How much rent can I afford?

A common guideline is to keep rent at or below 30 percent of your gross monthly income. On 6,000 dollars a month that is about 1,800 dollars. It is a starting point, not a hard limit: if you have low debts and modest other spending you may afford more, and in a high-cost city you may have to spend more. This calculator applies the 30 percent rule at a target you choose and shows what is left over.

What percent of income should go to rent?

The standard answer is about 30 percent of gross income. Some budgets use the 50/30/20 framework instead, where rent is part of the needs bucket that takes up to half of take-home pay and also covers utilities, groceries, and transportation. The right number depends on your other debts, savings goals, and cost of living, so treat 30 percent as a guideline rather than a rule.

What is the 50/30/20 rule?

It is a simple budget that splits your take-home pay into three parts: 50 percent for needs (housing, utilities, groceries, transportation, insurance, minimum debt payments), 30 percent for wants (dining out, entertainment, travel), and 20 percent for savings and extra debt paydown. Rent lives in the needs bucket, so keeping rent well within that half leaves room for your other essentials.

What is the 30 percent rule for rent?

The 30 percent rule says to spend no more than 30 percent of your gross monthly income on rent. It traces back to housing policy, where paying more than 30 percent of income on housing is defined as being cost burdened. It is a rough guide that does not account for your specific debts, savings, or local rents, so use it as a baseline and adjust for your situation.

What does my result mean?

The recommended rent is a comfortable target based on your income and the percent you chose, with the 30 percent rule figure shown for reference. The 50/30/20 buckets show how rent fits within your take-home budget, and the leftover is what remains for discretionary spending after rent, debts, and saving. A negative leftover means the plan does not fit your take-home pay, so you would need a lower rent, less debt, or a smaller savings goal.

Rent Affordability Calculator

Find a comfortable rent budget from your income using the 30 percent rule and the 50/30/20 framework, adjusted for your debts and savings goal.

X f in

Recommended rent

$1,800.00

30 percent rule figure: $1,800.00
Leftover after rent, debts, and savings: $1,460.00
Needs budget (50%): $2,350.00
Wants budget (30%): $1,410.00
Savings budget (20%): $940.00
Where this lands: Within the 30 percent rule, generally a manageable rent budget

Your 50/30/20 budget on take-home pay

Category	Share	Monthly amount
Needs (rent, utilities, groceries, minimum debts)	50%	$2,350.00
Wants (dining, entertainment, travel)	30%	$1,410.00
Savings and extra debt paydown	20%	$940.00

Quick answer: With the example inputs this page loads by default, the headline result (Recommended rent) comes to $1,800.00. Find a comfortable rent budget from your income using the 30 percent rule and the 50/30/20 framework, adjusted for your debts and savings goal. Change any input above and every figure updates instantly in your browser.

Your inputs never leave your browser, and nothing is stored. See our privacy policy .

Fact-check: results on this page are verified against an independently coded reference oracle that covers all 106 calculators on this site. See how we verify .

A common guideline is to keep rent at or below 30 percent of your gross monthly income, so on 6,000 dollars a month that is about 1,800 dollars. This calculator applies the 30 percent rule at a target percent you choose, checks it against the 50/30/20 budget (50 percent needs, 30 percent wants, 20 percent savings of take-home pay), and shows what is left after rent, debts, and saving.

What this result means

Your recommended rent is the target percent of gross income, with the classic 30 percent rule shown alongside as the reference point. Under the 50/30/20 framework, rent is part of the needs bucket (about half of take-home pay), which also has to cover utilities, groceries, transportation, and minimum debt payments, so aim to keep rent well inside that half. Spending more than 30 percent of income on rent is what HUD calls cost burdened, and more than 50 percent is severely cost burdened, but in a high-cost city a rent above 30 percent can be a reasonable fit, so treat these as rules of thumb rather than hard limits. The leftover figure is the take-home pay left for wants after rent, debts, and your savings goal; a negative leftover means the plan does not fit your take-home pay yet. This is an estimate for education, not financial advice.

Assumptions

The recommended rent is your gross monthly income times the target percent you set (30 percent by default, the standard rule of thumb). The 30 percent rule figure is a fixed 30 percent of gross income, shown alongside so you can compare when you change the target.
The 50/30/20 buckets are measured on take-home (net) pay, not gross: 50 percent for needs, 30 percent for wants, and the remaining 20 percent for savings. This follows the common form of the rule, which applies the split to after-tax income. Needs and wants are rounded to the cent and savings takes the remainder, so the three buckets always add up to your take-home pay exactly.
Rent belongs to the needs bucket, which also has to cover utilities, groceries, transportation, insurance, and minimum debt payments, so your rent should sit well inside the 50 percent needs figure rather than use all of it.
The leftover is your take-home pay minus the recommended rent, minus your other monthly debt payments, minus your savings goal (take-home times the savings goal percent). It is not floored, so a negative figure means the recommended rent plus debts and savings exceeds your take-home pay.
These are rules of thumb, not limits. HUD considers a household cost burdened when housing takes more than 30 percent of income and severely cost burdened above 50 percent, but in a high-cost area spending more than 30 percent on rent can be a reasonable fit. This is an estimate for educational purposes only, not financial advice.

Key terms

Definitions for the terms this calculator uses, in our finance glossary .

How it works

This calculator turns your income into a comfortable rent budget with two common rules of thumb.

The 30 percent rule. The recommended rent is your gross monthly income times the target percent you set, which defaults to 30 percent:

recommended rent = gross monthly income times (target percent divided by 100)

The classic 30 percent figure is always shown alongside, so you can compare when you raise or lower the target. The rule uses gross (before-tax) income, matching how housing policy defines affordability.

The 50/30/20 framework. This splits your take-home (after-tax) pay into three buckets:

needs = take-home pay times 50 percent
wants = take-home pay times 30 percent
savings = take-home pay times 20 percent

Rent lives in the needs bucket, which also has to cover utilities, groceries, transportation, insurance, and minimum debt payments, so your rent should sit well inside the 50 percent figure. Each bucket is rounded to the cent, so the three add up to your take-home pay.

Leftover. To show whether the plan fits your actual paycheck, the calculator subtracts the recommended rent, your other monthly debt payments, and a savings goal from take-home pay:

leftover = take-home pay minus recommended rent minus other debts minus (take-home times savings goal percent)

The leftover is not floored. A negative figure means the recommended rent plus your debts and savings goal add up to more than your take-home pay, so you would need a lower rent, less debt, or a smaller savings goal.

Worked example

Take 6,000 dollars of gross monthly income, 4,700 dollars of take-home pay, 500 dollars of other debt payments, a 30 percent target, and a 20 percent savings goal.

Recommended rent: 6,000 times 30 percent = 1,800 dollars. The 30 percent rule figure is the same 1,800 dollars.
50/30/20 on take-home pay: needs = 4,700 times 50 percent = 2,350; wants = 1,410; savings = 940. The three add back to 4,700 dollars.
Leftover: 4,700 minus 1,800 rent minus 500 debts minus 940 savings goal = 1,460 dollars for discretionary spending.

Rent of 1,800 dollars fits inside the 2,350 dollar needs bucket, leaving 550 dollars for the other essentials, so this budget is comfortable at the 30 percent guideline.

What is included (and what is not)

The 30 percent rule uses gross income; the 50/30/20 buckets and the leftover use take-home pay. These are rules of thumb, not limits. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development considers a household cost burdened when housing takes more than 30 percent of income and severely cost burdened above 50 percent, but in high-cost areas many people reasonably spend more than 30 percent on rent. The tool does not model utilities, renters insurance, security deposits, local rent levels, or taxes beyond the take-home figure you enter. This is an estimate for education, not financial advice.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

How much rent can I afford?: A common guideline is to keep rent at or below 30 percent of your gross monthly income. On 6,000 dollars a month that is about 1,800 dollars. It is a starting point, not a hard limit: if you have low debts and modest other spending you may afford more, and in a high-cost city you may have to spend more. This calculator applies the 30 percent rule at a target you choose and shows what is left over.
What percent of income should go to rent?: The standard answer is about 30 percent of gross income. Some budgets use the 50/30/20 framework instead, where rent is part of the needs bucket that takes up to half of take-home pay and also covers utilities, groceries, and transportation. The right number depends on your other debts, savings goals, and cost of living, so treat 30 percent as a guideline rather than a rule.
What is the 50/30/20 rule?: It is a simple budget that splits your take-home pay into three parts: 50 percent for needs (housing, utilities, groceries, transportation, insurance, minimum debt payments), 30 percent for wants (dining out, entertainment, travel), and 20 percent for savings and extra debt paydown. Rent lives in the needs bucket, so keeping rent well within that half leaves room for your other essentials.
What is the 30 percent rule for rent?: The 30 percent rule says to spend no more than 30 percent of your gross monthly income on rent. It traces back to housing policy, where paying more than 30 percent of income on housing is defined as being cost burdened. It is a rough guide that does not account for your specific debts, savings, or local rents, so use it as a baseline and adjust for your situation.
What does my result mean?: The recommended rent is a comfortable target based on your income and the percent you chose, with the 30 percent rule figure shown for reference. The 50/30/20 buckets show how rent fits within your take-home budget, and the leftover is what remains for discretionary spending after rent, debts, and saving. A negative leftover means the plan does not fit your take-home pay, so you would need a lower rent, less debt, or a smaller savings goal.

Related calculators

By Sam Sage Last reviewed July 2026.