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Front-End Debt Ratio Calculator

Enter your monthly housing cost and gross monthly income to get the front-end ratio.

How it is calculated

The tool divides one monthly figure by another and shows the result as a percentage: ratio = housing ÷ income × 100. housing is your total monthly housing payment (mortgage principal and interest, property tax, insurance, and any association fee your lender counts) and income is your gross monthly income, meaning before tax and deductions. Both must be in the same currency and the same period, so convert annual figures to monthly first. The result is rounded to two decimals. A housing cost of 0 gives 0.00%, while an income of zero or less, or a negative housing cost, returns no result because the division would be meaningless. Which costs count and what limit a lender accepts vary by country and by loan programme, so treat the figure as an estimate.

Worked example

Suppose the total monthly housing payment is 1850 and gross monthly income is 6500. Divide 1850 by 6500 to get 0.284615. Multiply by 100 to get 28.4615, which the tool rounds to two decimals: 28.46%. In other words, a little over a quarter of gross income would go to housing. If the same 1850 payment were set against an income of 65000 by mistake, the tool would show 2.85%, a reminder that the two inputs must use the same period.

Try this example →

Common mistakes

  • Using net (take-home) pay instead of gross income; the ratio is defined on gross income, so net pay makes the ratio look higher than a lender would compute.
  • Entering only the loan principal and interest and forgetting property tax, insurance and association fees that are part of the housing payment.
  • Mixing periods, for example an annual salary with a monthly mortgage payment, which gives a ratio far too low.
  • Typing the ratio as a share of income already multiplied by 100 elsewhere; the tool returns a percentage, so do not multiply again.
  • Treating the front-end figure as the whole picture; it ignores car loans, cards and other debts that the back-end ratio includes.

Sources

About this calculator

The front-end debt-to-income ratio (also called the housing ratio) measures only housing costs — principal, interest, taxes and insurance (PITI) — against income: monthly housing cost ÷ gross monthly income. It's distinct from the back-end ratio, which adds in all other debt payments (car loans, credit cards, student loans).

Mortgage lenders typically look for a front-end ratio at or below 28%, using it alongside the back-end ratio (often capped around 36–43%) as a core underwriting check. Borrowers use it to gauge how much home they can realistically afford before applying.

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Comments (1)

  • Editorial team

    The tool gives the ratio, but you can run it backwards for planning. At the commonly cited 28 percent guideline, gross monthly income of 6,500 supports a housing payment of about 1,820, since 6,500 times 0.28 is 1,820. That guideline comes from US lending practice, and lenders in other countries may measure affordability differently. Which ratio limit does your lender quote?

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