Rent Affordability Calculator
Enter your income and the calculator shows your rent ceiling at three burden levels — including the utilities the classic 30% rule was always supposed to count.
Free, no signup, runs entirely in your browser — nothing you type is sent anywhere. Estimates for planning, not financial advice.
How this calculator works
The 30% housing rule traces to the 1969 Brooke Amendment (originally 25%, raised to 30% in 1981) and HUD still defines households paying over 30% as "cost-burdened." Critically, the rule was always about housing costs total — rent plus utilities — not rent alone. This calculator subtracts your utility estimate from each percentage ceiling so the number you see is the rent you can actually sign for.
The three tiers map to real outcomes: under 25% means housing isn't your budget's problem; 30% is the standard ceiling; 35%+ is the zone where 49% of U.S. renter households now sit (Joint Center for Housing Studies, 2024) — workable, but one surprise expense breaks the month unless other categories are tight.
If every apartment near you fails the test
That's a market problem, not a personal one. The durable fixes are roommates (a 35% solo ratio often becomes ~18% split), a longer commute (25-35% rent differentials exist 30-90 minutes out in most metros), or income growth. Cutting groceries to fund rent is a false economy — track your housing share monthly and treat anything over 35% as a 90-day project, not a permanent state.
Common questions
Is this based on gross or take-home income?
Take-home. Most rent calculators use gross income because landlords screen on gross (typically requiring 3x rent). But your budget runs on take-home — what's left after taxes, FICA, and retirement contributions. A $80,000 gross salary is roughly $4,400-$5,100/month take-home depending on state; the difference between the two bases moves your rent ceiling by $400-600/month. Use take-home for your own planning, and know landlords will compute it differently.
Why does the calculator subtract utilities?
Because HUD's cost-burden definition counts housing costs total, and a typical one-bedroom adds $210-$410/month in utilities (electric $80-150, water/sewer $30-60, internet $50-80, gas $30-80, trash $20-40). A $1,800 rent at $5,000 take-home looks like 36% — but with utilities it's really 42-44%. Calculators that ignore utilities understate your real burden by 5-10% of income.
What if I'm already paying more than 35%?
You have lots of company — about half of U.S. renter households are cost-burdened. Three moves, in order: track spending in detail for 60 days to see whether the rent is crowding out essentials or 'just' savings (different urgency); note your lease end date and start rent-shopping 90 days out rather than in an emergency; and audit every other category hard, because at 35%+ housing the rest of the budget has no slack for waste.
Do landlords use the same math?
No — most landlords screen on gross income, requiring monthly rent ≤ 1/3 of gross (the '3x rent' rule). That's more permissive than this calculator, which is exactly the problem: an approval is not an affordability verdict. Plenty of approved leases fail the take-home math. Pass the landlord's screen, then pass your own before signing.
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