Buying a home

How Much House Can You Afford?

Q: How much house can I afford on $90,000?

A common guideline keeps housing at 28% of gross monthly income. On $90,000 that is about $2,100 a month for the full payment, which supports a home in the mid-$300,000s with a typical down payment and rate. Your own comfort level matters more than the maximum.

Built and maintained by Chandranshu Kumar · Figures from the IRS, SSA, BLS and Freddie Mac

On $90,000 a year with $40,000 down and about $400 of other monthly debt, a comfortable home price is around $289,000. That keeps the full housing payment near 28% of your income, which is the line most lenders and budgets are happy with. Enter your income, debts, down payment and rate below. This is a comfortable target, not the absolute most a bank might approve.

Home Price You Can Afford

$289,000

a comfortable target

Yearly income

Down payment

Other monthly debt

$400

Interest rate

6.50%

Comfortable housing payment$2,100

Supported loan$249,182

Home price$289,000

The most you can borrow is not the most you should

Lenders often approve people for more than feels good to live with. This tool aims for the comfortable line, keeping the full payment near 28% of income and total debts near 36%. It reserves about a quarter of the payment for property tax and insurance, which the loan-only calculators skip. Play with the sliders and you will see how much a bigger down payment or a lower rate stretches your range. Leave yourself room for savings and the surprises a home always brings.

Uses the 28% and 36% guidelines and estimates tax and insurance. A real budget beats any rule. Not financial advice.

How the price is worked out

Lenders size a home budget from income first. This tool takes 28% of your gross monthly income as the comfortable ceiling for the whole housing payment, then checks a second limit: total debts, housing plus everything else, staying near 36% of income. The lower of the two sets the target payment, about $2,100 a month on $90,000 a year with $400 of other debt.

That payment has to cover more than the loan, so the tool holds back roughly a quarter of it for property tax and insurance and lets the rest support principal and interest. Running the amortization math backward at 6.5% over 30 years, the payment that is left carries a loan of about $249,182.

Add your down payment to the supported loan and you get the home price, around $289,000. A bigger down payment or a lower rate lifts the loan the same payment can carry, which is why both move the price so much. See the full method.

Common questions

How much house can I afford on $90,000?

Keeping housing near 28% of income is about $2,100 a month, which supports a home in the mid-$300,000s with a typical down payment. Your comfort matters more than the maximum.

What are the 28% and 36% rules?

They are the two limits lenders lean on. The 28% front-end rule caps the housing payment at 28% of gross monthly income. The 36% back-end rule caps all debt payments together, housing plus car, cards, and loans, at 36%. This tool uses whichever comes out lower for your numbers.

Is the bank's maximum the same as this?

Often no. A lender may approve a larger loan than these guidelines suggest, especially with strong credit. This tool aims for a comfortable payment rather than the highest number a bank might allow. Once you settle on a price, the mortgage calculator shows the full monthly cost behind it.