Debt to Income Calculator
Monthly debt payments as a share of gross income, against the ceilings lenders apply.
Lenders do not ask how much you owe. They ask how much you pay every month, because that is what competes with a new mortgage payment. The figure they calculate is the debt to income ratio, and it decides more applications than the credit score does.
Enter gross monthly income and every regular debt payment, and this calculator gives the ratio, the housing share of it, and how much room is left under the ceilings lenders commonly use.
At a glance
- What you enter
- Gross monthly income, Rent or mortgage payment, Car payments, Student loan payments, Credit card payments, Other debt payments
- What you get
- Debt to income ratio, Housing share of income, Total monthly debt payments, Room left under 43 percent, Left after debt payments, Housing payment at 28 percent
- Formula shown
- Yes - every step, right below your results.
- Cost and privacy
- Free, no account needed, and nothing you type is stored.
See worked examples ↓ Read the FAQ ↓ Share this calculator ↓
Results are estimates for general information only - always verify with a professional or official source before acting on them.
How to use the Debt to Income Calculator
- 1 Enter Gross monthly income - Before tax, because that is the figure lenders use.
- 2 Enter Rent or mortgage payment
- 3 Enter Car payments
- 4 Enter Student loan payments
- 5 Enter Credit card payments - The minimum payments, or what you actually pay each month.
- 6 Enter Other debt payments - Personal loans, buy now pay later instalments, anything with a fixed monthly payment.
- 7 Press Calculate. You get Debt to income ratio, Housing share of income, Total monthly debt payments, Room left under 43 percent, Left after debt payments, Housing payment at 28 percent, and every intermediate step stays visible under “How is this calculated?”
- 8 Change one number at a time to see what moves the result - that is usually the most useful thing a calculator can tell you.
Worked examples
Real numbers run through this calculator. Open any example to load it into the form above and change it.
A renter with a car loan and student debt
The common shape: housing at the ceiling and a long tail of small payments.
You enter
- Gross monthly income
- $5,000.00
- Rent or mortgage payment
- $1,400.00
- Car payments
- $350.00
- Student loan payments
- $200.00
- Credit card payments
- $100.00
- Other debt payments
- $0.00
You get
- Debt to income ratio
- 41.0%
- Housing share of income
- 28.0%
- Total monthly debt payments
- $2,050.00
- Room left under 43 percent
- $100.00
- Left after debt payments
- $2,950.00
- Housing payment at 28 percent
- $1,400.00
Payments of 2,050 a month are 41.0 percent of gross income, of which housing is 28.0 percent. That is inside the 43 percent ceiling with 100 a month to spare and 250 above the stricter 36 percent limit. After the payments, 2,950 a month is left.
A higher income with a larger housing payment
More debt in absolute terms and a better ratio, which is what income does.
You enter
- Gross monthly income
- $7,000.00
- Rent or mortgage payment
- $1,800.00
- Car payments
- $450.00
- Student loan payments
- $0.00
- Credit card payments
- $300.00
- Other debt payments
- $150.00
You get
- Debt to income ratio
- 38.6%
- Housing share of income
- 25.7%
- Total monthly debt payments
- $2,700.00
- Room left under 43 percent
- $310.00
- Left after debt payments
- $4,300.00
- Housing payment at 28 percent
- $1,960.00
The payments total 2,700 a month, which is 38.6 percent of income, so the ratio improves by 2.4 points while the debts grow by 650. Housing is 25.7 percent. Room under the 43 percent ceiling is 310 a month, and 4,300 is left after the payments.
Guides that go with it
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Frequently asked questions
Which debts count toward the ratio?
Any regular payment with a balance behind it: rent or a mortgage, car loans and leases, student loans, minimum credit card payments, personal loans and instalment plans such as buy now pay later. Child support and court ordered payments are usually added as well.
What does not count is spending without a balance: groceries, utilities, insurance, subscriptions and taxes. That is why the ratio can look healthy while the month still feels tight, and why lenders look at the whole file rather than at the ratio alone.
Why is gross income used rather than take-home pay?
Because that is what the lending rules are written against, so a ratio calculated on net income would not be comparable with the limits a lender applies. The consequence is that the same debts produce a worse looking ratio for someone in a high tax jurisdiction.
For your own planning, the take-home figure is the one that decides whether a payment is survivable. Both numbers are useful and they answer different questions.
What are the 28, 36 and 43 percent figures?
They are conventions from mortgage lending. Housing is usually capped at about 28 percent of gross income and all debt payments together at about 36 percent, with 43 percent as the upper limit many programmes allow and a few going beyond it.
They vary by country, by lender and by loan type, and they have moved over time as credit conditions changed. Treat them as the range a lender will apply rather than as a rule with legal force.
How quickly can the ratio be improved?
Faster than most people expect, because it moves with payments rather than balances. Clearing a 300 a month car payment lowers the ratio immediately and permanently, even if the loan was nearly paid off anyway.
Raising income works too but takes longer to prove, and lenders typically want to see a period of stable income. Paying down a payment is the lever that works within a month.