How Much Rent Can I Afford?
The rent your income supports, by the 30% rule and by the test landlords use.
Good to know. Landlords often ask for a yearly income of 40 times the rent. That works out to exactly the 30% rule.
Not financial advice. Uses only the numbers and rates you enter — no live data.
How it works
In plain words
Take your gross monthly income and multiply it by the share you want to spend on rent, usually 30%. Landlords often check the other way round: your yearly income should be at least 40 times the monthly rent.
The formula
rent = monthly gross income × share landlord test: rent ≤ yearly gross income ÷ 40
Worked example
On 60,000 a year, gross monthly income is 5,000, so 30% is 1,500.00 a month in rent. The 40× test gives the same: 60,000 ÷ 40 = 1,500.
Sources
- US Department of Housing and Urban Development, housing cost burden Households paying more than 30% of income for housing are counted as cost-burdened.
Sources checked October 3, 2026. 4 automated tests check its answers on every change.
About this calculator
The 30% rule is the classic answer to how much rent you can afford: spend no more than 30% of your gross (pre-tax) income on housing. In the US it comes from housing policy, where households paying more than 30% are counted as cost-burdened.
Many landlords use a version of the same rule as an income test: your yearly income should be at least 40 times the monthly rent. Since 1 ÷ 40 of a year’s income is 30% of a month’s, the two agree. Some ask for 3 times the rent each month instead, which is about 33%.
The rule is a starting point, not a budget. On a high income, 30% can leave plenty over; on a low one, even 30% can be hard, because taxes, food and transport don’t shrink in proportion. Debts matter too: car and student loan payments come out of the same income.
If you share a place, the rent split calculator divides it fairly by room size or income. The budget calculator lays out rent next to everything else, and the rent vs buy calculator compares renting with owning over the years.
Questions people ask
How much rent can I afford on 60,000 a year?
About 1,500 a month by the 30% rule, which is also what the landlords’ 40× income test allows.
Is the 30% rule based on gross or net income?
Gross, before tax. If you work from take-home pay instead, a share of 35–40% of net income is roughly equivalent.
What is the 40 times rent rule?
Many landlords want a yearly income of at least 40 times the monthly rent. For 2,000 rent that means an income of 80,000.