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Paycheck to Payment Calculator

How much mortgage can your salary actually support? Enter income and debts — see your comfortable payment and implied home price across three tiers.

Your paycheck

$
Gross monthly income: $7,500
$
Car loans, student loans, credit card minimums. Excludes housing.
Rough percentage of gross that lands in your bank after federal/state tax, FICA, and benefits.
+Advanced loan settings
%
%
%
$
Comfortable mortgage payment
$2,075
At 33% of gross income (balanced) after subtracting your debts.
Implied home price: $276,062

After-tax pocket check

If you took home pay (after tax) instead, here's what stays in your pocket after housing and other debts at the balanced tier:

Take-home pay / mo
$5,625
− Housing payment
$2,075
− Other monthly debts
$400
Left for everything else
$3,150

Three salary-based tiers

Lean · 28% of gross
$1,700
Max monthly payment
Implied home price
$222,973
Loan amount
$200,676
Principal & interest
$1,268
Property tax
$223
Insurance
$125
PMI
$84
Balanced · 33% of gross
$2,075
Max monthly payment
Implied home price
$276,062
Loan amount
$248,456
Principal & interest
$1,570
Property tax
$276
Insurance
$125
PMI
$104
Stretch · 38% of gross
$2,450
Max monthly payment
Implied home price
$329,151
Loan amount
$296,236
Principal & interest
$1,872
Property tax
$329
Insurance
$125
PMI
$123

Salary to mortgage, plainly

The three tiers — 28%, 33%, 38% — are different opinions about how much of your gross monthly income should go toward housing (principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and PMI if applicable). We then subtract your existing monthly debts and back-solve for the home price whose monthly cost matches what's left.

Lean (28%) mirrors the classic front-end rule and leaves plenty of room for retirement savings, kids, and surprises. Balanced (33%) is a middle path many dual-income households find livable. Stretch (38%) is closer to what a lender will approve — fine if your career trajectory is steep and you don't expect lifestyle creep.

For a deeper walkthrough on the 28/36 rule and other affordability heuristics, read How much house can I afford? Or jump to the full mortgage calculator once you have a target price.

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Months and dollars saved by paying extra.

ARM vs Fixed

Total cost over your time horizon for each loan type.

Closing Cost Estimator

Itemized estimate by state and loan type.

Frequently asked questions

How much mortgage can I afford on my salary?

A common starting point is 28% of your gross monthly income for housing only — sometimes called the 'front-end' rule. A more aggressive 33% balanced tier and a 38% stretch tier are shown alongside, all reduced by your existing monthly debts so the result reflects real cash flow. The exact maximum a lender will approve depends on your full DTI, credit score, and reserves.

Why does this differ from a lender's pre-approval?

Lenders qualify you on gross income before tax, against a wider DTI ceiling (often 43-50%). This calculator caps housing at 28-38% of gross to leave room for taxes, retirement savings, and life — which usually lands you below the lender's max. The difference between 'what you can borrow' and 'what you can comfortably pay' is real, and intentional here.

Should I use gross or take-home income?

Use gross income for the headline tiers — that's the convention lenders and the 28/36 rule both use. The 'after-tax pocket check' below the tiers translates that back into take-home dollars so you can sanity-check what actually clears your account each month.

What rate, taxes, and insurance does this assume?

Defaults are 6.5% interest, 30-year term, 10% down, 1.2% annual property tax, and $1,500/yr homeowners insurance. PMI of 0.5% APR is added automatically when your down payment is below 20%. All of those are editable under 'Advanced loan settings.'

I have a partner — how do we use this?

If you're applying for the mortgage jointly, enter combined gross income and combined monthly debts. If only one of you is on the loan application, only that person's numbers count. Lender underwriting works the same way.

Does this account for the down payment I have saved?

Indirectly. The advanced settings let you set a down-payment percentage of the home price, which controls the loan size and whether PMI applies. If you want to plug in a fixed dollar down payment instead, our full Affordability Calculator does that.