Rent Calculator
Enter your annual pre-tax income, the share of it you want to spend on rent and your other monthly debt payments. The calculator takes your share of one month's income, 30% unless you change it, as the maximum rent. Then it subtracts your debt payments and shows the rent that is left.
How to use the Rent Calculator
- Enter your annual income before tax and pick a currency if you are not working in US dollars.
- Enter the rent-to-income ratio in percent. It starts at 30% and takes any value above 0% and up to 100%.
- Enter what you pay each month on other debts, such as a car loan, student loans or credit cards. Enter 0 if you have none.
- Press Calculate to see the maximum rent at your ratio and the rent left after your debt payments.
How the calculator works out rent
Max rent = annual income ÷ 12 × ratio · · · Rent after debts = max rent − monthly debt payments
The ratio is your percentage as a decimal, so 30% is 0.30. If your debt payments are larger than the maximum rent, the rent after debts shows as 0. Both figures are rounded to the cent. The calculator does not add utilities or other housing costs to the rent.
Worked example
Take an income of $66,000 a year, which is $5,500 a month. At the 30% ratio the maximum rent is $5,500 × 0.30 = $1,650.00. With $300 a month in other debt payments, the rent after debts is $1,650.00 − $300 = $1,350.00. Raise the ratio to 35% and the maximum rent becomes $1,925.00.
Frequently asked questions
What is the 30% rule?
It is the share of income that US housing statistics use as the line for affordable housing. The U.S. Census Bureau, following HUD, counts a household as cost-burdened when it spends more than 30% of its income on rent, mortgage payments and other housing costs. The calculator starts at the same 30%, and you can enter a lower or higher ratio.
Should I use gross or net income?
The income field asks for pay before tax, so the result is a share of gross income. For a rent based on take-home pay, enter your yearly take-home pay instead. The same ratio then gives a lower rent.
What does the rent after debts mean?
It is the maximum rent minus your other monthly debt payments. The calculator treats your rent and your debt payments as one budget at your ratio, so every dollar of debt payments lowers the rent by a dollar. At $66,000 a year and 30%, $300 of debt payments takes the rent from $1,650.00 to $1,350.00.
Does the calculator include utilities?
No. It works out rent only. The Census measure counts other housing costs too, so if you want utilities inside the 30%, subtract your monthly utility bills from the rent the calculator shows.