How Much House Can I Afford? 28/36 Rule by Salary
The 28/36 rule by salary, $50k to $200k, at today's 7.40% rate - plus how far lenders stretch it and where your debts start to bite.
Nathan Cole
A lender may approve you for far more house than you can comfortably carry. That gap is the real answer to "how much house can I afford?" And it's bigger than most buyers expect.
The classic test is the 28/36 rule. It caps housing at 28% of gross income and all debt at 36%. So on a $100,000 salary, that's about $2,333 a month for housing. At today's rates, it buys roughly a $335,000 home.
But today's rates matter a lot. Freddie Mac put the average 30-year fixed rate at 7.40% on October 8, 2026. That's up from 6.30% a year earlier. As a result, every salary buys less house than it did last fall.
Below, you'll find the 28/36 rule by salary, from $50,000 to $200,000. You'll also see the lender-maximum numbers, the debt line that quietly shrinks your budget, and a take-home check. To run your own numbers, our free Mortgage Affordability Calculator does the math in seconds.
Mortgage Affordability Calculator
How much house can I afford on my salary?
TL;DR:
In other words, your home buying power rises a little faster than your income. That's because insurance is a fixed cost, so it eats a bigger share of a smaller budget. Still, treat these figures as a starting price range, not a promise of how much house you can afford.
What is the 28/36 rule?
The 28/36 rule is a home affordability guideline built on two debt-to-income ratios. First, your housing payment should stay at or below 28% of gross monthly income. Second, all your debt payments, housing included, should stay at or below 36%.
Lenders call these the front-end and back-end ratios. Here, the housing payment means PITI: principal, interest, property taxes, and homeowners insurance. It also includes PMI and HOA dues when you have them.
Where do the numbers come from? The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suggests homeowners consider keeping total debt at 36% of income or less. Yet the same guide notes that some lenders go to 43% or higher. Similarly, Fannie Mae's consumer site suggests housing costs of about 25% to 30% of gross income.
However, actual lending limits run higher. Here's how the main programs compare:
| Loan program | Housing cap | Total-debt cap | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conventional, manual review | — | 36%, up to 45% | Fannie Mae |
| Conventional, automated (DU) | — | Up to 50% | Fannie Mae |
| FHA | 31% | 43% | HUD |
| VA | — | 41% guideline | VA (38 CFR 36.4340) |
According to the Fannie Mae Selling Guide, manually underwritten loans max out at 36%. That limit can rise to 45% with strong credit and cash reserves. Meanwhile, loans run through Desktop Underwriter can reach 50%. So 28/36 is a comfort target, not a legal ceiling.
How much house can I afford by salary?
Here's the 28/36 rule by salary at today's rates, so you can see how much house you can afford at each income level. Each price assumes a 30-year fixed loan at 7.40%, 20% down, and property tax of 1% of the price per year. It also assumes $200 a month for homeowners insurance and no other debts.
| Annual salary | 28% housing cap | 36% total-debt cap | Home price you can afford |
|---|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $1,167/mo | $1,500/mo | ~$152,000 |
| $60,000 | $1,400/mo | $1,800/mo | ~$188,000 |
| $75,000 | $1,750/mo | $2,250/mo | ~$243,000 |
| $90,000 | $2,100/mo | $2,700/mo | ~$298,000 |
| $100,000 | $2,333/mo | $3,000/mo | ~$335,000 |
| $125,000 | $2,917/mo | $3,750/mo | ~$426,000 |
| $150,000 | $3,500/mo | $4,500/mo | ~$518,000 |
| $175,000 | $4,083/mo | $5,250/mo | ~$609,000 |
| $200,000 | $4,667/mo | $6,000/mo | ~$701,000 |
Notice that the price-to-income multiple climbs from about 3.0 at $50,000 to 3.5 at $200,000. Again, that's the fixed insurance cost at work. By contrast, a higher property-tax state pulls every row down.
So the typical home now sits just above the $125,000 row. For many single-income buyers, that's a real stretch on house affordability.
How do you calculate it yourself?
Working out how much house you can afford by hand takes five steps. Let's use a $90,000 salary, so you can check each one against the table.
- Find gross monthly income.First, divide $90,000 by 12 to get $7,500.
- Apply both caps.Next, 28% of $7,500 is $2,100, and 36% is $2,700.
- Subtract your debts.Then take other debts from the $2,700. With no debts, the $2,100 housing cap is lower, so it wins.
- Remove insurance.After that, subtract $200 for insurance. That leaves $1,900 for principal, interest, and property tax.
- Convert to a price.Finally, divide by the monthly cost per dollar of home price, shown below.
At 7.40% over 30 years, each $1,000 borrowed costs about $6.92 a month. With 20% down, you borrow $800 of every $1,000 in price. Add 1% annual tax, and each $1,000 of price costs about $6.37 a month.
Home price = (Housing cap − Insurance) ÷ Monthly cost per $1 of price
= ($2,100 − $200) ÷ 0.0063724
≈ $298,000That price means a $238,530 loan and $59,632 down. Want proof? Enter $238,530 at 7.40% in our Mortgage Payment Calculator. You'll see about $1,652 a month in principal and interest. Then add $248 of tax and $200 of insurance, and you're back to $2,100.
Use our free Mortgage Affordability Calculator above - no formula needed. It solves the tax loop for you and auto-fills your state's property-tax rate.
How do your debts change your budget?
Here's a pattern most guides miss about how much house you can afford with debt. Under 28/36, your other debts don't touch your budget until they pass 8% of gross monthly income. That's the gap between 36% and 28%.
Once you cross that line, though, every extra dollar of debt comes straight out of your housing payment. At 7.40%, each extra $100 a month of debt removes about $15,700 of home price.
| Annual salary | No other debt | $500/mo debt | $1,000/mo debt |
|---|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | ~$152,000 | ~$126,000 | ~$47,000 |
| $60,000 | ~$188,000 | ~$173,000 | ~$94,000 |
| $75,000 | ~$243,000 | ~$243,000 | ~$165,000 |
| $100,000 | ~$335,000 | ~$335,000 | ~$282,000 |
| $125,000 | ~$426,000 | ~$426,000 | ~$400,000 |
| $150,000 | ~$518,000 | ~$518,000 | ~$518,000 |
So a $500 car payment barely matters at $100,000. At $50,000, by contrast, it cuts about $26,000 from your price. In short, paying down debt before you buy helps most at lower incomes.
Lender maximum vs. comfortable budget: how big is the gap?
Lenders often approve buyers well past 28/36. So when you ask how much house can I afford, it's worth seeing both answers in dollars. The table uses the same assumptions and three rule sets from our Multi-Rule Home Affordability Calculator.
Mortgage Affordability Calculator
| Annual salary | Comfortable (28/36) | Standard (31/43) | Stretch (36/50) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | ~$152,000 | ~$171,000 | ~$204,000 |
| $75,000 | ~$243,000 | ~$273,000 | ~$322,000 |
| $100,000 | ~$335,000 | ~$374,000 | ~$439,000 |
| $150,000 | ~$518,000 | ~$577,000 | ~$675,000 |
| $200,000 | ~$701,000 | ~$779,000 | ~$910,000 |
As you can see, the stretch column buys about 30% to 35% more house. On a $100,000 salary, that's roughly $105,000 of extra price. It's also about $600 more each month.v
Real buyers feel this gap between mortgage affordability on paper and in practice. Take one r/Mortgages poster who asked, "Can we afford a $675k house on $10k take home per month?" The couple earned $198,000 combined, with $950 a month in student loans. Their lender's estimate was $4,200 a month, including taxes, insurance, and PMI.
On paper, that passes 28/36 easily. The housing ratio is about 25%, and total debt is about 31%. Yet $4,200 is 42% of their take-home pay. That's the gap between gross-income rules and real life.
For that reason, run a second check against take-home pay. Some planners use 25% of net pay as a comfort line. For this couple, that would mean about $2,500 a month. The truth probably sits somewhere between the two figures.
What does the 28/36 rule leave out?
The rule only sees debt payments. As a result, it can overstate how much house you can afford, because several real costs slip past it:
- PMI if you put down less than 20%.
- HOA dues, which count toward your housing ratio.
- Closing costs, typically paid in cash at signing.
- Maintenance and repairs, which never show up on a credit report.
- Childcare, commuting, and savings goals.
Also, your rate matters more than any rule. A full point of rate can swing your price by roughly 10%. So get real quotes before you fall for a listing. Our PMI Calculator shows what a smaller down payment adds each month.
Calcavio's Verdict
The verdict
The 28/36 rule is still the best quick answer to "how much house can I afford?" as long as you check it against take-home pay.
Best for
First-time buyers setting a price range before talking to lenders.
Skip it if
You have large non-debt costs, like childcare or high commuting costs, that the rule can't see.
Pros and cons
- Simple enough to do on a napkin
- Matches how lenders actually measure risk
- Leaves a cushion below lender maximums
- Uses gross income, not take-home pay
- Ignores savings, childcare, and maintenance
Standout
Your debts don't shrink a 28/36 budget until they pass 8% of gross income. After that, each $100 a month costs about $15,700 of house at 7.40%.
Calcavio Editorial Score
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently asked questions
How much house can I afford on a $70,000 salary?+
Does the 28/36 rule use gross or net income?+
How much income do I need for a $500,000 house?+
Can I get a mortgage with a DTI above 36%?+
Is the 28/36 rule still realistic in 2026?+
Does a bigger down payment let me afford more house?+
Bottom line
So, how much house can I afford on my salary? Under the 28/36 rule, most buyers land at about 3 to 3.5 times their salary at today's 7.40% average. Lenders may approve far more. But the comfortable number leaves room for the rest of your life. Plug your own salary, debts, and state into our free Mortgage Affordability Calculator - no formula needed. Which number in the salary table surprised you most?
Mortgage Affordability Calculator
Sources
- Primary Mortgage Market Survey, (30-year 7.40%; year-ago 6.30%; survey covers conventional purchase loans with 20% down and good-to-excellent credit) — Freddie Mac (October 8, 2026)
- Existing-Home Sales Report Shows 2.0% Decrease in August, (median $429,100, +1.6% YoY) — National Association of Realtors (September 10, 2026)
- Selling Guide B3-6-02, Debt-to-Income Ratios (36% manual; up to 45% with credit/reserves; 50% via DU) — Fannie Mae
- Mortgage Affordability Calculator (housing costs of 25%–30% of gross income) — Fannie Mae
- Debt-to-income calculator tool (homeowners: consider 36% or less; some lenders go to 43% or higher) — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- Mortgagee Letter 2014-02 (FHA 31/43; higher with compensating factors) — U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
- VA underwriting standards (41% standard plus residual income) — eCFR, 38 CFR 36.4340
- "Can we afford a $675k house on $10k take home per month?" (community post, quoted as an example, not data) — Reddit - r/Mortgages
- Standard amortizing-loan formula, 30-year fixed, monthly compounding (same as the Mortgage Payment Calculator); assumptions stated in the article — Calcavio calculations
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