Housing calculator
Rent Affordability Calculator
Estimate a practical rent range by comparing a gross-income benchmark with your after-tax cash flow, debts, essentials, utilities, and savings target.
Privacy: Calculations run locally in your browser. This static version does not send your entries to a server.
Your monthly picture
Food, transport, healthcare, childcare and other required spending.
Suggested base-rent target
$0
Calculated from your inputs.
Monthly gross$0
Estimated take-home$0
Stretch rent$0
Monthly savings$0
Housing share incl. utilities0%
Take-home pay uses a simplified rate based on gross income. Enter your actual monthly take-home pay into a personal budget before signing a lease.
How the estimate works
The tool calculates two limits. The first is a common screening benchmark of 30% of monthly gross income for rent plus utilities. The second is a cash-flow limit after estimated taxes, debt, non-housing essentials, utilities, and your savings goal. The suggested target uses the lower of the two.
A rule is not a budget.The 30% benchmark can be too high for households with childcare, medical costs, or large debt payments, and too conservative for some high-income households with low fixed costs.
Before applying for an apartment
- Use actual paystubs to calculate average monthly take-home income.
- Include renters insurance, parking, mandatory service packages, internet, and utility setup fees.
- Keep move-in cash separate from your emergency reserve.
- Ask the property for a sample utility history when available.