Rent Calculator

Rent Affordability Calculator

Find out how much rent you can afford based on your income, debts, and financial goals.

Your Financial Information

Enter your monthly finances to calculate affordable rent

Credit cards, car and student loans. Leave blank or enter 0 if you have none.

Emergency fund, retirement. Leave blank or enter 0 to skip.

Your rent budget updates as you type — there is no stale answer to re-calculate.

Rent Affordability Analysis

What you can afford to spend on rent

Enter your monthly income

Your rent budget appears here as soon as there is an income to work from. Debts and savings are optional and count as $0 when left blank.

How much rent can I afford? The 30 percent rule, 50/30/20 and 40x income

A common guideline is to spend no more than 30 percent of your gross monthly income on rent, so 6,000 dollars a month of income supports about 1,800 dollars of rent. Debt payments and savings goals can lower that number, and many landlords separately require annual income of at least 40 times the monthly rent.

The formulas

30 percent rule: max rent = gross monthly income × 0.30

Debt limit: max rent = gross monthly income × 0.50 minus monthly debt payments

Savings limit: max rent = (gross income minus debts minus savings goal) × 0.70

40x landlord screen: required annual income = monthly rent × 40

The calculator runs the first three limits and uses whichever is lowest as your maximum rent. It also shows a comfortable rent at 80 percent of that maximum.

The 30 percent rule

The 30 percent rule is the best known rent guideline, and it is measured on gross income, before taxes. It is simple, but it ignores debt. Someone with large car or student loan payments can follow the rule and still be stretched, which is why the calculator also tests your debts and savings.

The 50/30/20 budget

The 50/30/20 method splits take-home pay, not gross income: 50 percent for needs, 30 percent for wants and 20 percent for savings and extra debt payments. Rent sits inside the needs bucket with utilities, groceries, insurance, transportation and minimum debt payments, so rent alone should take well under half of take-home pay. The calculator does not apply 50/30/20 directly. Its debt limit, half of gross income minus debt payments, is a related cap, and you can check the needs bucket yourself against your take-home pay.

The 40x income rule landlords use

Many landlords screen applicants by requiring gross annual income of at least 40 times the monthly rent. For an 1,800 dollar apartment that is 72,000 dollars a year, or 6,000 dollars a month. Because 12 divided by 40 is 0.30, the 40x screen is the 30 percent rule seen from the landlord's side. Some landlords ask for 3 times the monthly rent instead, which works out to about 33 percent of income.

Worked example

Say you earn 6,000 dollars a month before tax, pay 400 dollars a month on a car loan and want to save 500 dollars a month. The 30 percent rule gives 1,800 dollars. Half of income minus debts gives 3,000 minus 400, or 2,600 dollars. After debts and savings you have 5,100 dollars, and holding back 30 percent of that for other costs leaves 3,570 dollars. The lowest limit, 1,800 dollars, is your maximum rent, and the comfortable rent is 1,440 dollars. At 1,800 dollars you keep 3,300 dollars a month after rent, debts and savings, and you pass the 40x screen exactly.

Now raise debt payments to 1,400 dollars. The debt limit drops to 1,600 dollars and becomes the binding limit, so your maximum rent falls even though the 30 percent rule has not changed.

How to read the result

The maximum is a ceiling, not a target. All three limits use gross income, so compare the result with your take-home pay before you sign. Rent is not your whole housing cost either: add utilities, renters insurance, parking and moving costs. If you pick a metro where rent data is available, the calculator shows local rents next to your maximum so you can see whether your budget fits the market.

Frequently asked questions

How much rent can I afford on a 60,000 dollar salary?

Under the 30 percent rule, 60,000 dollars a year is 5,000 dollars a month, so about 1,500 dollars of rent. The 40x landlord screen gives the same ceiling, since 60,000 divided by 40 is 1,500. Large debt payments or savings goals can lower it.

Is the 30 percent rule based on gross or net income?

Gross income, before taxes and deductions. That makes it easy to apply, but it can overstate what you can afford if taxes, health insurance or retirement contributions take a large share of your paycheck.

What is the 40x rent rule?

It is a screening rule many landlords use: your gross annual income should be at least 40 times the monthly rent. A 2,000 dollar apartment needs 80,000 dollars a year. It matches the 30 percent rule, since 12 divided by 40 is 0.30.

Does the 50/30/20 rule mean I can spend half my income on rent?

No. The 50 percent bucket covers all needs, including utilities, groceries, insurance, transportation and minimum debt payments, and it is measured on take-home pay. Rent is only one part of that bucket.

Which debts should I enter?

Enter required monthly payments such as car loans, student loans, credit card minimums and personal loans. Leave out rent, utilities and groceries, since the limits already account for living costs.

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