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A clean snapshot of your home buying budget — great for Reddit or socials.
The calculator is prefilled with a $250,000 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.
A $250,000 salary supports roughly $756,000 of house with 10% down under standard 28/36 math — which in most counties pushes the loan into jumbo territory (loans above the conforming limit, roughly $800,000 and up). Jumbo lending is competitive for strong borrowers but underwrites harder: expect reserve requirements and full documentation.
At this income the affordability question inverts: the bank's ceiling stops being the binding constraint, and the real decisions are cash allocation (a bigger down payment versus keeping capital invested), loan structure (points, term, ARM versus fixed), and property taxes, which at these price points can exceed $1,500/month before the mortgage.
Lenders size mortgages with the 28/36 rule: housing costs under 28% of gross monthly income, all debt payments combined under 36%. On $250,000 a year ($20,833/month gross), that means:
| Max housing payment (28% front-end) | $5,833/mo |
| Max total debt payments (36% back-end) | $7,500/mo |
| Other-debt headroom before it cuts your house budget | $1,667/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 ($36,000) | $724,000 |
| ≈10% down ($76,000) | $756,000 |
| ≈20% down ($165,000) | $826,000 |
The monthly cost is about $5,833 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 $250k salary you can carry about $1,667/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 $789,000 and a 7.60% rate about $717,000. 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.