, plus insurance, add up to the budget. The loan is that price minus your down payment. If the lower budget does not cover tax and insurance on a home priced at the down payment, you get a message instead of a result. With a PMI rate, m is that rate ÷ 12 and it joins k on each dollar borrowed whenever the loan is more than 80% of the price.
Worked example
A household earning $108,000 a year, or $9,000 a month, with $500 of other monthly debts has a housing budget of $2,520 under the 28% rule and $2,740 under the 36% rule ($3,240 minus the $500). With $50,000 down, a 30-year loan at 6.5%, a 1.2% property tax rate and $1,200 a year of insurance, the calculator shows $373,740.41 under the 28% rule and $403,792.26 under the 36% rule. The lower price leaves a maximum mortgage of $323,740.41 and a monthly payment of $2,520.00, for a DTI of 33.56%. Put only $20,000 down with PMI at an example rate of 0.5% of the loan a year, and the 28% rule price is $330,183.84 with $129.24 of the same $2,520.00 going to PMI. Without PMI the same $20,000 would reach $347,838.39.
Frequently asked questions
What does the monthly payment include?
Principal and interest on the loan, property tax at the rate you enter, one twelfth of your yearly home insurance, and PMI when you enter a PMI rate and the loan is over 80% of the price. The calculator does not add HOA dues. If you will pay them, the price that fits the same budget is lower than the one shown.
How do I work out house affordability with PMI?
Type the PMI rate from your lender's quote as a yearly percent of the loan. It is 0 until you change it, because the rate depends on your loan and this page has no way to know it. The CFPB says a conventional loan may require PMI when the down payment is under 20% of the price (page last reviewed August 28, 2023, read November 3, 2026). The calculator charges it above an 80% loan and takes it out of the same budget, so the price falls. The field models PMI on a conventional loan. FHA and VA loans have their own costs and their own calculators on this site.
Can it use current mortgage rates?
It can fill in a survey average with its date on it. Under the rate field are the 30-year and 15-year averages from one dated week of Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey®. Press one and it fills the field. Freddie Mac publishes a new survey, usually on Thursdays, and this page does not promise to update when it does, so compare the date above the buttons with Freddie Mac's page. Once the survey held here is over 5 weeks old, a link to that page replaces the buttons. The survey covers conventional conforming purchase loans with 20% down and good or excellent credit. An average of rates on loan applications is not a quote and not your rate. A quote depends on your credit, down payment and loan type. When you have a lender's quote or Loan Estimate, type that rate over the average, then change it to see how the price moves.
Which of the two prices should I read?
The 28% rule caps housing on its own. The 36% rule caps housing plus your other monthly debts. The calculator shows both prices and works out the maximum mortgage, the monthly payment and the DTI from the lower one, because that price fits under both rules.
How does my down payment change the maximum price?
A larger down payment raises both prices. Each extra dollar down adds a little less than a dollar to the price, because property tax on the higher price takes part of the same monthly budget. At a 0% property tax rate the price rises dollar for dollar.