Debt-to-income ratio calculator
See both the housing-only and full debt-to-income ratios lenders actually look at.
Your income
Housing payment
Rent or mortgage, including property tax and insurance if you own.
Other monthly debt payments
Car loans, student loans, credit card minimums, personal loans — anything with a required monthly payment. Don't include groceries, utilities, or other living expenses.
Your debt-to-income ratios
Debt-to-Income Ratio Calculator
Why lenders actually check two numbers, not one
Most people have heard of debt-to-income ratio in a general sense, but mortgage lenders specifically split it into two separate figures, and both matter. The front-end ratio only counts your housing payment against your income. The back-end ratio adds in everything else — car payments, student loans, credit card minimums, any other required monthly debt. A lender looking at a mortgage application checks both, because a low front-end ratio doesn’t mean much if your back-end ratio is getting eaten alive by car and credit card payments.
The rough bands that show up in this calculator — under 36% generally considered healthy, 36-43% borderline, above 43% starting to limit your options — come from common conventional lending guidelines, not a hard rule every lender follows identically. Some loan programs, particularly certain FHA loans, allow higher back-end ratios than a conventional mortgage would. Treat these numbers as a solid gut check before you apply, not a definitive answer about what you will or won’t qualify for.
What actually counts as a debt payment here
This trips people up more than it should. Groceries, utilities, subscriptions, insurance premiums that aren’t tied to a loan — none of that counts toward DTI, even though it’s very much a real monthly obligation. DTI is specifically about debt: anything with a fixed required payment tied to a loan or credit agreement. Rent or mortgage, auto loans, student loans, personal loans, and the minimum payment on credit cards (not your full statement balance, just the minimum required) are the standard inputs.
This is exactly why DTI, while useful, isn’t a complete picture of whether you can actually afford a new payment. Someone with a low DTI but massive grocery, childcare, or medical costs might be far more financially stretched than the ratio suggests. Lenders know this too, which is part of why DTI is one factor among several — credit score, down payment, and cash reserves all get weighed alongside it.
If your number is higher than you’d like
The math only has two directions to move: increase income, or decrease debt payments. Paying down a car loan or knocking out credit card balances before applying for a mortgage can meaningfully shift your back-end ratio, sometimes more than people expect from what feels like a moderate payoff. If a big purchase or new loan isn’t urgent, timing it after a major application (mortgage, refinance) rather than before can keep your ratio from working against you at the wrong moment.
Does my DTI include my spouse’s debt if we’re applying together? On a joint application, yes — lenders typically combine both incomes and both sets of debt obligations for the household ratio.
What DTI do I need for a mortgage specifically? It varies by loan type and lender, but back-end ratios above 43% start meaningfully narrowing your options with conventional loans, and above 50% gets difficult across most programs. Worth confirming the specific threshold with your lender directly rather than assuming.