House Poor Risk Calculator
See whether a home payment would leave you house poor: your monthly housing cost, the income share it takes, residual income after debts, and a plain verdict.
Housing share of gross income
31.33%
- Where this lands
The plain-language risk band your numbers fall into: comfortable, stretched, or house poor.
- Stretched: cost burdened by HUD's definition
- Residual income after housing and debts
Take-home pay minus the full housing cost and other debt payments: what is left for food, transportation, saving, and everything else. Negative means the budget does not close.
- $2,850.00
- Lender front-end ratio
PITI plus HOA as a percent of gross income, the ratio a lender's front-end test measures. Shown for contrast with the full housing share.
- 24.00%
- Savings cushion
How many months of your full housing cost your liquid savings would cover.
- 6.4 months
What housing really costs you monthly
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Mortgage payment (PITI) | $1,800.00 |
| HOA dues | $0.00 |
| Maintenance | $250.00 |
| Utilities | $300.00 |
| Other housing costs | $0.00 |
| Total monthly housing cost | $2,350.00 |
The four house poor checks
| Check | Guideline | Your result |
|---|---|---|
| Housing share of gross income | 30% (HUD cost burden line) | Watch |
| Lender front-end ratio (PITI plus HOA) | 28% (28/36 rule) | Pass |
| Residual income after housing and debts | Above $0 | Pass |
| Savings cushion | 3 months of housing costs | Pass |
Quick answer: With the example inputs this page loads by default, the headline result (Housing share of gross income) comes to 31.33%. See whether a home payment would leave you house poor: your monthly housing cost, the income share it takes, residual income after debts, and a plain verdict. Change any input above and every figure updates instantly in your browser.
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House poor means so much of your income goes to housing that little is left for saving and everyday life, even though the payment technically gets made. This calculator adds up what housing really costs each month (PITI plus HOA, maintenance, utilities, and other recurring costs), measures it against your income using HUD's cost burden bands, and shows the residual income your take-home pay leaves after housing and debts.
What this result means
The housing share of gross income is judged against HUD's definitions: above 30% is cost burdened and above 50% is severely cost burdened, so the verdict reads comfortable at or below 30%, stretched between 30% and 50%, and house poor territory above 50%. Residual income is the harder test: if your take-home pay minus housing and debts is at or below zero, the verdict is house poor no matter what the ratio says. The lender front-end ratio is shown for contrast, because a payment a lender approves (PITI plus HOA against the 28% guideline) can still crowd out everything else once maintenance and utilities join the stack. A savings cushion of about three months of housing costs is the common reserve guidance. Qualifying and affording are different questions, and the right margin varies by household. This is an estimate for education, not financial advice.
Assumptions
- Your full monthly housing cost adds the mortgage payment (PITI, including any PMI), HOA dues, maintenance, utilities, and other recurring housing costs you enter. The housing share of gross income is that total divided by gross monthly income, times 100.
- The share is judged against HUD's cost burden definitions, measured on gross income: paying more than 30 percent of income for housing is cost burdened, and more than 50 percent is severely cost burdened. The verdict reads comfortable at or below 30 percent, stretched between 30 and 50 percent, and house poor territory above 50 percent.
- Residual income is take-home monthly income minus the full housing cost and other monthly debt payments. It is not floored, and when it is zero or negative the verdict is house poor regardless of the ratio, because take-home pay does not cover housing plus debts.
- The lender front-end ratio is PITI plus HOA divided by gross monthly income, the housing ratio the 28/36 rule and FHA guidelines measure. Maintenance, utilities, and other housing costs are deliberately excluded from it, which is exactly why a payment can pass a lender's test and still leave you house poor.
- The savings cushion is liquid savings divided by the full monthly housing cost, in months. The check uses the common three-month reserve reference (see the emergency fund calculator for the full three-to-six-month guidance), with under one month flagged.
- Neither ratio is clamped, and both are undefined and shown as not applicable when gross income is zero. Maintenance is whatever monthly figure you enter; the roughly 1 percent of home value per year mentioned in the help text is a rule of thumb, not a sourced average, and real costs vary with the home's age, climate, and condition.
- All figures are rounded to two decimals. This is an estimate for educational purposes only, a budgeting read rather than a loan decision, and not financial, legal, or tax advice.
Key terms
Definitions for the terms this calculator uses, in our finance glossary .
What house poor means and how the verdict is computed
Being house poor means the housing payment gets made but crowds out everything else: saving, retirement, repairs, and everyday life. The calculator reads that risk from four numbers instead of one, because no single ratio captures it.
First it totals what housing really costs each month:
total housing cost = PITI payment + HOA dues + maintenance + utilities + other housing costs
Then it computes the share of income that stack takes:
housing share of gross income = total housing cost / gross monthly income x 100
The share is judged against HUD’s cost burden definitions, which are measured on gross income: paying more than 30% of income for housing is cost burdened, and more than 50% is severely cost burdened. The verdict reads comfortable at or below 30%, stretched between 30% and 50%, and house poor territory above 50%.
Residual income, the harder test
residual income = take-home monthly income - total housing cost - other monthly debt payments
Residual income is measured on take-home pay, because that is what actually pays the bills. It is not floored, and when it is zero or negative the verdict is house poor no matter what the ratio says: the budget does not close. This escalation outranks the bands.
The lender contrast and the savings cushion
lender front-end ratio = (PITI payment + HOA dues) / gross monthly income x 100
This is the housing ratio a lender’s front-end test measures, shown against the 28% half of the 28/36 rule with the FHA guideline of 31% as the watch line. Maintenance, utilities, and other housing costs are deliberately excluded from it, which is exactly how a payment can pass underwriting and still leave you house poor.
savings cushion = liquid savings / total housing cost
The cushion is expressed in months of housing cost, checked against a three-month reference (the broader three-to-six-month emergency guidance is covered by the emergency fund calculator).
Worked example
Using the defaults, a $7,500 gross monthly income, $5,800 take-home, a $1,800 PITI payment, $250 of maintenance, $300 of utilities, $600 of other debt, and $15,000 of liquid savings:
- total housing cost =
$1,800 + $0 + $250 + $300 + $0 = $2,350 - housing share of gross =
$2,350 / $7,500 x 100 = 31.33%(stretched: above HUD’s 30% line) - lender front-end =
$1,800 / $7,500 x 100 = 24.00%(passes the 28% guideline) - residual income =
$5,800 - $2,350 - $600 = $2,850 - savings cushion =
$15,000 / $2,350 = 6.38 months
The contrast is the point: a payment the lender reads as a comfortable 24% takes 31.33% of gross income once maintenance and utilities join the stack, and the verdict lands at stretched rather than comfortable.
What this includes and excludes
It includes the full recurring housing stack against both gross and take-home income, and a four-check read (share of gross, lender front-end, residual income, savings cushion). It does not model taxes itself (take-home is entered, not computed; the paycheck calculator does that), future cost growth, household size, childcare, or any other spending beyond the debts you enter, and the maintenance figure is whatever you enter (the roughly 1 percent of home value per year in the help text is a rule of thumb, not a sourced average). Ratios are undefined and shown as not applicable when gross income is zero. This is an estimate for education, not a loan decision.
Sources
- HUD, Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) background and definitions: cost burden is monthly housing costs (including utilities) exceeding 30% of monthly income; severe cost burden is monthly housing costs exceeding 50% of monthly income.
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, “What is a debt-to-income ratio?”: how lenders measure DTI and why it uses gross income.
- HUD, Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1 (FHA qualifying ratios, the 31% front-end guideline), hud.gov.
Frequently asked questions
- What does house poor mean?
- House poor describes spending so much on housing that little is left for savings, retirement, and everyday life, even while the payment technically gets made. The warning signs are a housing cost well above 30% of gross income, thin residual income after housing and debts, and little cash cushion left after closing.
- What percent of income should go to housing?
- HUD considers a household cost burdened when housing takes more than 30% of gross income, and severely cost burdened above 50%. Lenders separately apply the 28/36 rule to PITI plus HOA. Those lines are guidelines rather than laws, and the comfortable level for you depends on your other goals and obligations.
- Do the guidelines use gross or take-home income?
- The published lines, HUD's 30% cost burden threshold and the 28/36 rule, are measured on gross income before taxes. Your budget runs on take-home pay, which is why this calculator also shows residual income: take-home minus housing and debts. A ratio that passes on gross income can still leave a thin monthly margin.
- Can I be house poor even if my lender approved the payment?
- Yes. A lender's front-end ratio measures PITI plus HOA against gross income and ignores maintenance, utilities, and your savings goals. Once those join the stack, a payment that passed underwriting can take well over a third of your income. Approval means the lender expects repayment, not that the budget is comfortable.
- How much savings should I have left after buying?
- A common reference is at least three months of your full housing cost in liquid savings after the down payment and closing costs, and the broader emergency guidance is three to six months of essential expenses. New homes reliably produce surprise costs in the first years, so a cushion under one month is a real warning sign.
- What can I do if the verdict says house poor?
- The levers are the ones in the math: raise income, cut the housing cost, or reduce other debt. Practically that can mean renting out a room, refinancing if rates allow, shopping insurance, appealing a tax assessment, paying down a car or card to free monthly cash flow, or in the hardest cases selling and resetting the ratio.
Related calculators
Learn how this works
New to this topic? Our companion guide explains it in plain language: The House Poor Test: Can You Afford the Home and Still Live
By Sam Sage Last reviewed .