US Debt-to-Income (DTI) Ratio Calculator
Calculate your front-end and back-end DTI ratio — the key metric lenders use to determine mortgage and loan eligibility.
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How to use this calculator
- 1
Enter your gross monthly income, which is the amount before tax.
- 2
Enter your full monthly housing payment (rent, or mortgage principal, interest, taxes and insurance), then car, student loan, credit card minimum and any other monthly debt payments.
- 3
Front-end DTI is the housing payment divided by gross income. Back-end DTI is all the debt payments you entered divided by gross income.
- 4
The status wording and the 36% and 43% ceilings are reference bands fixed inside this tool. A lender’s own rules for the loan you want may differ.
Frequently asked questions
How does this tool calculate the two ratios?
It sums the debt fields you fill in and divides by gross monthly income. Front-end DTI uses only the housing payment; back-end DTI uses housing plus car, student loan, credit card and other payments. Both are shown to one decimal place, and the tool also shows total monthly debt, gross income and the monthly debt that 36% and 43% of that income would allow.
What status bands does the tool use?
For the front-end ratio: up to 28% is labelled Excellent, up to 31% Good, up to 36% Acceptable, and above that High. For the back-end ratio: up to 36% is Excellent, up to 43% Good for conventional loans, up to 50% Acceptable where FHA or VA may approve, and above 50% High. A ratio exactly on a boundary falls in the better band. These are the labels written into this tool, not a statement of any lender’s current requirement.
Which housing figure should I enter?
The field is labelled PITI, so enter principal, interest, property tax and insurance if you are buying, adding any HOA dues or mortgage insurance your lender would count. If you rent, enter the rent. The tool adds nothing to the number you type and does not know what a particular lender includes.
Does it use gross or net income?
Gross. The tool divides by income before taxes and payroll deductions, so the percentages describe debt relative to headline pay and not relative to your take-home. A ratio that looks comfortable on gross income can still be a large share of what reaches your bank account.
What happens with zero, cleared or odd inputs?
If gross monthly income is zero or negative the result shows N/A and nothing else is calculated. A debt field set to 0, which is also what a cleared box becomes, counts as zero. With no debts at all, both ratios show 0.0% and are labelled Excellent. The tool does not check that the numbers are realistic, so a typo such as an extra zero flows straight into the ratios.
Does a low ratio mean I will be approved?
No. The tool only looks at debt against income. Credit history, savings, down payment, loan program, property type and the lender’s own overlays also matter and are not part of the calculation. Treat the labels as a way to compare scenarios, not as a prediction of an underwriting decision.
What does the tool leave out?
It does not read credit reports, add non-debt living costs such as utilities, groceries or childcare, count co-borrower income unless you add it into the income field, or model how a lender treats student loans in deferment or income-driven repayment. Each of those can change the ratio a lender computes.
Debt-to-income ratio: front-end, back-end and the bands used here
Two ratios from one gross income
The tool takes gross monthly income and the five debt fields you fill in. Front-end DTI divides the housing payment by income; back-end DTI divides the sum of housing, car, student loan, credit card minimums and other payments by income. If income is zero or negative the tool returns N/A. Otherwise it reports both percentages to one decimal place, labels each against its own band table, and shows the monthly debt that 36% and 43% of your income would permit. Nothing is estimated: every figure comes straight from what you typed.
Worked examples
With the defaults ($6,000 income, $1,400 housing, $400 car, $300 student loan, $100 card) total monthly debt is $2,200, giving a back-end DTI of 36.7% labelled Good for conventional loans and a front-end DTI of 23.3% labelled Excellent. Change only the income to $4,500 and the housing to $1,600, with the car at $450, no student loan and a $150 card, and total debt is still $2,200, but back-end DTI jumps to 48.9% and front-end to 35.6%, labelled Acceptable where FHA or VA may approve. A third case, $10,000 income with only $2,000 of housing, shows 20.0% on both ratios because there is no other debt.
The band table
The tool labels each ratio against separate cut-offs, shown in the table. The front-end labels stop at Acceptable for anything up to 36% and then say High, while the back-end labels run to 50%. This is why a 33% housing ratio can read Acceptable even though a 33% back-end ratio reads Excellent: the two columns are on different scales.
| Ratio range | Front-end label (housing) | Back-end label (all debts) |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 28% | Excellent | Excellent |
| Over 28% to 31% | Good | Excellent |
| Over 31% to 36% | Acceptable | Excellent |
| Over 36% to 43% | High — may affect approval | Good — conventional loans |
| Over 43% to 50% | High — may affect approval | Acceptable — FHA/VA may approve |
| Over 50% | High — may affect approval | High — qualification difficult |
Using the monthly ceilings
The last two lines turn the ratios into dollars: gross income times 0.36 and times 0.43. At $6,000 of income those are $2,160 and $2,580 a month, which you can set beside the $2,200 you actually owe. In the $4,500 example the ceilings are $1,620 and $1,935. They are reference lines inside this tool, not lender rules, and they move one-for-one with income, so a raise or a second earner changes them immediately while paying a card down only helps if the minimum payment itself falls.
What counts and what does not
Only the amounts you enter are counted, so the result is as complete as your inputs. Housing should be the full payment you expect to carry, not just principal and interest. Utilities, groceries, insurance premiums outside the mortgage, childcare and taxes are not debts and are not included, although they affect how affordable a payment feels. Income is a single figure, so add co-borrower pay yourself, and the tool does not verify that any income would be accepted by a lender.
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Results are estimates for informational purposes only and do not constitute professional financial, medical, legal, or technical advice. Read full disclaimer →