Salary Needed for a Mortgage Calculator

Affordability, in reverse

How much salary do you need for a mortgage?

Mortgage lenders use two debt-to-income limits, known together as the 28/36 rule. The front-end ratio says your housing payment shouldn't exceed 28% of gross monthly income. The back-end ratio says all your debt payments — housing plus cars, cards and loans — shouldn't exceed 36%. This calculator works backward from your target payment to the salary that satisfies both.

Worked example: a $2,000 payment

If your expected mortgage payment (PITI) is $2,000 a month, the 28% rule requires gross monthly income of $2,000 ÷ 0.28 = $7,143, or about $85,714 a year. Add $300 of other monthly debt and the 36% back-end rule needs ($2,000 + $300) ÷ 0.36 = $6,389/month, or $76,667/year — lower, so the binding requirement here is the 28% housing rule at about $85,700.

Why lenders use gross, not net

Both ratios use gross income, before tax. That's why this tool returns a gross salary — but it also shows your estimated net monthly take-home so you can sanity-check the payment against the cash you'll actually have. A payment that's 28% of gross can be a larger share of net, so the conservative 25% option exists for a reason.

Plan the whole budget

See what that salary nets you with the salary to monthly income calculator, or work out the salary your full cost of living requires with the cost-of-living calculator.