How much house can I afford on an $80k salary? 2026 numbers

On an $80,000 salary, you can afford a home of roughly $226,000 with 10% down or $267,000 with 20% down, using the 28/36 rule. That assumes a 7.32% 30-year rate, 0.9% property tax, $2,400 a year in homeowners insurance and little other debt. Bigger monthly debts lower those numbers fast. Try your own figures in our home affordability calculator.

Here's how the math works, how debt changes it, and what your down payment does to the price range.

The 28/36 rule on $80,000

The 28/36 rule is a common lender guideline:

• 28% (front-end): your full housing payment should be no more than 28% of your gross monthly income.
• 36% (back-end): all monthly debt payments, including housing, should be no more than 36%.

On $80,000 a year, your gross monthly income is $6,667.

Limit	Calculation	Monthly maximum
Housing (28%)	$6,667 × 28%	$1,867
All debts (36%)	$6,667 × 36%	$2,400

Your housing budget is the lower of two numbers: $1,867, or $2,400 minus your other monthly debts.

That means debts under $533 a month don't change your result. The 28% limit is the tighter one. Once your other debts go above $533, the 36% limit takes over.

What "housing payment" includes

Lenders look at your full monthly cost, often called PITI plus PMI:

• Principal and interest on the loan
• Property taxes (we use 0.9% of the price a year, a rough US average)
• Homeowners insurance (we use $2,400 a year, or $200 a month)
• PMI if you put down less than 20% (we use 0.6% of the loan a year)
• HOA dues, if any (we assume none here)

We solved for the highest price where all of those together fit inside the limit. Because taxes and PMI rise with the price, this takes a few rounds of trial and error, which our calculator does for you in an instant.

Price ranges with $0 or $500 in monthly debts

At $0 or $500 of other monthly debts, the 28% housing cap of $1,867 is the limit in both cases. So the results are the same.

Down payment	Home price	Down payment amount	Loan	Principal + interest	Tax	Insurance	PMI	Total payment
10%	$225,763	$22,576	$203,187	$1,396	$169	$200	$102	$1,867
20%	$266,862	$53,372	$213,489	$1,467	$200	$200	$0	$1,867

Notice that 20% down raises your price by about $41,000. Part of that is the bigger down payment. Part is that you skip PMI, which frees up about $100 a month for the loan itself.

When your debts are higher

With more debt, the 36% limit kicks in and lowers your housing budget.

Other monthly debts	Housing budget	Price with 10% down	Price with 20% down
$0	$1,867	$225,763	$266,862
$500	$1,867	$225,763	$266,862
$800	$1,600	$189,641	$224,163
$1,000	$1,400	$162,549	$192,140

A $500 car payment plus a $300 student loan, $800 in total, cuts your price range by about $36,000 to $43,000. Paying down a car loan or credit card before you apply can widen your options.

Count the minimum payments that show on your credit report: car loans, student loans, credit card minimums, personal loans and child support. Utilities, phone bills and groceries don't count toward debt-to-income.

How the rate changes what you can afford

Rates move your budget more than most people expect. Here's the price you could afford with 20% down and no other debt, keeping the $1,867 payment the same:

Mortgage rate	Home price
6.32%	about $291,800
7.32%	about $266,900
8.32%	about $245,100

Each 1% change in rate moves the price by roughly $22,000 to $25,000. The 7.32% figure is the 30-year average from Freddie Mac for the week of October 22, 2026. Your own rate depends on your credit, down payment and loan type.

How $80k compares with nearby incomes

If your income is a bit higher or lower, here's how the range shifts. These use the same assumptions, with no other monthly debts.

Gross income	Housing budget (28%)	Price with 10% down	Price with 20% down
$70,000	$1,633	about $194,200	about $229,500
$80,000	$1,867	about $225,800	about $266,900
$90,000	$2,100	about $257,400	about $304,200
$100,000	$2,333	about $289,000	about $341,600

Each extra $10,000 of income adds roughly $31,600 to the price with 10% down, or about $37,400 with 20% down. For a dual-income household, lenders typically add both incomes, so two $40,000 earners land in the same range as one $80,000 earner.

Other costs to plan for

The price is only part of buying. Before you set a budget, plan for:

• Closing costs: typically 2% to 5% of the loan. On a $203,000 loan, that's about $4,000 to $10,000.
• Cash reserves: many lenders like to see a few months of payments in savings after closing.
• Maintenance: many owners set aside 1% to 2% of the home's value each year.
• Local taxes and insurance: property tax rates and premiums vary a lot by state and county. In high-tax or storm-prone areas, your budget may be noticeably lower.

Is the 28/36 rule too strict or too loose?

It's a starting point, not a ceiling. Many loan programs approve higher ratios. FHA loans, for example, often allow more, but they carry mortgage insurance premiums. The CFPB has a helpful guide to debt-to-income ratios.

It's also worth checking the payment against your take-home pay. On $80,000, a single filer in a no-income-tax state takes home about $5,426 a month before retirement and health deductions. A $1,867 payment is about 34% of that. That can feel fine for some households and tight for others.

Bottom line

On an $80,000 salary at today's rates, the 28/36 rule points to roughly $226,000 with 10% down or $267,000 with 20% down. Higher debts or rates bring that down. A bigger down payment or a lower rate brings it up.

Plug in your own income, debts and local taxes in the home affordability calculator. To work backward from a specific price, see what salary you need for a $400k house, or check a full payment breakdown in the mortgage calculator.