Rent Affordability
Tells you what rent your income can comfortably support, before you fall in love with an apartment that can't.
Inputs
Annual Income — your gross yearly income.
Country — searchable, 36 supported.
State or region — where applicable.
Filing status — Single and the other statuses available for your country.
Location and filing status are here because affordability depends on take-home pay, not gross. The same salary supports meaningfully different rents in different tax jurisdictions.
What it gives you
A rent figure your income can comfortably carry.
Read the word comfortably carefully. This isn't the maximum a landlord would approve you for — landlords approve people for rents that quietly wreck their finances all the time. It's a level that leaves room for everything else.
Run this before you look
The order matters more than people think. Look at listings first and you'll anchor on a number, then work backwards to justify it. Run this first and you have a ceiling before your judgment gets involved.
The same applies to what a letting agent tells you you're approved for. That figure is about their risk, not your life.
The part it can't see
Affordability rules of thumb are blunt instruments. They don't know:
- ›Your debts. Someone with $900/month in student loans and someone with none can have identical salaries and completely different rent capacity.
- ›Your other commitments — childcare, medical costs, family support.
- ›What's included. Rent with utilities and parking included is not comparable to rent without.
- ›Your goals. Renting at your maximum means never saving a deposit.
This is the calculator's real limitation, and it's why the next step isn't optional.
Test it against your actual plan
Take the figure to the Budget Builder, enter it under Housing, and rebuild.
Your budget knows what the calculator doesn't — your debts, your bills, your savings goals. If a rent that looks affordable here pushes your debt-free date out by two years, the plan will show you that in a way a percentage rule never could.
Do this before signing. A lease is a year-long commitment, and it's usually the single largest line in a budget.
Beyond the rent itself
Budget for the full cost of the place, not the headline figure:
- ›Utilities, if not included
- ›Renters insurance
- ›Parking, storage, pet rent
- ›Commuting costs — a cheaper place further out isn't always cheaper
- ›Moving costs and deposits up front
Add the recurring ones to Expenses.
If you're buying instead
See the Mortgage Calculator.