House Poor Risk Calculator
See whether a home may leave your monthly budget feeling comfortable, tight, or risky before you buy.
What this calculator helps you understand
Lenders often approve you for more house than you can safely afford. This tool evaluates your take-home pay against your home cost, debts, and lifestyle expenses to warn you if a purchase could leave you "house poor" (struggling to pay bills).
Annual gross income is your income before taxes.
Monthly take-home pay is what actually lands in your bank account after taxes and deductions.
Estimated full monthly home cost should include mortgage, taxes, insurance, PMI, HOA, utilities, maintenance, and repairs. Calculate it here.
Debt payments include car loans, credit cards, student loans, personal loans, and similar obligations.
Essential expenses include groceries, gas, childcare, insurance, phone, utilities not already included, and other must-pay bills.
Your current emergency fund balance.
How much you want to save each month.
We'll analyze your income, debts, and expected home costs to determine if you're at risk of becoming house poor.
Next step
Need a plan to lower the monthly pressure?
Review subscriptions, utilities, insurance, maintenance, debt, and other bills in a practical order without cutting the protections that keep a small problem from becoming a bigger one.
Open the House Poor monthly cost action planExplore More Tools
Want to find a safer price range?Mortgage Calculatorto estimate standard payments, compare renting vs buying with the Rent vs Buy Calculator, or dig into the details with the Full Home Cost Calculator.