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Most renters only ever hear the 30% rule, but 30% of your income is not affordable if your debts and essentials already eat the rest. This calculator runs both tests side by side: the classic ceiling of 30% of monthly take-home income, and a stricter leftover test that subtracts your fixed debt payments and essential living costs first. Whichever number is lower is the rent you can actually carry without quietly falling behind — and the verdict tells you which test is binding for you and what that means for the places you should target.
Work out the rent your income can really carry using the classic 30% rule AND a leftover test that subtracts your debts and essentials first. Honest numbers, instant answer.
Because 30% assumes your other costs fit inside the remaining 70%. If debt payments and essentials are high, the leftover test shows a rent that leaves you short — the calculator then treats the lower number as your real ceiling.
Take-home is the honest base. The 30% rule was built around gross income, but you pay rent from your net pay — using take-home keeps the check realistic and is what this calculator does.
A small overshoot you absorb once is different from a permanent stretch. Look for what makes it work — cheaper essentials, a debt paid off, or a slightly smaller place — rather than hoping the maths fixes itself.
Every tool answers instantly from our own knowledge and calculators — no AI wait, no account. Want the deeper, personalised version? Each has a $2.95 full report.