Buying a house. It’s a huge life milestone and comes with a lot of emotions. (Excitement? Check. Slight panic? Also check!) But don’t worry. I want to show you how our home affordability calculator can help you figure out how much you should spend on a house.

I want you to feel confident about how much house you can afford before you hit the ground running and start shopping. And our How Much House Can I Afford? calculator can do just that. All you have to do is enter your monthly income into our home-buying calculator to instantly get a home price that fits your budget.

See how much house you can afford with our free mortgage calculator!

Now, this calculator is going to give you a pretty close number for how much house you can afford, but you’ll need to factor in mortgage values specific to the market you’re looking to buy in before you make a final decision. A RamseyTrusted real estate pro can help you do just that.

To figure out how much mortgage you can afford with your income, housing lenders use different guidelines—but most lenders dish out mortgages that are way more than people can afford . . . and keep them in debt for decades longer than they have to be!

I want you to buy a home that’s a blessing, not a burden. And the only way to do that is to understand your home-buying budget and stick to it!

To figure out how much house you can afford, all you need to do is crunch a few numbers. If math isn’t your thing, hang in there. I’ll walk you through it step by step. (I’ve never lost a patient!)

And for you married folks, make sure you and your spouse look at the results together. You need to be on the same page when it comes to your budget and what’s realistic for your money situation. After all, shopping for your “home sweet home” will feel very unifying and exciting once you both have a shared vision.

To calculate how much home you can afford, simply follow these five steps.

• Figure out 25% of your take-home pay.
• Use our mortgage calculator to determine your home budget.
• Don’t forget to factor in closing costs.
• Consider homeownership costs.
• Save a bigger down payment to make your home more affordable.

Step 1: Add Up Your Income

Step 2: List Your Household

Step 3: Calculate Homeownership Costs Expenses

Step 4: Give Your Budget Room to Grow

Step 5: Make Adjustments

Building your own home. For plenty of folks, that’s a great idea. After all, home is where most of life’s biggest memories take place—who wouldn’t want to live in a brand-new house built just for them?

Of course, new things always come with a higher price tag, which means building isn’t for everyone. So how much does it cost to build a house these days? And will you be able to afford it?

What’s the Average Cost to Build a House?

The average cost to build a house is just a little over $485,000.¹ That estimate is based on a nearly 2,600-square-foot, single-family house, and the data comes from a 2020 study by the National Association of Home Builders.

Now, the cost for you to build a house will depend on factors like size, location, labor, materials and current real estate trends. That makes it difficult to nail down a perfectly accurate, one-size-fits-all answer. Let’s take a closer look at what costs might look like for you based on some of those factors.