Rent Affordability Calculator
Income & commitments
Your result will appear here
Fill in the fields on the left and this updates as you type.
Know what this estimate is based on
- Jurisdiction
- United States — state and local practice
- Scope and limitations
- Educational estimate only. U.S. real estate costs are local: property tax rates, transfer and recording taxes, title practice, who customarily pays which closing cost, and landlord-tenant rules all change by state and often by county or city. Agent commission is negotiable and, since the 2024 NAR settlement, buyer-agent compensation is negotiated separately rather than assumed. Only a lender's Loan Estimate, a title company's fee sheet or a signed contract binds a number.
- Source links checked
- Jul 30, 2026
Built and regression-tested by Smart Tools Lab. It has not been individually reviewed by a licensed financial, tax, or legal professional.
How to use
- 01
Enter your gross monthly income — before tax, because that is what the famous 30% rule is measured against and what a landlord screens on.
- 02
Enter your take-home pay, the amount that actually lands in your account. The two numbers do different jobs here.
- 03
Enter your monthly debt payments: the car, student loans, the minimum on your cards.
- 04
Open Advanced options to add other fixed costs and any saving you want to protect, so the ceiling is built from what is genuinely left.
- 05
Read which of the three rules binds. If the take-home ceiling is the smallest, that is the number to trust — it is the only one that knows about your debts.
Formula
Three ceilings, and the answer is the smallest that applies. The 30% rule gives gross monthly income x 0.30. Your own share gives gross monthly income x your target percentage. The take-home ceiling gives take-home pay minus debt payments, other fixed costs and the saving you want to protect, floored at zero. The recommendation is the lower of your chosen share and the take-home ceiling, because a rule that says you can afford more than you have left is not a rule worth following. The burden flag compares that recommendation with gross income against HUD's fixed 30% and 50% thresholds, which are constants in code rather than fields — they are a definition, not a preference.
Example
A household earning $6,500 gross and $4,900 take-home, with $550 of debt payments, $800 of other fixed costs and $400 of saving to protect. Step 1 — The 30% rule: $6,500 x 0.30 = $1,950 a month. Step 2 — Your own share, also 30% here: $1,950. Step 3 — The take-home ceiling: $4,900 − $550 − $800 − $400 = $3,150. Step 4 — Take the smaller: $1,950 a month, or $23,400 a year. That leaves $1,200 a month for everything else. Here the two rules agree, which is what makes the third case worth understanding. Raise the debt payments to $1,900 — a car and a student loan, not an unusual pair — and the ceiling drops to $1,800, below the 30% rule. The rule would still say $1,950, and following it would mean $150 a month coming out of groceries. That is the whole reason both numbers are on the page.
Definitions
- Gross monthly income
- Pay before tax and deductions. What the 30% rule and every landlord's screen measure against.
- Take-home pay
- What actually reaches your account after tax, insurance and retirement contributions. The basis of what you can really pay.
- The 30% rule
- Guidance that housing should take under 30% of gross income. A 1969 policy threshold, not a budgeting formula.
- Cost burdened
- HUD's term for a household spending more than 30% of income on housing; severely cost burdened is above 50%.
- Take-home ceiling
- Take-home pay less debts, fixed costs and protected saving — the most you could pay without cutting something else.
- Binding rule
- Whichever of the three rules gives the smallest number. It is the one that actually constrains you.
- Fixed costs
- Monthly obligations that do not flex with the rent: utilities, insurance, childcare, a phone plan.
- Income multiple
- The gross-income test a landlord applies, usually 3x the monthly rent. A screen, not a budget.
- Rent-to-income ratio
- Rent divided by gross income. The figure HUD's thresholds are set against.
- Move-in cost
- The cash needed to sign a lease — commonly three to four times a month's rent, and separate from affordability.
- Utilities included
- A lease where heat, water or electricity sit inside the rent. Compare on the all-in figure, not the headline.
- Leftover
- Take-home pay minus rent, debts, fixed costs and saving. The money everything else in your life comes from.
Good to know
Where the 30% rule actually comes from
It is not a budgeting convention someone invented — it is a federal definition. The Housing and Urban Development department calls a household cost-burdened when housing takes more than 30% of gross income, and severely cost-burdened above 50%. Those two lines drive how federal housing programs are funded and how the census reports affordability, which is why the figure turns up everywhere from lease applications to mortgage underwriting. What it is not is a personal budget. The 30% line was drawn against a national median household with median debts, and it takes no view of your student loans, your commute, your childcare or your state's income tax. On $6,500 of gross income it allows $1,950 of rent. That is the right starting number and the wrong finishing one, which is exactly why this page computes a second ceiling from your actual take-home and your actual obligations, then takes whichever is lower.
Gross income and take-home are different questions
The 30% rule runs on gross pay because that is the number a landlord can verify from a pay stub or a W-2. Your rent, though, comes out of take-home — after federal withholding, FICA, state tax, health premiums and any 401(k) contribution. The gap between the two is large and it varies enormously: a single filer in Texas with no retirement contribution keeps a far higher share of gross than the same salary in California contributing 10% to a 401(k). At $6,500 gross and $4,900 take-home, the effective rate is about 25% — and $1,950 of rent is 30% of gross but 40% of what actually arrives. Neither figure is wrong; they answer different questions. The landlord's screen runs on gross, and your bank account runs on take-home, so a rent that clears the first and fails the second is entirely possible.
What the take-home ceiling protects
The second calculation works backwards from money rather than from a percentage. It takes what you actually receive, subtracts the debt payments you already owe, subtracts the fixed costs that will follow you to any address — car insurance, phone, childcare, a gym you will not cancel — and subtracts the saving you told it to protect. What is left is the honest ceiling. On $4,900 take-home with $550 of debts, $800 of other fixed costs and $400 of protected saving, that ceiling is $3,150, well above the 30% line, so the 30% line binds. Change any of those inputs and the binding constraint can flip. The reason the saving target is an input rather than a residual is that it is the first thing to disappear when rent is set too high, and it disappears silently. A budget that balances only because nothing was saved has not balanced.
The costs a rent figure does not include
Rent is the largest line but rarely the whole housing cost. Renters insurance runs $150 to $300 a year and most leases now require it. Utilities not included in rent — electricity, gas, water, trash, internet — commonly add $150 to $350 a month depending on climate and building age, and an older building with electric resistance heat can add far more in January. Parking is $50 to $300 in most cities. A pet adds a deposit, often a non-refundable fee, and $25 to $75 a month of pet rent. Amenity and valet-trash fees appear in newer buildings at $30 to $100. Add them up and a $1,950 rent is frequently a $2,400 housing cost. Before signing, ask for the last twelve months of utility bills for the actual unit — many landlords will provide them, and it is far better information than an average.
Being over the line is common, not disqualifying
About half of US renter households pay more than 30% of income for housing, and roughly a quarter pay more than 50%. In the most expensive metros the median renter is over the line by construction — there is no supply at 30% of a median income. So the useful reading is not pass or fail; it is what the excess costs you. Every point above 30% is a point not going to retirement, an emergency fund or debt repayment, and the effect compounds quietly over a lease term you then renew. If your market makes the line unreachable, the levers worth pricing are the ones that change the denominator or the shape of the deal: a roommate, a unit one transit stop further out, a twenty-four month lease at a fixed rent, or negotiating the renewal before it is offered. All four are more available than a rent that meets a federal threshold.
Frequently asked questions
Where does the 30% rule come from?
It descends from the 1969 Brooke Amendment, which capped public housing rent at 25% of income; the figure drifted to 30% in 1981 and became general advice by repetition. It was never a budgeting formula — it was a policy threshold, and it takes no account of your debts, your childcare, or where you live.
Why do you ask for both gross and take-home pay?
Because two different tests use them. The 30% rule and every landlord's screen use gross. What you can actually pay is decided by take-home, after the car payment and the childcare. Showing both is the point: they frequently disagree, and the smaller one is the real answer.
What does cost burdened mean?
HUD counts a household as cost burdened when housing takes more than 30% of income, and severely cost burdened above 50%. It is a statistical definition rather than a rule, but the second threshold is worth respecting — above it, a single unexpected bill routinely turns into a late rent payment.
Is paying more than 30% always a mistake?
No. In San Francisco, New York, Boston or San Jose almost everyone does, and the alternative is a commute that costs money and hours. Paying 35% with no debt and no car can be sounder than paying 28% with a $600 car payment. What matters is what is left, not the ratio.
Should utilities count?
Count them if they are not in the rent, under other fixed costs. Heat, electricity, water and internet commonly run $150 to $350 a month, and an apartment with utilities included at a higher rent can be cheaper than a bargain that does not.
How much do I need on top of the rent to move in?
Usually three to four times a month's rent, once first month, security deposit, last month and any broker fee are counted. The Move-In Cost Calculator prices it properly — it is the number that stops people moving far more often than the rent does.
Does this tell me whether a landlord will approve me?
No, and the two tests disagree often. Landlords screen gross income against their own multiple, usually 3x the rent, and also check credit and rental history. Use the Rent to Income Calculator for that. This page tells you what you can carry; that one tells you what they will accept.
What about roommates?
Enter your own share of the rent, not the whole apartment's. If you have not settled how to split it yet, the Rent Split Calculator gives three methods and shows how far apart they land.
Should I protect saving before rent?
That is exactly what the saving field is for. Deciding the rent first and saving whatever survives is how people end up saving nothing for years. Putting the number in first makes the trade explicit rather than accidental.
How much should I leave over each month?
Enough for the things this page cannot see: groceries, gas, a phone, a haircut, a night out, and the repairs that are not your landlord's problem. If the leftover figure looks thin on screen it will feel worse in February.
Does a raise change this much?
Less than people expect, because rent rises too. A 5% raise on $6,500 is $325 a month gross and perhaps $240 after tax — and a 5% rent increase on $1,950 takes $98 of it straight back.
What if nothing fits?
Then the honest answer is that the constraint is not the rent. A roommate, a cheaper commute, or clearing the debt with the largest minimum payment all move this number more than searching harder for a listing does.