House Affordability Calculator

Estimate how much home you may be able to afford based on your income, debts, down payment, loan settings, and housing costs.

How to Use

  1. Enter your income and current monthly debt payments.
  2. Set your target front-end and back-end debt-to-income limits.
  3. Add mortgage assumptions like rate, term, down payment, taxes, insurance, and HOA.
  4. Review the estimated maximum monthly housing budget, loan amount, and affordable home price.
Affordability Snapshot
See your estimated budget, DTI usage, and price range at a glance.
Home Price
—
Loan Amount
—
Monthly PITI
—
Back-End DTI
—
Affordability Status: —
Housing Budget Use
—

Enter your numbers to see how much of your target housing budget is being used.

Principal & Interest
—
Property Taxes
—
Home Insurance
—
HOA / Other
—
Inputs & Settings
Fill in your income, debts, housing costs, and loan assumptions.
Use gross income before taxes and deductions.
Include car loans, student loans, cards, and minimum required payments.
Housing-only ratio: mortgage, taxes, insurance, HOA.
Total debt ratio: housing costs plus all monthly debts.
Choose a dollar amount or percent depending on how you plan to enter it.
Annual mortgage interest rate.
Longer terms usually reduce monthly payment but increase total interest.
Taxes can be entered as an annual percent or a direct dollar amount.
Enter estimated homeowner's insurance.
Add HOA fees or recurring monthly housing costs.
Used only when PMI is enabled and applicable.
Optional check against total upfront cash needed.
Quick Adjust
$8,500/mo
6.75%
10%

Tip: Use the sliders for quick planning, then fine-tune exact values in the fields above.

Show Work (step-by-step)
—
Work is shown using monthly values where applicable for clarity and consistency.

Affordability Breakdown

This section summarizes the limits that usually matter most.

Metric Estimated Value
Gross Monthly Income —
Front-End DTI Housing Limit —
Back-End DTI Housing Limit —
Maximum Allowed Housing Budget —
Down Payment Applied —
Estimated Monthly PMI —
Total Estimated Monthly Housing Cost —
Estimated Upfront Cash Need —

How the Estimate Works

Quick answer: the calculator estimates your maximum housing budget using debt-to-income limits, then converts that budget into an estimated loan amount and home price.

Exact lending rules vary by lender and loan program, so use this as a planning estimate, not loan approval.

  • Front-end DTI: housing costs ÷ gross monthly income
  • Back-end DTI: (housing costs + monthly debts) ÷ gross monthly income
  • Housing costs: principal + interest + taxes + insurance + HOA + PMI (if used)
  • Affordable price: estimated from the maximum allowed monthly housing cost, down payment, and loan settings
Mortgage payment estimates usually assume a fixed-rate fully amortizing loan.

FAQ

What does house affordability mean?

It is an estimate of the home price or monthly payment that may fit within your income and debt limits based on the assumptions you enter.

Why do taxes and insurance matter so much?

Because lenders usually look at your full monthly housing payment, not just principal and interest.

What is front-end vs. back-end DTI?

Front-end DTI measures only housing costs against gross income. Back-end DTI includes housing costs plus other monthly debt obligations.

Is this a mortgage approval?

No. This is a planning tool. Actual approval depends on lender guidelines, credit profile, reserves, loan type, and other underwriting factors.

Tool Info

Last updated:

Updates may include UI improvements, calculation refinements, accessibility enhancements, and edge-case handling.