House Affordability Calculator
Estimate the maximum home price you can afford from your income, debts, down payment, and rate using the lender 28/36 DTI rules. See a realistic target price before you start house hunting or talk to a loan officer.
How to Use
- Enter your gross annual income (before taxes).
- Enter your total monthly debt payments — car loans, student loans, minimum credit-card payments.
- Enter the down payment you have saved.
- Enter the interest rate and loan term in years.
- Enter your estimated monthly taxes, insurance, and HOA, then read the maximum affordable home price.
Show Work
28/36 rule
About the House Affordability Calculator
Meet the House Affordability Calculator: a free, no-fuss tool for personal-finance and money decisions with nothing to install and no sign-up. Estimate the maximum home price you can afford from your income, debts, down payment, and rate using the lender 28/36 DTI rules. See a realistic target price before you start house hunting or talk to a loan officer.
How it works
Put each value in its box and read the answer as you go. Because it recalculates live, you can play with the inputs to see how each one moves the result — handy for checking your own working or planning ahead. Everything happens on your device, so it is fast and private.
Want the deeper story? The Knowledge Base explains the ideas behind the tools in more detail.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the 28/36 rule?
It is a common lender guideline: your housing payment (PITI) should stay at or below 28% of gross monthly income (the front-end ratio), and all debt including housing should stay at or below 36% (the back-end ratio). This calculator uses those limits to back into a maximum affordable price. Some loan programs allow higher ratios, but 28/36 is a sensible conservative target.
Does affordability mean I should borrow the maximum?
No. The maximum is what a lender may approve, not what is comfortable. It is based on gross income and ignores taxes, retirement saving, childcare, and lifestyle costs, so the true comfortable payment is often well below the cap. Many buyers deliberately target a price below the maximum to keep breathing room in their budget.
How does my down payment affect the price I can afford?
A larger down payment lets you buy a higher-priced home for the same monthly payment because you are borrowing less, and putting 20% down also avoids PMI. Conversely, a small down payment caps the price and may add mortgage insurance to the payment. The down payment is added to the maximum loan amount to produce the affordable price.
Why do taxes, insurance, and HOA reduce my budget?
Lenders qualify you on the full housing payment (PITI plus HOA), not just principal and interest. Every dollar of monthly tax, insurance, or HOA dues eats into the 28% housing allowance, leaving less room for the loan payment and lowering the price you can afford. High-tax or high-HOA areas shrink buying power noticeably.
Will my interest rate change how much house I can buy?
Significantly. A higher rate raises the monthly cost of every borrowed dollar, so the same payment buys a smaller loan and a lower-priced home. Even a one-point rate change can move your affordable price by tens of thousands of dollars, which is why locking a good rate matters.
How do I use the House Affordability Calculator?
Simply type your numbers and read the result, which refreshes the instant you change something. There is nothing to submit and nothing to wait for.
Do I need to install or sign up for anything?
Not at all — it runs in the browser with nothing to install and no account. After it loads once, it even works without an internet connection.
Is my information private?
Yes. Everything happens in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to a server or saved anywhere.
Common Use Cases
Setting a house-hunting budget
Find a realistic top price before browsing listings so you only tour homes you can finance.
Before talking to a lender
Get a ballpark figure that lines up with how an underwriter will view your income and debts.
Testing a bigger down payment
See how saving more for the down payment raises the price range you can reach.
Adjusting for rate changes
Re-run with a higher or lower rate to see how market moves shift your buying power.
Paying down debt first
Lower your monthly debts to see how much more home you could afford after clearing a loan.
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