A couple of quick questions, then straight to your dashboard. Anything we already know from earlier in your visit is filled in for you.
Figures are for a U.S. household of 2.5 people (the Census Bureau's average household size) and come from the most current government and industry data available, mostly 2024–2025: the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Expenditure Survey (2024) for utilities, fuel, vehicle maintenance/repairs, groceries, car insurance, and going out; Child Care Aware of America's 2024 Price & Supply report for child care; and Reviews.org's State of Consumer Media Spending 2025 for cell/TV/internet/streaming. Car insurance is cross-checked against Insurify's 2026 national rate data.
Two of these numbers work differently. Most figures are averaged across all households, including ones that spend $0 in that category. Child care is different — its ~$1,094 average is taken only from families who actually pay for care, so it will overstate your real cost if you don't have paid child care (leave it at $0 if that's you). Car insurance can also run higher for full coverage — more recent trackers put that closer to $187/mo.
These are national estimates to help you get started, not your actual costs — replace any box with your real number whenever you know it.
Keep a copy for yourself, send it to someone, or help us improve HowAffordable by contributing this data.
How this calculator works
A pre-approval letter answers one question: what is the most a bank will lend you? This calculator answers a different one: what home price leaves you comfortable every month after the mortgage clears? Those numbers are routinely $30,000–$80,000 apart, because lenders qualify you on gross income at up to a 43% debt-to-income ratio, while this page starts from what actually lands in your account.
You enter your monthly take-home pay, your existing debts, and your down payment. The calculator then finds the home price whose full monthly cost — principal and interest at today's rate, plus property tax, homeowners insurance, and PMI if you're putting down less than 20% — lands at 25% of your take-home pay. Move the payment slider and the price re-solves live; the interest rate comes from Freddie Mac's weekly survey (via FRED) with a sensible fallback if the feed is ever unavailable.
The scenario is then scored on six factors, each on the same A–F scale a school uses, and weighted into one overall grade. The weights are fixed and shown on every report card: Debt-to-Income 30%, Payment vs. Income 20%, Down Payment 15%, Cash Cushion 15%, Emergency Fund 15%, Controllable Bills 5%.
| Factor | What it measures | Full marks | Failing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debt-to-Income | All monthly debt payments, including the new mortgage, ÷ take-home | ≤ 20% | > 50% |
| Payment vs. Income | The new mortgage payment alone ÷ take-home | ≤ 20% | > 40% |
| Down Payment | Down payment ÷ home price | ≥ 20% | < 5% |
| Cash Cushion | What's left each month after the payment, debts and bills | ≥ 25% of income | < $800 |
| Controllable Bills | Phone, TV, internet and going-out spending ÷ income | ≤ 5% | > 18% |
| Emergency Fund | Savings ÷ total monthly obligations, in months | ≥ 6 months | < 2 weeks |
Every grade comes with the reason behind it and the single most useful thing you could change — because a D+ that says "pay off the $380 credit card first" is more useful than a D+ on its own.
HOA dues, closing costs, and your credit score aren't inputs here. HOA fees vary too much to guess; closing costs are a one-time cash question covered in the closing-costs guide; and your credit score changes your rate, which you can override in the rate field. Property tax defaults to a typical rate and is editable, because the same house can cost hundreds more per month depending on the county.
Pre-approval is built on gross income and a debt-to-income ceiling as high as 43%. This page uses take-home pay and targets 25% for the housing payment alone — the difference is groceries, gas, a furnace that eventually quits, and the raise you haven't gotten yet. Both numbers are real; only one of them is comfortable.
What actually hits your bank account after taxes, health insurance, and retirement contributions come out. If you're paid every two weeks, multiply a paycheck by 26 and divide by 12 for a monthly figure. Add a co-buyer's take-home on the intake screen if two incomes will carry the mortgage.
It removes PMI (typically 0.3%–1.5% of the loan per year), lowers the payment, and earns the Down Payment factor full marks. But a 10% down payment with six months of savings left over usually grades better overall than 20% down with nothing in reserve — the Cash Cushion and Emergency Fund factors are there to catch exactly that trade-off.
Not unless you choose to. The calculator runs entirely in your browser. If you tick the optional 'Save my data' box on the report card, an anonymized snapshot (ZIP code, price, payment, ratios — never your name or email) feeds the Data Hub. 'Email this report' sends one message and stores nothing.
Last reviewed September 2026. Read our methodology for every source and assumption, and the calculator disclaimers for what these estimates are and aren't.