Rent Budget Calculator
How much rent can you afford? The 30% rule: spend no more than 30% of your gross income on rent. Compare 25% (conservative), 30% (standard), and 35% (stretch). Free, no signup.
Example: $72,000/year, 30% rule
Gross monthly
$6,000
Max rent (30%)
$1,800
25% conservative
$1,500
35% stretch
$2,100
At $72,000/year: $1,800/month max rent by the 30% rule. Conservative (25%): $1,500. Stretch (35%): $2,100.
Source: FinCalc server-rendered example using the same formulas as the interactive calculator.
Ask about this calculator
FinCalc AI
Suggested questions:
Frequently asked questions
How much rent can I afford?
The 30% rule: your rent should not exceed 30% of your gross (before tax) monthly income. For $72,000/year, that's $1,800/month. Use 25% for a more conservative budget (more savings) or 35% in high-cost areas if you have limited other debt.
What is the 30% rule for rent?
Spend no more than 30% of your gross income on rent. It's a guideline from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Landlords often use it to screen tenants. Staying under 30% leaves room for savings, utilities, and other expenses.
Should I use gross or net income for the 30% rule?
The standard 30% rule uses gross (before tax) income. Some people prefer net (after tax) for a stricter budget—if so, aim for 30% of take-home pay. In high-tax areas, 30% of gross can feel tight after deductions.
Is 35% of income too much for rent?
35% is a stretch—you have less buffer for savings, emergencies, and discretionary spending. It may be necessary in expensive cities. Aim for 25–30% when possible. If you exceed 35%, prioritize an emergency fund and watch other expenses.
Why don't the 25%, 30% and 35% figures change when I switch the ratio?
They are not tied to your selection. The engine computes the conservative, standard and stretch figures at fixed multiples of 0.25, 0.30 and 0.35 on every run, and returns your chosen ratio as a separate "max rent" result. Selecting 25% makes the highlighted figure match the conservative column; the other two stay where they are, as a reference scale rather than as outputs of your choice.
What costs does this calculator leave out?
Everything except income. The engine takes gross annual income and a ratio and nothing else — no utilities, renter's insurance, parking, security deposit, broker fee, commuting cost, or existing debt payment. It also works from pre-tax income, so the result is a larger share of your actual take-home pay than the percentage suggests. Treat it as a ceiling on rent alone and budget the remaining housing costs separately.
What does moving from 25% to 30% of income actually cost?
On this page's $72,000 example, $300 a month: $1,500 becomes $1,800. Over a twelve-month lease that is $3,600 committed to a landlord rather than to savings, debt payoff, or an emergency fund. The step from 30% to 35% costs the same again, $1,800 to $2,100, so the full span from conservative to stretch is $600 a month, or $7,200 a year.
Can I use a ratio other than 25%, 30% or 35%?
Not from this page — the interface exposes three presets. The underlying engine accepts any ratio and clamps it between 0.1 and 0.5, so a value below 10% or above 50% is pulled back to those bounds, but the three buttons are the only ratios available here. To model something in between, run the arithmetic yourself: your gross monthly income multiplied by the ratio you want.
What's Next?
How the math works
lib/calculators/rentBudget.ts performs one division and four multiplications. Gross annual income is floored at zero and divided by 12: $72,000 becomes $6,000 of gross monthly income on this page's example. The rent-to-income ratio is clamped to a floor of 0.1 and a ceiling of 0.5, so nothing outside 10%–50% can be modelled. Max rent is gross monthly multiplied by the selected ratio. Separately, and regardless of which ratio you select, the engine always returns three fixed comparison figures — gross monthly × 0.25, × 0.30 and × 0.35, or $1,500, $1,800 and $2,100 in the example. No result is rounded; formatCurrency in lib/utils.ts renders up to two decimals. The engine accepts no other input. Taxes, utilities, renter's insurance, parking, student loans and car payments are absent from the model, and every figure it returns is a share of pre-tax income, not of take-home pay.
Using the result
Treat 30% as a screening line rather than a target. On this page's example the three columns sit $300 a month apart — $1,500, $1,800, $2,100 — so each five-point step trades $3,600 a year against everything else you fund. Choose the step deliberately instead of letting a listing choose it for you. Because the engine reads income alone, subtract what it omits before you sign: utilities not bundled into rent, renter's insurance, parking, commuting, and any existing debt payment. If those push you past the stretch column, the unit is unaffordable at every ratio on this page. For a cross-check, the house affordability calculator applies a stricter pair of limits — 28% of monthly income for housing, and 36% of income less your other debt payments — which is closer to the test a lender runs.
Advertisement
What to calculate next
View all calculators →Mortgage Early Payoff
Calculate how extra payments reduce your mortgage term and total interest paid. Supports annuity and differentiated payment schedules.
Rent vs Buy
Should you rent or buy? Compare total costs including mortgage, taxes, appreciation, and opportunity cost over time.
House Affordability Calculator
Estimate max home price using debt ratios, down payment, mortgage rate, and state-specific property tax assumptions.
HOA Cost Calculator
Total HOA cost over 10–30 years with growth and special assessments. See what condo dues really cost.
Roommate Rent Split Calculator
Fair rent division by room size and private bath. Split by sq ft with amenity premium.
Down Payment Savings Calculator
How long to save for a home down payment? Target, current savings, monthly contribution, expected return. Year-by-year projection.