Debt-to-Income Ratio Calculator

A debt-to-income (DTI) ratio compares your total required monthly debt payments with your gross monthly income and expresses the result as a percentage. It measures how much of your income is already committed to recurring debt obligations before a single expense is paid.

Lenders use gross income — the amount you earn before taxes and payroll deductions — because it is the figure most easily verified through pay stubs and tax returns and is consistent across borrowers regardless of withholding choices.

The calculator asks for required monthly payments, not total account balances, because DTI reflects what leaves your account each month. A $20,000 student loan balance is not a monthly obligation; the $220 required payment is. Entering balances instead of payments would distort the ratio.

Understanding your DTI can help with budgeting (identifying how much of your income is already spoken for) and borrowing preparation (estimating whether a proposed payment would fit within common planning guidelines). This calculator is not connected to any lender and cannot predict loan approval. Lenders verify income through documentation, apply their own exclusions, and use additional underwriting factors — credit score, assets, employment history — that this tool does not evaluate.

Read the companion guide: How Debt-to-Income Ratio Works.

Monthly debt payments are required recurring obligations: housing costs, installment loan payments, credit-card minimums, court-ordered support, and similar items. Voluntary savings, groceries, utilities, and subscriptions are generally not included.

Gross monthly income is total pre-tax earnings from all documented sources: wages, salary, self-employment, rental income, bonuses, and other recurring income a lender can verify.

DTI percentage shows what share of gross income is committed to recurring debt. A lower percentage means less of your gross income is pre-committed before you pay any other expense. It does not by itself determine financial health or loan eligibility.

Most lenders count the following when calculating DTI — enter the required monthly payment amount for each, not the total outstanding balance:

• Mortgage or rent — principal, interest, property taxes, homeowners insurance, mortgage insurance, and HOA dues for homeowners; monthly rent for renters
• Vehicle loans — required monthly payment per statement
• Student loans — required monthly payment or, for deferred loans, a calculated payment under some programs
• Credit-card minimum payments — the minimum shown on the statement, not the full balance
• Personal loans and installment loans — required monthly payment
• Home-equity loans and HELOCs — required monthly payment
• Child support and alimony — court-ordered amounts with remaining obligation period
• Tax-payment agreements — required installment plan payments
• Co-signed debts — obligations for which you remain legally responsible

Lenders may include, exclude, or calculate specific items differently depending on their loan program, credit-report findings, and underwriting guidelines. Your lender-calculated DTI may differ from this calculator's result.

Ordinary living expenses are generally not counted in a lender's DTI calculation, including:

• Groceries and household supplies
• Utilities (electricity, gas, water)
• Telephone and internet service
• Fuel and vehicle maintenance (beyond the loan payment)
• Entertainment and dining
• Health, auto, and life insurance premiums unrelated to a loan
• Voluntary retirement contributions and savings
• Streaming and subscription services

These expenses still matter when determining what monthly payment is personally affordable, because bills are paid from take-home pay after all deductions — not from gross income. Use the Budget Planner to account for the full picture of monthly spending alongside your DTI estimate.

DTI uses gross income — the figure before taxes, health insurance, retirement contributions, and other payroll deductions are subtracted. This is the standard because gross income is consistent and easily documented through pay stubs and tax returns, regardless of an individual's withholding choices.

Take-home pay (net pay) is meaningfully lower than gross income and is what you actually use to pay bills each month. A DTI that looks manageable against gross income may feel tighter against actual take-home pay. When budgeting, always use your actual take-home amount as the starting point.

Use the Salary-to-Hourly Calculator to convert between salary and hourly pay, or estimate gross monthly income from different pay frequencies.

Current DTI uses your current housing payment and existing recurring debts as they are today.

Prospective DTI substitutes or adds a proposed new housing expense — for example, a mortgage you are considering — and recalculates DTI with all remaining debts included. In mortgage-planning mode, this calculator lets you enter a proposed housing payment and choose whether the current payment continues (for example, if you are adding a rental property while keeping your primary residence mortgage) or ends (if the new home replaces your current situation).

The calculator cannot determine exactly how a lender will treat every obligation in your prospective DTI. Lenders use their own verified income amounts, credit-report data, and loan-program-specific rules. Treat the prospective DTI here as a planning estimate, not a prequalification.

Possible approaches to improving DTI over time, without guaranteeing approval:

• Pay down or eliminate individual debt obligations to reduce required monthly payments
• Avoid taking on new recurring debt obligations before a loan application
• Increase documented gross income through a raise, a new income source, or demonstrable business income
• Review your credit report for inaccurate payment amounts that may be inflating your DTI
• Consider a lower proposed housing payment to keep prospective DTI within planning targets
• Build a realistic budget to reduce spending and direct more cash toward debt payoff

Improving DTI is not the same as guaranteeing loan approval. Credit score, assets, employment history, and underwriting standards all remain factors. Avoid closing accounts, moving debt between accounts, or making large financial changes solely to manipulate a ratio without understanding all potential consequences.

A lender-calculated DTI may differ from this calculator for several reasons:

• Verified income — lenders use documented income from pay stubs, W-2s, and tax returns; self-employment income may be reduced by business deductions
• Credit-report payment amounts — the payment used may come from the credit report rather than your estimate
• Student-loan payment rules — some programs require a calculated payment percentage of the balance when the loan is in deferment
• Co-signed debt treatment — lenders have program-specific rules for when co-signed debts are included or excluded
• Support obligation rules — alimony and child support may be included or excluded based on how long the obligation continues
• Different housing-cost components — lenders may include costs you omitted or compute tax and insurance estimates differently
• Loan-program requirements — FHA, VA, USDA, conventional, and jumbo loans all have different DTI guidelines
• Automated or manual underwriting — underwriting systems may apply different thresholds or require different documentation

This calculator uses the income and payment amounts you enter at face value. Lenders verify income through pay stubs, tax returns, and other documentation, and the verified amount may differ from your estimate. Lenders may also count or exclude certain payments differently — for example, some count lease payments, alimony, or garnishments that others treat differently under specific loan programs.

DTI is one of several underwriting factors. Credit score, assets, loan-to-value ratio, employment history, and automated underwriting system findings also affect loan decisions. A DTI below your selected target does not guarantee approval, and a DTI above it does not necessarily result in denial under all programs.

The core calculation divides total recurring monthly debt payments by gross monthly income and multiplies by 100 to produce a percentage. Planning targets in this calculator are editable educational assumptions, not loan-program requirements. Loan-program limits, underwriting calculations, and what counts as income or debt vary by lender and program. This website does not determine loan eligibility.

• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — What is a debt-to-income ratio? Why is the 43% debt-to-income ratio important?
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — Mortgage key terms (debt-to-income ratio)
• Fannie Mae — Selling Guide: Debt-to-Income Ratios
• Freddie Mac — Debt-to-Income (DTI) and Homebuying Affordability
• Federal Reserve — Household Debt and Credit

Last reviewed: July 2026