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What's my debt-to-income ratio?

Lenders divide your monthly debts by your gross monthly income. The front-end ratio counts only the housing payment; the back-end ratio counts every debt. See both, how conventional, FHA, VA and USDA guidelines read them, and VA's residual income test.

Gross monthly income

BEFORE TAX
$

Before tax and deductions.

$
$

Income a lender can document and expects to continue: support received, benefits, a pension.

Proposed housing payment

FRONT-END
$
$
$
$
$

Mortgage insurance is PMI on a conventional loan or the annual premium on FHA; a VA loan has none, so enter 0 when checking VA. The mortgage payment calculator works these out from a price and rate.

Other monthly debts

BACK-END
$
$
$
$
$

Leases, other mortgages, any recurring obligation on your credit report. An installment debt with ten or fewer payments left may be left out unless the payment is large.

Student loans

EACH PROGRAM DIFFERS
$
$

What lenders generally don't count

Utilities, phone and internet, groceries, and insurance other than the housing payment's (health, car, life) are not debts, so they stay out of the ratio. So do income taxes, retirement contributions, commuting and child care. They are real costs, and the ratio leaves them out: it measures debts, not your budget. VA's residual income test, below, is the one that counts several of them.

🧮

Enter your gross monthly income to see your ratios.

VA residual income

38 CFR 36.4340

VA also asks what is left each month after taxes, the housing payment, maintenance and utilities, debts and job costs, and compares it with a table by region, family size and loan amount. It uses the income, housing payment and debts above, with student loans counted VA's way.

AL, AR, DE, DC, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, OK, PR, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV

Everyone in the household; counted up to 7.

$

$79,999 and below, or $80,000 and above.

sq ft

Maintenance and utilities at 14¢ a square foot, from the appraisal.

Monthly deductions, from the pay stub:

$
$
$
$
$

Child care, significant commuting costs, and other costs of working.

Add your income above, a family size and a loan amount to see residual income against VA's table.

Save or send these numbersEmail

All four happen in your browser. Your figures are not sent anywhere — the email opens in your own mail app, already filled in.

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What counts, and why the guideline is not the limitA written guide to the rules behind this calculator →
For educational purposes only, and not a pre-approval. The program figures are guidelines from Fannie Mae's Selling Guide, HUD Handbook 4000.1, 38 CFR 36.4340 and VA Pamphlet 26-7, and 7 CFR 3555.151; automated underwriting can approve higher ratios, and lenders can apply stricter ones of their own. Your lender's figures, from your credit report and documents, are the ones that count.