Rent Affordability Calculator
How much rent can you afford? Enter your income and see five common rules side by side: the 30% rule, the 40x and 3x rules landlords use to screen renters, a 36% budget that counts your debts, and the 50/30/20 budget. Or enter a rent to see the income it takes. Then pick your state to see the most cash a landlord may ask for at move-in under its deposit cap.
Work out what you can afford
Stretch maximum
Most rent a month, rule by rule
| Rule | What it says | Most rent |
|---|
None of these is a law. A landlord may use its own test, and a budget rule is only a starting point for your own spending.
Stretch: the 3x landlord line
Income needed, rule by rule
| Rule | Yearly | Monthly |
|---|
Gross income, before taxes, rounded up to the next dollar.
Move-in cash
First month's rent plus the largest security deposit your state allows.
The state rule
How much rent can I afford on my salary?
Worked out with the same rules as the calculator, for gross income with no debts. Comfortable is the lowest budget rule, which with no debts is the 30% rule (the 40x landlord rule gives the same figure). Stretch is the 3x landlord line; rent above it can fail landlord screening. With debts, use the calculator: the 36% budget falls by every dollar of monthly debt payments and can set a lower comfortable figure.
| Yearly income | Per month | Comfortable | Stretch (3x) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $30,000 | $2,500 | $750 | $833 |
| $40,000 | $3,333.33 | $1,000 | $1,111 |
| $50,000 | $4,166.67 | $1,250 | $1,388 |
| $60,000 | $5,000 | $1,500 | $1,666 |
| $70,000 | $5,833.33 | $1,750 | $1,944 |
| $75,000 | $6,250 | $1,875 | $2,083 |
| $80,000 | $6,666.67 | $2,000 | $2,222 |
| $90,000 | $7,500 | $2,250 | $2,500 |
| $100,000 | $8,333.33 | $2,500 | $2,777 |
| $120,000 | $10,000 | $3,000 | $3,333 |
| $150,000 | $12,500 | $3,750 | $4,166 |
Most rent a month, rounded down to the dollar. These are rules of thumb and landlord screening tests, not law. This is general information, not financial or legal advice.
Rent affordability questions
A comfortable rent is the lowest of the common budget rules. The 30% rule keeps rent to 30% of your gross monthly income, your pay before taxes: on $60,000 a year ($5,000 a month) that is $1,500. If you pay debts, a common budgeting guideline keeps rent plus debt payments at or under 36% of gross monthly income, so with $500 a month in debts the 36% budget leaves $1,300, and that lower figure is the comfortable one. The 50/30/20 budget keeps rent, debts and utilities within half of take-home pay. The stretch maximum is the 3x landlord line, gross monthly income divided by 3: $1,666 on $60,000 a year. Rent above it can fail landlord screening, and a landlord who uses the 40x rule already stops at $1,500. All of these are rules of thumb, not law; the calculator above works them out for your own numbers.
The 30% rule says rent should be no more than 30% of your gross monthly income. Multiply your monthly income before taxes by 0.3, or divide your yearly income by 40. On $50,000 a year that is $1,250 a month; on $75,000, $1,875. It is a guideline, not a law, and it does not look at debts or take-home pay, which is why the calculator also shows a 36% debt budget and the 50/30/20 budget.
The 40x rule is a screening test some landlords use: your yearly gross income must be at least 40 times the monthly rent. For $1,500 rent that means $60,000 a year; for $2,000 rent, $80,000. To find the most rent you qualify for, divide your yearly income by 40. That is the same number the 30% rule gives, because 30% of one month's income is one fortieth of a year's. Other landlords use the 3x rule, monthly income at least three times the rent, which lets the same income qualify for about 11% more: $1,666 instead of $1,500 on $60,000 a year.
Under the 40x rule, $80,000 a year, which is about $6,667 a month. The 30% rule gives the same figure. Under the 3x rule, $72,000 a year ($6,000 a month). If you also pay debts, a 36% budget asks for more: rent plus debt payments must fit within 36% of your gross monthly income. These are screening and budgeting rules, not law, and a landlord may use its own.
At least the first month's rent plus the security deposit, and any fees the landlord charges. How large the deposit can be depends on the state. Of the 50 states and DC, 14 cap it at one month's rent, 3 at 1.5 months, 10 at 2 months and Nevada at 3 months; in the other 23 we found no fixed statewide cap (New Mexico caps only a lease shorter than a year, at one month), and some cities, such as Seattle and Minneapolis, set their own. So on $1,500 rent, the most move-in cash under a state cap runs from $3,000 (a one month cap) to $6,000 (Nevada). Some caps count prepaid rent too, as in Arizona and Nevada, and some states, such as Hawaii and Kansas, allow a separate pet deposit on top. Choose your state in the calculator to see its cap, its conditions and the source.