Mortgage Calculator

How to use this calculator

Start with the home price you are considering and the down payment you plan to bring to closing. Set the interest rate your lender quoted and the loan term in years — 30 years is the most common, though 15- and 20-year loans carry lower rates and less total interest. Open Advanced options to add yearly property tax, yearly home insurance, monthly HOA dues, and a PMI rate. As you drag each slider the monthly payment updates instantly, and the donut chart shows exactly where each dollar goes.

How this is calculated

Your loan amount is the home price minus the down payment. We turn the annual interest rate into a monthly rate and the term into a number of monthly payments, then apply the standard amortization formula to find the fixed principal & interest portion. We add one-twelfth of your yearly property tax and insurance, your monthly HOA dues, and — if your down payment is under 20% of the price — private mortgage insurance (PMI), charged as the PMI rate times the loan balance, divided over twelve months. Adding those pieces together gives your full PITI payment, plus HOA.

Educational estimate, not financial advice — see our disclaimer.

A worked example

Suppose you buy a $400,000 home with $80,000 down — a 20% down payment, so no PMI is required. That leaves a $320,000 loan. At a 6.5% rate over 30 years, the principal & interest portion works out to about $2,022 a month. Add property tax of $4,800 a year ($400/month) and home insurance of $1,800 a year ($150/month), and your full payment lands near $2,572. Over the life of that loan you would pay roughly $728,000 in principal and interest combined — more than double the amount borrowed — which is why even a small change in rate or term matters so much.

Now drop the down payment to $40,000 (10%). The loan grows to $360,000 and PMI kicks in, adding around $150 a month until you build enough equity. A larger down payment shrinks both the loan and the PMI, lowering your payment on two fronts at once.

Tips to lower your payment

• Put 20% down — crossing that threshold removes PMI entirely and cuts the loan balance.
• Shop the rate — even a quarter-point lower rate trims your monthly cost and saves tens of thousands over 30 years.
• Consider a shorter term — 15-year loans cost more per month but carry lower rates and far less total interest.
• Compare insurers — home insurance and property tax vary widely by location and provider; both feed straight into your monthly figure.
• Request PMI removal — once you reach 20% equity you can ask your lender to drop PMI rather than waiting for it to fall off automatically.

Remember this is an estimate

Real quotes depend on your credit score, loan type, and lender fees, and property tax and insurance rates differ from one neighborhood to the next. Use this figure to compare homes and scenarios, then confirm the exact numbers with a lender before you commit. To check what price you can comfortably afford, try our home affordability calculator. And once you have a loan, the mortgage payoff calculator shows how extra payments can shave years off your term.