How much house can I afford — on take-home pay, not the bank's math
Every lender calculator runs the 28/36 rule against your gross income and a made-up property tax number — a bigger number means more applications. This one uses what actually lands in your bank account, plus your state's real property tax, insurance, PMI, HOA and maintenance.
Your honest max home price
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Your numbers
Full monthly payment breakdown
At your maximum price of $0 with $0 down (0%).
What a bank calculator would tell you
What changes at 5%, 10%, and 20% down
Same monthly budget, different down payments. PMI disappears at 20%, which is why the affordable price jumps even though the cash needed jumps too.
| Down | Max price | PMI/mo | Total/mo | Cash needed |
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How much house can you actually afford?
The honest answer starts with a different number than the one your lender uses. Bank and real-estate calculators apply the 28/36 rule to gross income: 28% of your pre-tax pay toward housing, 36% toward all debt combined. That rule was written for a world with lower tax burdens and cheaper insurance, and it has one structural problem — you cannot pay a mortgage with money the IRS already took.
Why bank calculators overestimate
Three choices inflate the standard result. First, gross income: a household earning $120,000 might see $7,000 a month land in the bank, not $10,000, once federal tax, Social Security and Medicare, state tax, health premiums, and a retirement contribution come out. Applying 28% to the bigger number produces a payment 30–40% larger than 28% of the real one. Second, placeholder escrow: many calculators assume a national-average property tax rate and a flat insurance premium, which is wildly wrong in New Jersey, Texas, Florida, or Louisiana. Third, omission: maintenance, HOA dues, and the PMI you owe under 20% down are frequently left out or buried. None of this is a conspiracy — a lender's calculator exists to produce applications, and a bigger number produces more of them. The incentive simply doesn't point toward your comfort.
What "take-home pay" means here
This calculator estimates federal income tax using 2026 brackets and the standard deduction, FICA (6.2% Social Security up to the wage base plus 1.45% Medicare), your state's income tax, and state payroll add-ons that quietly matter — California SDI, Ohio and Pennsylvania municipal income taxes, Maryland county tax, Indiana county tax. Then it subtracts your retirement contribution and health premiums, because that money is not available for a mortgage either. If you know your real net pay, enter it and skip the estimating entirely.
How property tax varies by state
Effective property tax rates range from 0.29% of home value in Hawaii to 1.88% in New Jersey and Illinois, per Tax Foundation's 2026 table built on 2024 Census ACS data. On a $400,000 house that gap is about $530 a month — roughly $80,000 of purchasing power at today's rates. County rates diverge further: Cook County, Illinois and Bexar County, Texas run well above their state averages, while Denver and Maricopa run below. Homeowners insurance swings even harder, from about $738 a year in Hawaii to $8,471 in Florida for the same $300,000 of dwelling coverage. Two buyers with identical paychecks in different states are not shopping for the same house.
What PMI is, and when it goes away
Private mortgage insurance is a premium you pay to protect the lender if you default. It applies when your down payment is under 20% and runs roughly 0.3%–1.5% of the loan per year, priced off your loan-to-value ratio and credit score. On conventional loans it can be cancelled at 20% equity and drops automatically at 22%. On FHA loans, mortgage insurance usually lasts the life of the loan unless you refinance. The 10% vs 20% comparison above prices this precisely for your situation.
The number this tool won't fake
Add maintenance at 1% of home value a year — the number every homeowner learns the hard way — and a $400,000 house carries about $333 a month before anything breaks. Closing costs run another 2–3% of the price in cash on top of your down payment. Buying at the absolute maximum any calculator gives you, including this one, is still buying at the edge. Treat the number here as a ceiling, not a target.
Common questions
How much house can I afford on a $100,000 salary?
On $100,000 of gross income, a single filer takes home about $5,350 to $6,050 a month after federal tax, FICA, state tax, a 6% retirement contribution and health premiums — Oregon and Maryland sit at the low end, no-income-tax states like Texas and Florida at the high end. Capping all-in housing at 25% of that, roughly $1,340 to $1,515, supports a home price of about $150,000 to $195,000 with 10% down, once property tax, insurance, PMI and a 1% maintenance reserve are counted. A bank calculator applying the 28/36 rule to gross income will tell you about $320,000.
How much house can I afford on a $75,000 salary?
A $75,000 salary nets about $4,150 to $4,700 a month for a single filer, depending on the state. Capping all-in housing at 25% of take-home, roughly $1,040 to $1,175, supports a home price of about $119,000 to $150,000 at current rates with 10% down, including property tax, insurance, PMI and a 1% maintenance reserve. Monthly debts do not lower that number until they exceed about 11% of take-home, around $500 here, because the 25% housing cap binds first. Past that point every extra $200 of debt costs roughly $21,000 to $25,000 of home price.
Why do bank mortgage calculators say I can afford more?
Bank and lender calculators run the 28/36 rule against gross income, the number before federal tax, FICA, state tax, health premiums, and retirement contributions come out. They also tend to plug in a national-average property tax rate and a placeholder insurance premium rather than your state's actual figures, and they ignore maintenance entirely. Each of those choices pushes the number up, and a bigger number produces more loan applications.
Should I use gross or net income to decide how much house I can afford?
Use net income. Your mortgage is paid out of the money that actually lands in your bank account, not out of gross pay. The gap is large: someone earning $120,000 in California keeps roughly 65% of it after federal tax, FICA, state tax, and SDI. A rule written against gross income silently assumes you can spend money that was already withheld.
What is PMI and how much does it cost?
Private mortgage insurance protects the lender, not you, when you put down less than 20%. It typically costs 0.3% to 1.5% of the loan amount per year, billed monthly, with the rate driven by your loan-to-value ratio and credit score. On a $350,000 loan at 0.8%, that is about $233 a month. It can usually be removed once you reach 20% equity on a conventional loan, but FHA mortgage insurance generally lasts for the life of the loan.
How much do property taxes change what I can afford?
Enormously. Effective property tax rates run from 0.29% of home value in Hawaii to 1.88% in New Jersey and Illinois. On a $400,000 home that is a difference of about $530 a month, which is roughly $80,000 of buying power at current mortgage rates. Two buyers with identical incomes in different states can afford very different houses.