How to use this calculator
- Enter your household's income before tax, for everyone who will be on the loan. Your pay stubs have it (gross income).
- Enter your other monthly debt payments as a lender counts them: card minimums and loan payments, plus child support or alimony. Not utilities or insurance.
- Set your housing budget, upkeep included: a share of your take-home pay, a share of your income before tax, or a dollar amount a month. A share of take-home pay asks for your net pay each month, after taxes and retirement saving.
- Enter the cash you'll put down. Your down payment sets the highest price each loan allows.
- Choose the loan and its rate, and enter the home's property tax rate and insurance. For a VA loan, say whether it's your first, whether you're exempt from the funding fee, and your take-home pay, household, region and home size, which VA's residual income test uses.
- Under More options, add the savings you'll have left after closing costs, HOA dues, change the mortgage insurance rate, upkeep or how fast costs rise, or check a price you have in mind.
The numbers already filled in are an example. Replace them with your own. A preapproval is a lender's actual answer.
How it's calculated
A lender adds up the monthly housing payment, principal and interest plus property tax, home insurance, mortgage insurance and any HOA dues, then adds your other debt payments and divides by your monthly income before tax. That is your debt-to-income ratio. The calculator finds the highest price, to the dollar, at which the ratio stays within the loan's limits:
- Conventional loans follow Fannie Mae's Selling Guide: total debts up to 45% of income for a manually underwritten loan with the credit score and reserves it requires and at least 5% down, and up to 50% through its automated underwriting. There is no separate limit on the housing payment.
- FHA loans follow HUD's handbook for manual underwriting with a credit score of 580 or more: 31% for the housing payment and 43% in total, or 40% and 50% with two compensating factors.
- VA loans follow 38 CFR 36.4340: a debt-to-income ratio of 41%, rounded to a whole percent, and residual income, the take-home pay left each month after the payment, VA's maintenance estimate of 14 cents a square foot and your other debts, at least VA's guideline for your family size and region. Above 41%, the regulation accepts the ratio without a supervisor's written justification once residual income is at least 20% above the guideline; that sets the second VA price here. A supervisor's justification, or VA's prior approval, can allow more, so it is not a ceiling. VA's funding fee, 1.25% to 3.3% of the loan by down payment and first or later use, is added to the loan unless you're exempt, and there is no mortgage insurance.
- The down payment limits the price too: at least 3% for a conventional fixed-rate loan through automated underwriting (with a first-time buyer below 5%), 5% for an adjustable-rate loan, a loan above the conforming limit or a manually underwritten one, 3.5% for FHA, and none for VA with full entitlement when the home appraises at the price or more.
Mortgage insurance. A conventional loan of more than 80% of the price adds private mortgage insurance at the rate you enter, with the loan-to-value ratio measured as Fannie Mae does, truncated to hundredths of a percent. It ends after the payment that brings the original schedule to 78% of the price, if your payments are current, under the Homeowners Protection Act; for an adjustable-rate loan, the schedule then in effect, here the worst case below. FHA adds an upfront premium of 1.75% to the loan and a monthly premium at the rate HUD's Mortgagee Letter 2023-05 sets for the loan's size, term and down payment, worked out HUD's way: the year's average scheduled balance times the rate, divided by 1.0175 and by 12.
Your budget. The budget test adds upkeep to the housing payment and compares the total with the budget you set: a share of your take-home pay, a share of your income before tax, or a dollar amount. The price that fits is the highest at which that total stays within it.
An example
A household earning $87,460 a year before tax, with $5,300 a month of take-home pay, $400 a month of other debts and $41,000 to put down, borrowing at 7.375% for 30 years, with property tax at 0.89% and insurance of $1,737 a year:
- A lender could approve up to $372,916. The payment is $2,879.75 a month, with $165.96 of mortgage insurance because the loan is 89% of the price, and the debt-to-income ratio is 45%. At 50%, the most Fannie Mae's automated underwriting allows, the price reaches $417,637.
- With 30% of take-home pay for housing and upkeep at 1% a year, the budget price is $203,782, $1,590.00 a month all in.
- At $203,782, $15,000 of savings would cover 7 months of payments, and by year 10, with costs rising 2.5% a year, the home would cost $1,706 a month all in.
- Each $100 a month of other debt payments lowers what the lender could approve by $12,272.
The same household with an FHA loan: FHA's 31% limit on the housing payment sets the price at $295,665, with a loan of $259,121 including the $4,456 upfront premium and a monthly premium of $105.66. With a 5/6 adjustable-rate loan at the same starting rate, the lender qualifies the payment at 9.375%, which lowers the price to $323,931; if rates rise as far as the caps allow, principal and interest on the budget price would reach $1,656 a month at 12.375%.
With a 30-year VA loan on a first use, VA's 41% ratio sets the price at $357,687: the loan of $320,646 includes a funding fee of $3,959 (1.25%, with 10% or more down), and the household keeps $1,975 a month of residual income against VA's guideline of $889 for a family of 3 in the South. Where residual income is 20% above the guideline, the point at which VA's rules need no supervisor's review, the price can reach $474,198.
What a lender could approve, by income
The example's other numbers, with only the income changed: $400 a month of other debts, $41,000 down, a 30-year fixed rate of 7.375%.
| Income | Lender, at 45% | Highest, at 50% | Payment |
|---|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $205,102 | $226,089 | $1,430 |
| $75,000 | $315,574 | $353,925 | $2,413 |
| $100,000 | $430,628 | $481,760 | $3,350 |
| $125,000 | $545,680 | $609,597 | $4,288 |
| $150,000 | $660,733 | $737,435 | $5,225 |
Assumptions and limits
- A lender's answer depends on your credit score, your savings, the loan's other terms and the lender's own rules. These prices use the published program limits, so treat them as estimates and a preapproval as the answer.
- Conventional limits are Fannie Mae's. FHA limits are the handbook's manual-underwriting limits for a credit score of 580 or more; FHA's automated underwriting has no published ratio limit and can approve more. VA limits are the regulation's: VA's second price allows any ratio once residual income is 20% above the guideline, where a lender would still weigh the rest of your file; meeting both of VA's standards does not mean a loan is approved.
- Income is steady pay before tax for everyone on the loan. Other debts are their monthly payments as a lender counts them.
- Property tax is a percentage of the price; insurance is one yearly figure at every price; upkeep is a percentage of the price and counts only in your budget, not in a lender's test. Utilities, furnishing and moving costs are left out, except in VA's residual income test, which counts maintenance and utilities at 14 cents a square foot.
- Conventional mortgage insurance is paid monthly by you at the rate you enter. Lender-paid and single-premium mortgage insurance are not modeled. FHA's upfront premium is added to the loan.
- A 5/6 adjustable-rate loan is qualified at its rate plus 2 points, assuming its fully indexed rate (index plus margin) is no higher; a 7/6 or 10/6 at its rate, unless it is a higher-priced loan (an APR 1.5 points or more above the average prime offer rate), which lenders qualify at the fully indexed rate too. The worst case assumes the standard caps: 2, 1 and 5 points for a 5/6, and 5, 1 and 5 for a 7/6 or 10/6, with changes every six months.
- Closing costs aren't estimated: enter the down payment and the savings you'll have left once they're paid.
- Taxes, insurance, dues and upkeep rise at one rate a year from the second year; your income stays the same. Amounts are not adjusted for inflation.
- The loan-limit notes use 2026's limits: $832,750 for a conforming loan in most counties (above it, a jumbo loan), and FHA's $541,287 to $1,249,125 by county.
- VA loans assume full entitlement and the funding fee financed; take-home pay stands in for the net income VA's residual income starts from, and child care belongs in other debts. USDA loans, jumbo underwriting, two-to-four-unit homes, investment property, rental income, buydowns and points are not modeled.
- The defaults: the 2025 median household income from the Census Bureau, with take-home pay worked out for a single filer who saves 5% in a 401(k) and pays 4% in state tax; a rate near Freddie Mac's survey average for a 30-year fixed loan in the week of October 8, 2026; a down payment of about 10% of the median price of houses sold in the second quarter of 2026; property tax at the national median tax divided by the median home value; insurance at the 2023 national average premium; and mortgage insurance at $50 a month per $100,000 borrowed, the middle of Freddie Mac's range. For VA, a family of three in the South, the most populous region, and a home of 2,142 square feet, the median single-family home completed in 2025 from the Census Bureau.
Input field details
What to enter in each box, where to find the number, and how this calculator treats it. When two calculators give different answers from the same numbers, it's usually because they handle one of these differently.
Household income before tax
The yearly income, before tax and payroll deductions, of everyone who will be on the loan.
Where to find itBox 1 of a W-2 understates it if you put money into a 401(k): use gross pay from your pay stub, times the pay periods in a year. Self-employed income is what a lender averages from your returns.
How this tool treats itA lender divides your monthly debts, the new housing payment included, by this figure divided by 12. That is your debt-to-income ratio. The lender’s two prices are the highest prices at which it stays within the program’s limits: 45% and 50% for a conventional loan, and 31%/43% and 40%/50% for FHA, where the first number is the housing payment alone.
Allowed range$0 to $10,000,000 a year
Take-home pay
What reaches your bank account each month, after taxes and what you save for retirement.
Where to find itYour pay stubs (net pay), for everyone on the loan, added together and converted to a month.
How this tool treats itA budget set as a share of take-home pay uses it, and so does VA’s residual income test, which starts from it. A conventional or FHA lender does not use it.
Allowed range$0 to $1,000,000 a month
Other debt payments
The monthly payments a lender will count: the minimum on each credit card, and car, student and personal loan payments, plus child support or alimony you pay.
Where to find itYour statements, or your credit report for the minimums.
How this tool treats itUtilities, phone, insurance and subscriptions are not debts here, and neither is your current rent, which the new payment replaces. For a VA loan, add child care and other job-related costs: VA subtracts them in its residual income test.
Allowed range$0 to $1,000,000 a month
Housing budget as
How you want to set your housing budget: a share of your take-home pay, a share of your income before tax, or a dollar amount a month.
How this tool treats itWhichever you choose, the budget covers the mortgage, taxes, insurance, mortgage insurance, dues and upkeep together, and the budget price is the highest price whose monthly cost stays within it. A lender’s limits do not change.
Monthly housing budget
The most you want to spend each month on the mortgage, taxes, insurance, dues and upkeep together.
How this tool treats itThe budget price is the highest price whose monthly cost, all in, stays within this amount.
Allowed range$0 to $1,000,000 a month
Down payment
The cash you’ll put toward the price, after setting aside closing costs.
How this tool treats itThe loan is the price minus this. A conventional fixed-rate loan needs at least 3% down (and a first-time buyer below 5%), an adjustable-rate loan 5%, and FHA 3.5%, so with a given down payment there is a highest price each loan allows. A VA loan needs none with full entitlement if the home appraises at the price or more, though 5% or 10% down lowers its funding fee.
Allowed range$0 to $10,000,000
Savings left after you buy
The savings you’ll still have once the down payment and closing costs are paid, not counting retirement accounts.
How this tool treats itThe cushion is this divided by your monthly housing cost, all in, plus your other debt payments: how many months your savings would cover them with no paycheck.
Allowed range$0 to $10,000,000
Loan
The kind of loan and its term. A conventional loan follows Fannie Mae’s rules; FHA loans are insured by the Federal Housing Administration and allow 3.5% down; VA loans are guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs for eligible veterans, service members and surviving spouses, and need no down payment with full entitlement when the home appraises at the price.
How this tool treats itA 5/6 ARM has a fixed rate for 5 years, then changes every 6 months; a 7/6 and a 10/6 after 7 and 10 years. Lenders qualify a 5/6 ARM at its rate plus 2 points. The worst case assumes the rate rises as far as the standard caps allow: 2 points at the first change, 1 point at each later one, and 5 points above the starting rate in all (5, 1 and 5 for a 7/6 or 10/6).
Not includedUSDA loans, jumbo loans’ own limits, VA loans with part of the entitlement in use, and interest-only or balloon loans.
Interest rate
The rate you expect to be offered, to up to three decimals (7.375).
Where to find itA lender’s quote or Loan Estimate. Use the interest rate, not the APR, which adds fees. An adjustable-rate loan is quoted at its own rate, often different from a fixed loan’s.
How this tool treats itThe principal and interest payment is the level monthly payment that repays the loan over its term, rounded to the cent.
Allowed range0% to 20%
Property tax
The home’s yearly property tax as a percentage of the price.
Where to find itThe listing or the county’s tax bill: divide the yearly tax by the price. A new purchase is often reassessed at the price.
How this tool treats itA twelfth of the yearly tax is added to each month’s payment, as an escrow account collects it.
Allowed range0% to 10% a year
Home insurance
The yearly homeowners insurance premium.
Where to find itAn insurer’s quote for the home, or for one like it.
How this tool treats itThe same premium at every price: premiums depend on what the home would cost to rebuild and where it is, more than on its price.
Allowed range$0 to $100,000 a year
HOA dues
Monthly homeowners association or condo dues, if any.
Where to find itThe listing or the association’s budget.
How this tool treats itLenders count dues with the housing payment, so they lower both the lender’s price and the budget price.
Allowed range$0 to $20,000 a month
Mortgage insurance rate
For a conventional loan, the yearly private mortgage insurance premium as a percentage of the loan.
Where to find itA lender’s quote. Freddie Mac puts typical premiums at $30 to $70 a month for every $100,000 borrowed (0.36% to 0.84% a year). Premiums rise with the loan’s share of the price and fall with your credit score.
How this tool treats itCharged when the loan is more than 80% of the price, measured as Fannie Mae does (truncated to hundredths of a percent). It ends after the payment that brings the original schedule to 78% of the price (for an ARM, the schedule then in effect), if your payments are current, or at the loan’s midpoint if that comes first; the date follows the schedule, not your actual balance. You can ask the lender to cancel it earlier, once the schedule reaches 80%, if your payment history is good. FHA loans use HUD’s premiums instead: 1.75% upfront, added to the loan, and a monthly premium by HUD’s method.
Allowed range0% to 3% a year
Not includedLender-paid or single-premium mortgage insurance.
Upkeep
What you expect to spend each year on repairs and maintenance, as a percentage of the price.
How this tool treats it1% a year is a common planning figure, not a measured one. Routine work is less in most years; a roof or a furnace is far more in the year it fails. Upkeep counts in the budget test only: a conventional or FHA lender does not count it, and VA uses its own maintenance estimate (see Home size in square feet).
Allowed range0% to 10% a year
Yearly rise in taxes, insurance, dues and upkeep
How fast you expect those costs to rise each year.
How this tool treats itApplied to all four from the second year: year 1 is the amounts you enter. A fixed-rate mortgage payment does not change; an adjustable-rate payment can.
Allowed range0% to 20% a year
Which VA loan is this?
Whether this is your first VA-guaranteed loan or you have had one before.
How this tool treats itVA’s funding fee depends on it and on the down payment: on a first use, 2.15% of the loan with less than 5% down, 1.5% with 5% to under 10%, and 1.25% with 10% or more; on a later use, 3.3%, 1.5% and 1.25%. Here the fee is added to the loan (it can also be paid at closing), so it raises the payment.
I’m exempt from the VA funding fee
On if the law exempts you from the funding fee.
Where to find itYour Certificate of Eligibility. Exempt by law: a veteran receiving VA compensation for a service-connected disability (or entitled to it but for retirement or active-service pay), the surviving spouse of a veteran who died in service or from a service-connected disability, and an active-duty member awarded the Purple Heart.
How this tool treats itWith it on, no fee is added to the loan.
People in your household
Everyone who lives with you: you, a spouse, children and other dependents.
How this tool treats itVA’s residual income guideline rises with family size. Above five people, VA adds a fixed amount for each person up to seven.
Allowed range1 to 15
Region
The region the home is in, as VA groups states.
How this tool treats itNortheast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont. Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
Home size in square feet
The home’s living area in square feet.
Where to find itThe listing or the appraisal (gross living area).
How this tool treats itVA estimates maintenance and utilities at 14 cents a square foot a month and subtracts it, with the payment and your other debts, from take-home pay to find your residual income. VA wants that to meet its guideline for your family size and region. Above a 41% debt-to-income ratio, residual income at least 20% above the guideline means the lender needs no supervisor’s written justification, which sets the second VA price here; with one, a lender can approve more.
Allowed range0 to 20,000 square feet
Price to check
A home price you have in mind, to see its payment, its ratios and how it holds up.
How this tool treats itWithout one, the bad-year figures are for the highest price that fits your budget.
Allowed range$1,000 to $50,000,000
Questions
How much house can I afford on my salary?
What debt-to-income ratio do mortgage lenders allow?
Is the 28/36 rule still used?
Should I set my housing budget on take-home pay or gross income?
How much should I have saved after closing?
How does mortgage insurance change what I can afford?
Should I consider an adjustable-rate mortgage to afford more?
How does a VA loan change how much house I can afford?
Version history
- October 8, 2026 (version 1.0.0): First version: the price that fits the housing budget you set, with upkeep; what a lender could approve and the highest it allows, conventional, FHA or VA; and how it holds up with rising costs, an adjustable rate and savings.