Mortgage Guide

How Much House Can You Afford?

An educational 28/36 estimate. It is not a pre-approval, and lenders use their own limits.

Published by the Mortgage Guide editorial team. Rate assumptions and content updated October 2026. This page is educational. It is not a loan offer, approval, or personalized financial advice.

How this calculator works

  1. Front-end maximum is 28% of gross monthly income.
  2. Back-end maximum is 36% of gross monthly income minus the monthly debts you enter.
  3. The calculator uses the lower of those two amounts.
  4. It then solves for a home price after the tax rate, insurance estimate, and PMI assumption.

Why debt can matter more than income

Two households with the same income can afford different prices when one already has a car payment, student loans, or credit-card minimums. Those debts reduce the 36% back-end room before the mortgage is added.

If the back-end room is the tighter limit, the result says so. If debts already use up the 36% guideline, the estimated housing payment is zero. That is a teaching result, not a lender's decision.

Sources

Common questions

Will a lender approve this price?

Not necessarily. Credit, reserves, loan type, and the lender's own ratios can all differ from 28/36.

Are taxes and insurance included?

Yes. The tax field is a rate you should replace with the local rate, and insurance is an annual dollar estimate.

Does a down payment under 20% change the price?

In this model, yes. PMI is estimated at 0.50% of the loan per year, which uses part of the housing payment and lowers the price.

Related calculators

  • Mortgage Payment Calculator

    Estimate a US mortgage payment with principal, interest, taxes, insurance, HOA, and PMI. See the payoff date and amortization schedule.

  • Debt-to-Income Calculator

    Calculate front-end and back-end DTI from gross income, a proposed housing payment, and your other monthly debts.

  • Down Payment Calculator

    Compare 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% down. See cash required, the loan amount, the payment, and whether estimated PMI applies.

Longer guides on these topics are linked from the guides library.