About HonestAfford

Every mortgage calculator from a bank or lender starts with your gross income, because a bigger number means more loan applications. HonestAfford starts with what actually lands in your bank account — take-home pay after tax, retirement contributions, and health premiums — plus your state's real property tax and insurance rates instead of a national average, and a maintenance reserve most calculators leave out entirely.

Nothing you enter is sent anywhere. The math runs in your browser and disappears when you close the tab.

Full detail on every formula, constant and data source is on the methodology page, including which inputs are exact and which are estimates.

Sources. Property tax rates: Tax Foundation's 2026 state and county tables. Homeowners insurance: 2026 state average premiums. Mortgage rates: Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, adjusted by credit tier. Federal tax brackets and the Social Security wage base: IRS and SSA 2026 figures. State income tax models are simplified estimates, not tax advice — if you know your real take-home pay, the calculator has a field to enter it directly and skip our estimate.

What this site isn't. We're not a lender, broker, or loan originator, and we don't collect loan applications. Some of the links on this site are to lending partners and are affiliate links — see our Privacy Policy for how that works. This is an educational estimate, not financial or tax advice.

Questions or found an error in the data? Send us a message through the contact form.