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A clean snapshot of your home buying budget — great for Reddit or socials.
The calculator is prefilled with a $130,000 income and an estimated 6.60% rate — add your down payment and debts for your exact number. Worked examples for this salary below.
Compare rates and get pre-approved. Shopping multiple lenders can save tens of thousands over the life of a loan.
For educational purposes only. Not financial advice. Actual loan approval depends on credit score, employment history, and lender criteria. Consult a mortgage professional before making home buying decisions.
On a $130,000 salary the bank will approve more house than many people should buy. The 28/36 rule supports about $3,033/month of housing — roughly $392,000 with 10% down — and whether that's comfortable depends entirely on what the other 72% of your income needs to cover: retirement, childcare, travel, savings.
At this income the details that actually move the number are property taxes (the 1.1% national average is baked into the benchmarks below, but ~0.4% in Hawaii versus ~2.2% in New Jersey swings the answer by tens of thousands), existing debts, and how much cash you want left after closing.
Lenders size mortgages with the 28/36 rule: housing costs under 28% of gross monthly income, all debt payments combined under 36%. On $130,000 a year ($10,833/month gross), that means:
| Max housing payment (28% front-end) | $3,033/mo |
| Max total debt payments (36% back-end) | $3,900/mo |
| Other-debt headroom before it cuts your house budget | $867/mo |
Benchmark buyer: $400/month of existing debts, 30-year fixed at an estimated 6.60% (mid-2026 national ballpark), property tax and insurance estimated at 1.1% and 0.5% of the price per year:
| ≈5% down ($19,000) | $377,000 |
| ≈10% down ($39,000) | $392,000 |
| ≈20% down ($86,000) | $430,000 |
The monthly cost is about $3,033 in every row — the 28/36 cap is what limits you. The down payment decides how much house that budget buys, and at 20% it also drops PMI from the payment.
Debts. On a $130k salary you can carry about $867/month of non-housing debt before it starts cutting into the housing budget. Stay under that line and debts cost you nothing; cross it and every extra $100/month of payments removes roughly $15,700 of house.
Rate. With the same 10%-down benchmark, a 5.60% rate supports about $410,000 and a 7.60% rate about $372,000. Lender quotes on the same borrower routinely differ by 0.25–0.5%, so shopping at least three lenders is the cheapest rate cut available.
Location. The benchmarks assume the ~1.1% national-average property tax. In a 2%+ tax state the same monthly budget buys meaningfully less house; in a low-tax state, more.
Pick your income, or use the main affordability calculator with your exact numbers:
Financing is the other half of the answer — see what your credit score qualifies you for, from 500 to 800.