How much house can I afford comes down to four levers: your income, your existing debt, your interest rate, and your down payment. Many lenders still use roughly 43% of gross income as the ceiling for total monthly debt payments, and many borrowers are more comfortable closer to 36%, which is why the same salary can support very different price tags depending on the other variables.
GoSpend already has a dedicated calculator for running your exact numbers, so this piece focuses on something different: worked, real-dollar examples at three common salaries, and a look at exactly which variables move the answer the most. Every figure below is an educational illustration of how lenders typically do the math, not a recommendation about what you should borrow.
How Much House Can I Afford on a $60,000, $75,000 or $100,000 Salary?
The starting point for any affordability estimate is gross monthly income, since that’s the number lenders use for debt-to-income (DTI) calculations. Using a 43% back-end DTI ceiling, no other monthly debts, an illustrative $300/month for property taxes and insurance combined, and a 30-year rate of 7.13% APR (the national average reported on November 12, 2026), here’s roughly how the math plays out.
| Annual Salary | Monthly Gross Income | Max Housing Payment (43% DTI) | Approx. Price at 20% Down | Approx. Price at 3% Down |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $60,000 | $5,000 | $2,150 | ~$344,000 | ~$283,700 |
| $75,000 | $6,250 | $2,688 | ~$444,100 | ~$366,300 |
| $100,000 | $8,333 | $3,583 | ~$610,400 | ~$503,500 |
These are maximum, no-other-debt scenarios, and the 3%-down column ignores mortgage insurance, which would lower those prices. A more conservative 36% DTI target would shrink every number by roughly 15-20%, since less of each paycheck is allocated to housing.
What Debt-to-Income Limits Do Lenders Actually Use?
The 43% figure comes from the original federal Qualified Mortgage rule, which capped a borrower’s total monthly debt at 43 percent of monthly income. The CFPB has since removed that 43 percent limit from the General QM definition and replaced it with price-based thresholds, but many lenders and loan programs still apply debt-to-income limits of their own, and 43% remains a common benchmark. At the same time, while a 36% debt-to-income ratio is considered “ideal,” anything under 43% is considered “good.” FHA loans run a slightly different formula: FHA limits are currently 31/43, meaning housing costs alone are capped around 31% of income, with total debt capped near 43%.
How Does the Mortgage Rate Change the Answer?
Rate matters as much as income. Take the $75,000 salary at the 43% DTI ceiling ($2,688 max housing payment, $300 of which covers taxes and insurance, leaving $2,388 for principal and interest). At 7.13% APR, that payment supports a loan of roughly $355,000, or about $444,100 purchase price with 20% down. Drop the rate to a hypothetical 6.0% and the same $2,388 payment supports closer to $398,000 in loan, pushing the purchase price to roughly $497,900 with 20% down — nearly $54,000 more house for the identical monthly budget. This is why the same salary can afford noticeably more or less home purely based on when, and at what rate, a loan closes.
How Much Does the Down Payment Matter?
Down payment size changes two things: how much cash is needed upfront, and whether mortgage insurance applies. FHA loans require a minimum of 3.5% down, while conventional loans require a minimum of 3% down. Using the $75,000/43% DTI example above, the same loan of roughly $355,000 supports a purchase price of about $366,300 with 3% down but about $444,100 with 20% down, because a larger down payment covers more of the price while the loan amount stays the same. The 3% figure is generous, though: loans with less than 20% down usually carry mortgage insurance, which adds to the monthly payment and would shrink the loan the same budget can support. Conventional loans only require private mortgage insurance (PMI) if the down payment is less than 20%, which is one reason that threshold matters for the monthly math, not just the upfront cash required.
How Do Other Monthly Debts Reduce What You Can Afford?
Every dollar of existing debt payment competes directly with housing budget inside the same DTI ceiling. Returning to the $75,000 salary at 43% DTI: with no other debts, the maximum housing payment is $2,688. Add a $500/month car payment and student loan combined, and the housing budget drops to $2,188 — which, after the $300 taxes-and-insurance assumption, supports a loan of roughly $281,000 instead of $355,000. At 20% down, that’s a purchase price near $351,000 instead of $444,100 — a swing of roughly $93,000 driven entirely by $500 of unrelated monthly debt.
How Do Property Taxes and Insurance Factor Into the Numbers?
Property taxes and homeowners insurance are bundled into the same housing payment lenders measure against income, so a higher tax bill or insurance premium directly shrinks the loan amount a given income can support — even though neither one builds equity. Using the $100,000 salary at 43% DTI: assuming $300/month combined for taxes and insurance leaves a loan of roughly $488,000, supporting a ~$610,400 price at 20% down. Raise that assumption to $500/month (a plausible figure in higher-tax states or higher-premium regions) and the supportable loan drops to roughly $459,000, trimming the price to about $573,300 — nearly $37,000 less home for the same salary, purely because more of the monthly budget is going to taxes and insurance instead of principal and interest.
Where Can You Run Your Own Numbers?
Because actual tax rates, insurance costs, credit-based rates, and existing debts vary so much by household and location, the cleanest way to see a personalized estimate is to plug in your own salary, debts, down payment, and local tax/insurance figures using GoSpend’s House Affordability Calculator.
Sources
- NerdWallet: Compare Today’s Mortgage Interest Rates
- CFPB: Qualified Mortgage Definition Under Regulation Z
- The Mortgage Reports: What Is a Good Debt-to-Income Ratio for a Mortgage?
- Wikipedia: Debt-to-income ratio
- PNC: FHA vs. Conventional Loan: What Homebuyers Should Know
- The Mortgage Reports: FHA vs Conventional Loan
This article is for educational purposes only and isn't legal, financial, or tax advice. See our Disclaimer for details.
