How much house can I afford on a $50,000 salary? (2024)

FAQs

How much house can I afford on a $50,000 salary? ›

If you earn $50,000 per year, you earn about $4,166.67 per month. At 28% of your income, your mortgage payment should be no more than $1,166.67 per month. Considering a 20% down payment, a 6.89% mortgage rate and a 30-year term, that's about what you can expect to pay on a $185,900 home.

You can generally afford a home for between $180,000 and $250,000 (perhaps nearly $300,000) on a $50K salary. But your specific home buying budget will depend on your credit score, debt-to-income ratio, and down payment size.

Assuming you have enough in savings to cover the down payment, closing costs and cost of regular upkeep, yes, you probably could afford a $200K home on a $50K annual salary. Using our example above, the monthly mortgage payment on a $200K home, including taxes and insurance, would be about $1,300.

An individual earning $60,000 a year may buy a home worth ranging from $180,000 to over $300,000. That's because your wage isn't the only factor that affects your house purchase budget. Your credit score, existing debts, mortgage rates, and a variety of other considerations must all be taken into account.

If you make a $50,000 gross salary, after taxes (depending on where you live) your monthly take-home pay is roughly $3,230. Based on the 10% rule, you could afford, at most, a $323 monthly car payment. If you take out a 60 month (5 year) auto loan at 8% interest, you can afford a $17,000 car.

The rule of 2.5 times your income stipulates that you shouldn't purchase a house that costs more than two and a half times your annual income. So, if you have a $50,000 annual salary, you should be able to afford a $125,000 home.

The median personal income in the U.S. is quite different, about $31,099. So if you're asking, “Is $50,000 a year a good salary?” in comparison to other Americans, the answer is yes.

On a salary of $36,000 per year, you can afford a house priced around $100,000-$110,000 with a monthly payment of just over $1,000. This assumes you have no other debts you're paying off, but also that you haven't been able to save much for a down payment.

$50,000 a year is how much an hour? If you make $50,000 a year, your hourly salary would be $24.04.

Home affordability by monthly debt payments

At a salary of $55,000 per year, adding a $500-per-month auto payment would reduce your maximum home price to just $145,000 instead of $220,000. Lenders can approve you to use up to about half your gross monthly income toward debt payments.

Can I buy a house making 52k a year? ›

For a 15 year fixed, about 4% interest, you can afford a mortgage of about $140,000. If you're going to put down 20% as a down payment (to avoid PMI), you should be looking at houses around $175,000 and expect to put down about $35,000.

Based on Bankrate's mortgage calculator, you should look for a home that costs $200,000. If you can afford a 20 percent down payment — $40,000 — your monthly principal and interest payment for that size mortgage loan will be $1,118.

On a salary of $65,000 per year, as long as you have very little debt, you can afford a house priced at around $175,000 with a monthly payment of $1,517 with no down payment. This number assumes a 6% interest rate and a standard debt-to-income (DTI) ratio of 36%.

rule of thumb for how much your car payments should be. You should aim to keep your car payments around. 10% of your gross monthly income or below. So if you make 60 K a year, you should spend no more than $500 on your car payments.

According to our research, you shouldn't spend more than 10% to 15% of your net monthly income on car payments. Your total vehicle costs, including loan payments and insurance, should total no more than 20%. You can use a car loan calculator to calculate a monthly payment within your budget.

A popular standard for budgeting rent is to follow the 30% rule, where you spend a maximum of 30% of your monthly income before taxes (your gross income) on your rent.

If you go with a 30 year mortgage, then we can calculate the price of the house you can buy. For the following calculations, we will assume a 20% down payment. With a 4% interest rate, the biggest loan you could get based on the 28% rule is $268,809, and the most house you could afford is $336,011.

On a salary of $45,000 per year, you can afford a house priced at around $120,000 with a monthly payment of $1,050 for a conventional home loan — that is, if you have no debt and can make a down payment. This number assumes a 6% interest rate.

Minimum mortgage amount you can borrow

Mortgage lenders have different minimum mortgage amounts. You'll probably have an easier time finding a small mortgage if you want to borrow at least $50,000.