How much house can you actually afford?

Because lenders don't count them, but you still have to pay for them. A household can pass every debt-to-income ratio a lender checks and still run out of money each month once real expenses are in the picture. This calculator runs a separate leftover-income test after the standard ratios, specifically to catch that case.

The lender-approval number is what a lender's debt-to-income math would generously allow. The sustainable number is what your household's actual monthly budget — after real expenses — can support without going negative. They're often different, and the gap between them is worth paying attention to.

They're three different risk tolerances, not three different formulas. Comfortable keeps housing costs low and a real cushion in your budget. Stretch allows a tighter but still break-even budget. Risky is the most a lender's ratios alone would allow, with no cushion required — which is why it's labeled risky.

Yes. Property tax and insurance rates vary enormously by state — property tax alone ranges from roughly 0.27% to 2.2% of home value per year depending on where you live. National-average calculators miss this. Every number here uses your selected state's rate, documented on the methodology page.

A typical mortgage affordability calculator or home loan affordability calculator works backward from a loan amount a lender would approve. This one works forward from your actual budget — income, debts, and real expenses — then shows both numbers side by side, so you can see where lender approval and household sustainability diverge.

It depends on your gross income, existing debts, down payment, interest rate, and your state's property tax and insurance rates — but also on real monthly costs like childcare, groceries, healthcare, and transportation that most calculators ignore. Enter your numbers above and you'll get three answers instead of one: a Comfortable price that leaves a real cushion, a Stretch price that's tighter but sustainable, and a Risky price — the most a lender's ratios alone would approve.

The best one counts your actual monthly expenses, not just debt payments, and uses your state's property tax and insurance rates instead of a national average. It should also show you two numbers — what a lender would likely approve and what your household can actually sustain — instead of a single flattering figure. This calculator does both, and it doesn't carry lender ads or sell your information, since there's no lead-gen business behind it.

Use one that separates lender approval from household sustainability, and that lets you enter real expenses — childcare, groceries, healthcare, transportation — rather than lumping everything into a single "monthly debts" field. If a calculator only asks for income and debts, it's only giving you half the picture. This one asks for both and shows the gap.

Enter your gross annual income, monthly debt payments (car loans, student loans, credit cards), your planned down payment, and the state you're buying in. Add your real monthly expenses — childcare, groceries, healthcare, transportation — if the calculator supports them. The result should show a maximum home price along with the assumptions behind it, ideally broken into a lender-approval figure and a household-sustainable figure rather than one number.

Most calculators apply lender debt-to-income ratios — typically capping housing costs at around 28% of gross income (front-end ratio) and total debt at around 36-43% (back-end ratio) — then solve for the home price those limits allow. This calculator does that, but also runs a separate test: it subtracts your real monthly expenses from your income to see what your household can actually sustain, then reports both results side by side.

At $70,000 a year (about $5,833/month gross), a standard 28% front-end ratio puts your housing budget around $1,630/month, which — depending on your interest rate, down payment, property tax, and insurance — often lands in the roughly $220,000–$280,000 home price range. That figure moves a lot based on your existing debts, down payment size, and real monthly expenses, so it's worth entering your actual numbers into the calculator above rather than relying on a rule of thumb.

Start with your gross income and subtract existing debt payments to see what a lender's ratios would allow — then subtract your real monthly expenses (childcare, groceries, healthcare, transportation) to see what your budget can actually sustain. The gap between those two numbers is often larger than people expect. Use the calculator above to get both figures using your actual income, debts, down payment, and state.

You enter your income, debts, down payment, and real monthly expenses, along with the state you're buying in. TrueAfford runs your numbers through standard lender debt-to-income ratios to find what you'd likely be approved for, then runs a second, independent test against your actual budget to find what you can sustain without strain. It shows both as Comfortable, Stretch, and Risky price ranges, using your state's specific property tax and insurance rates rather than a national average — with no account, no email, and no ads in the result.

Most home affordability calculators are built by companies that make money when you apply for a loan, click a lender ad, or hand over your contact information — so a bigger approved number serves their business even when it doesn't serve yours. TrueAfford doesn't sell leads, ads, or your data, so there's no incentive to inflate the result, and no cost to running a calculator that does the same arithmetic every other one does.