Debt-to-Income Calculator
Your DTI is what your required monthly payments add up to, measured against what you earn before taxes. Lenders weigh it heavily, and it’s a useful read on your own position whether or not you’re borrowing.
This calculator gives you the ratio lenders look at, plus a separate figure for what housing alone is taking up — based on your situation as it stands today. If you’re thinking about a mortgage, there’s an optional section that shows what a lender would calculate instead — since the ratio they use includes the payment you’re applying for rather than what you pay for housing now.
Use your gross annual income — before taxes. Lenders work from gross, so a figure based on your take-home pay won’t line up with theirs.
Before taxes. Include salary, plus any other income you’d want a lender to count.
Enter your required monthly payments. Leave out utilities, groceries, insurance premiums, childcare, and subscriptions — DTI counts debt and housing only, which is a real limitation of the measure but it’s how lenders calculate it.
Include property taxes, homeowners insurance, and HOA fees if you pay them
Enter the required payment, even if it’s currently deferred
The required minimum, not what you actually pay
Child support, alimony, or any other loan obligation
Principal, interest, property taxes, and insurance
Where the leverage usually is
Because DTI counts monthly payments rather than balances, clearing a small debt outright can move your ratio more than paying a large sum toward a big one.
Take someone with a car loan that has $2,200 left and a $350 monthly payment, alongside a credit card with $20,000 on it and a $250 minimum. On a $5,000 monthly income, paying $2,000 toward the card drops the minimum by about $25 — roughly half a point of DTI. Clearing the car loan instead removes the whole $350 payment, which takes about seven points off. Nearly the same money, fourteen times the effect.
Which means the most efficient debts to target are the ones you can eliminate completely, smallest payoff amount first — not necessarily the largest balances.
One caveat worth holding onto: this is about your ratio, not about what your debt costs. A high-interest credit card may be the more expensive debt even if paying it down barely moves this number. If your goal is getting out of debt rather than hitting a ratio, the interest rate matters more than the payment size. We work through both in how to lower your debt-to-income ratio.
How this works
It’s built on payments, not balances. DTI counts what you’re required to pay each month, not what you owe in total. A $30,000 auto loan with a $400 payment counts as $400. A $30,000 credit card balance with a $250 minimum counts as $250 — which is part of why the measure can understate how much trouble a large card balance is.
Housing counts, even if you rent. Rent isn’t a debt, but DTI includes it anyway, because the measure is really about fixed monthly obligations rather than debt specifically.
What’s left out. Utilities, groceries, insurance premiums, childcare, subscriptions, and anything else that flexes month to month. That’s a genuine limitation — those are real claims on your income — but it’s how lenders calculate it, so it’s how we calculate it.
FAQ
Should I use gross or net income?
Gross — your income before taxes. That’s the figure lenders work from, so a calculation based on take-home pay will come out lower than the number they’d arrive at.
What should I enter for my housing payment?
Your total monthly housing cost — rent, or mortgage principal and interest plus property taxes, homeowners insurance, and HOA fees if you pay them separately. Housing counts toward DTI even though rent isn’t technically a debt.
Which debt should I pay off first to lower my DTI?
Generally the one you can clear completely for the least money, rather than the one with the largest balance. Because DTI counts monthly payments, eliminating a whole payment moves your ratio far more than reducing a big balance does. Say you have $2,200 available: put it toward a $20,000 credit card and the minimum drops by around $25. Use it to clear a $2,200 car loan instead and that entire $350 payment disappears — well over ten times the effect on your ratio, from the same money. Worth noting that’s a different question from which debt costs you the most — for that, interest rate matters more.
Why is the number here different from what my lender told me?
Lenders verify income and obligations, and they may count some things differently than you’ve entered them. Deferred student loans, co-signed debt, and debts with only a few payments remaining all get specific treatment in mortgage underwriting. This is an estimate based on what you typed, not a determination.
Why doesn’t this ask about my credit score?
Because DTI is calculated from income and obligations only — your score isn’t part of the formula. It matters separately, though. For conventional mortgages, a stronger credit score can raise the ratio a lender will accept.
About this calculator. This tool is provided as a general educational resource and is not an approval or denial of credit. Results are estimates based only on the figures you enter. When you apply for credit, a lender will calculate your ratio using verified income and obligations, and their result may differ from what you see here.
The information on this site is provided as a general resource and does not constitute legal, tax, credit management, or financial advice. While Beyond Finance strives to ensure accuracy, this content, including any third-party sources referenced, should not be the basis for any financial decision. For guidance specific to your situation, we recommend consulting a qualified professional.
