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A clean snapshot of your home buying budget — great for Reddit or socials.
The calculator is prefilled with an $85,000 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.
$85,000 a year is right around the American median household income, and it buys a real house in most of the country: roughly $257,000 with 10% down at current rates, or $281,000 with 20% down. The 28% rule puts your housing budget at about $1,983/month.
The decisions that matter at this income are less about qualifying and more about positioning: how much down payment to bring (20% — about $56,000 — eliminates PMI), whether to clear debts first, and not letting a lender's approval ceiling talk you into a payment that leaves no room for everything else in your life.
Lenders size mortgages with the 28/36 rule: housing costs under 28% of gross monthly income, all debt payments combined under 36%. On $85,000 a year ($7,083/month gross), that means:
| Max housing payment (28% front-end) | $1,983/mo |
| Max total debt payments (36% back-end) | $2,550/mo |
| Other-debt headroom before it cuts your house budget | $567/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 ($12,000) | $246,000 |
| ≈10% down ($26,000) | $257,000 |
| ≈20% down ($56,000) | $281,000 |
The monthly cost is about $1,983 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 an $85k salary you can carry about $567/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 $268,000 and a 7.60% rate about $244,000. 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.