What Percent of Your Salary Is Used For Rent / Mortgage?

May 4, 2009

A general budget rule of thumb is that your rent or mortgage payment should be less than 30 percent of your income. If a homeowner spends 30 percent or more of her income on housing costs, the government and most lenders consider her to be financially burdened.

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29 Comments

Allytta 4 years 2 days

haha, i get paid 200-250 and my rent alone is 617.5. so that would be 300% or something :)

aimeeb 4 years 1 week

Just over 50%...ya happens when you take a job after a ly off and get a huge pay cut. Sigh.

ella1978 4 years 2 weeks

Now that I got my pay cut, I'm spending more than a third of each check on my mortgage and property taxes, and I bought a pretty cheap house.. ugh.

smaine07 4 years 2 weeks

12% for me! I rent an apartment though..

bellaressa 4 years 2 weeks

27% after taxes.

Modus Vivendi 4 years 2 weeks

I am right at 30 after taxes. I'm with you, beram1220. I could happily live in a tiny apartment but needing a yard for the dog makes housing a little more expensive.

4 years 2 weeks

About 40%. I live in central London - that's all I have to say about that!

supercoolnat 4 years 2 weeks

18% after taxes, with both my income and my husband's.

robinashley 4 years 2 weeks

0% - own everything.

green socks 4 years 2 weeks

50% -- That's what I get for being a grad student!

expresso14 4 years 2 weeks

About 50% since I have only a grad student salary now, but I own a house. When I lived in Calif., even with a full time job it was around 35-40%.

muchacha 4 years 2 weeks

just under 23% after taxes :)

starofsorrow 4 years 2 weeks

About 40% for me. I've been looking for a job! The lucky thing is, I live with family, so I don't have to worry so much about money matters other than not having much money most of the time.

mondaymoos 4 years 2 weeks

20% after taxes now that I have a roommate. :)

beram1220 4 years 2 weeks

42% after taxes :( but that does include my utilities because it's all lumped together. I also have a dog, which makes it hard to rent affordable places in my town. AND i live in beautiful Santa Barbara :)

ayanaphil 4 years 2 weeks

29.4% after taxes after I sign this lease on Saturday

Spectra 4 years 2 weeks

Hmm...I had never really thought about it before, but now that I calculate it out, it works out to be around 15%. I can't imagine spending more than 35% of our income on the mortgage payment...that'd be tough.