“How much house can I afford on my salary?” is the most-searched home-buying question — and the most badly answered. The honest answer is not a single number. It depends on your debts, down payment, the 2026 rate environment, and which lender rule you use. Here is the real math for the two most common salaries, plus how to find your own number in two minutes.
The quick numbers (2026 rates ~6.5%)
These assume a 10% down payment, average property tax and insurance, modest existing debt, and a conventional loan at roughly 6.5%:
| Gross salary | Conservative (safe) | Comfortable | Stretch (lender max) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $80,000 | ~$240,000 home | ~$300,000 | ~$360,000 |
| $100,000 | ~$300,000 home | ~$375,000 | ~$450,000 |
These are illustrative, not promises. Your real number can swing $100,000 either way based on debt and down payment — which is exactly why you should run the affordability calculator with your actual figures.
Why salary alone is the wrong question
Lenders do not approve you on income. They approve you on debt-to-income ratio (DTI) — your total monthly obligations divided by gross monthly income. Two people earning $100,000 can qualify for wildly different homes:
- Person A: no car payment, no student loans → qualifies for ~$450,000
- Person B: $650/month in car + student loans → qualifies for ~$330,000
Same salary, $120,000 difference. Check yours with the DTI calculator before you do anything else — it is the number that actually decides.
The three rules, explained
1. The 28/36 rule (conservative). Housing payment ≤ 28% of gross monthly income; total debt ≤ 36%. This is the historically safe zone — you keep margin for emergencies.
2. The “comfortable” zone (25–35%). Most buyers land here. Approvable, manageable, but less cushion.
3. The lender maximum (up to 43–50% back-end). FHA and some conventional approvals stretch here. Approvable is not advisable. At 45% DTI a single car repair or rate-driven tax increase can put you underwater on cash flow.
The affordability calculator shows all three scenarios side by side so you can see the gap between what a lender will let you borrow and what you should actually borrow.
Salary to home price: the levers that move it most
- Down payment. Going from 5% to 20% down on an $80k salary can lift your price ceiling by $40,000+ and removes PMI entirely. See the PMI impact in the mortgage payment calculator.
- Existing debt. Paying off a single $450 car loan often raises your max home price by ~$60,000–$80,000 — faster than any raise.
- Interest rate. Every 1% rate move changes buying power roughly 10%. At $100k salary, 6.5% vs 7.5% is about a $40,000 swing in affordable price.
- Property tax + insurance. These are part of the payment lenders count. A high-tax state cuts your price ceiling versus a low-tax one for the identical salary — model it in the property tax calculator.
The full cash picture (not just the payment)
Qualifying for the payment is only half of it. On an $80,000 salary buying a $300,000 home you also need:
- Down payment: $9,000–$60,000 depending on loan type
- Closing costs: 2–5% of price — estimate yours with the closing cost calculator
- Moving + setup: $2,500–$5,000
- Reserves: 3–6 months of payments untouched
Plenty of buyers qualify for the monthly payment and still cannot close because the upfront cash was never calculated. Do that math early.
Frequently asked
Is the “salary × 3” rule still valid? It is a rough ceiling at best and ignores debt, rates, and down payment. At 2026 rates it usually overstates what is comfortable. Use DTI-based math instead.
Should I borrow my maximum approval? Almost never. The gap between the conservative and stretch numbers above is your risk buffer. Borrowing the max removes it entirely.
Does a higher down payment beat a higher salary? Often, yes — for affordability. A bigger down payment shrinks the loan, kills PMI, and can lift your price ceiling more than a modest raise would.
Two incomes — do both count? Yes, if both are documented and stable. Combined gross income drives the DTI math; both debts count too.
Do this in the next 5 minutes
- Run the DTI calculator — get your real ratio.
- Run the affordability calculator with your salary, debts and down payment — see all three scenarios.
- Sanity-check the monthly with the mortgage payment calculator and add closing costs.
Your affordable number is knowable in minutes — and it is almost never the round figure a quick rule of thumb gives you.
Educational guide, not financial advice. Figures are illustrative; verify with a licensed lender.