Mortgage Affordability Calculator With Debts
How much house you can afford depends on your debt-to-income ratio, not just your income. Every car payment, student loan, and minimum credit-card payment subtracts from the income lenders will allocate toward housing. Enter all your monthly obligations in the calculator above to see a realistic purchase ceiling rather than an inflated headline number.
Your finances
$0
at the conventional 28/36 guideline — $0 a month
Three answers, not one- Affordable · 28/36
- $0
- Monthly at that price
- $0.00
- Stretch · 31/43
- $0
- Monthly at that price
- $0.00
- Aggressive · 43% ceiling
- $0
- Monthly at that price
- $0.00
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Affordable is the long-standing 28/36 guideline. Stretch matches FHA's manual underwriting benchmark. Aggressive is the 43% limit for a general qualified mortgage — a legal ceiling, not advice. Sources below.
How the 28/36 Rule Shapes Your Budget
Conventional lenders apply a two-part test. The front-end ratio limits housing costs — principal, interest, taxes, insurance, PMI, and HOA — to 28 percent of gross monthly income. The back-end ratio adds every recurring debt and caps the total at 36 percent.
On a gross income of $8,000 per month, that means housing must stay at or below $2,240 while all debts combined must not exceed $2,880. If you already carry $600 in car and student-loan payments, only $2,280 remains for housing under the back-end rule — just $40 above the front-end cap. In effect, your existing debts squeeze both ceilings toward each other.
FHA-backed loans allow a looser front-end ratio of 31 percent and a back-end up to 43 percent when compensating factors such as reserves or residual income are present. The Qualified Mortgage rule sets a hard back-end ceiling at 43 percent for most lenders regardless of loan programme.
Debts That Count and Ones That Do Not
Lenders include any obligation that appears on your credit report with a remaining term of more than ten months. Car loans, personal loans, student loans, and minimum credit-card payments all count. Child support and alimony are also included because they are legally binding.
What lenders typically exclude are utility bills, insurance premiums not related to housing, subscriptions, and medical bills that are not in collections. A gym membership or streaming service will not appear in the DTI calculation even if it strains your cash flow.
The practical implication is that paying off a small debt before applying can open disproportionate headroom. Eliminating a $200 monthly car note does not just free up $200 — it lowers the back-end ratio by several percentage points, potentially qualifying you for a meaningfully larger loan. The DTI calculator on this site lets you model that effect before committing to the pay-down.
Affordability results depend on the income and debt figures you provide. Lenders may apply additional overlays beyond the standard DTI guidelines shown here.