About the Debt-to-Income Calculator
Your debt-to-income ratio, or DTI, compares the money you owe each month with the money you earn before tax. Lenders use it to judge whether you can take on a new loan. Enter your gross monthly income and your monthly payments for housing, car loans, student loans, credit card minimums and other debts. The calculator shows your total ratio, your housing ratio, what is left of your income and a plain-language reading. The bands are common rules of thumb; each lender and country sets its own limits.
Updated October 2026
How to use the Debt-to-Income Calculator
- 1Enter your gross monthly income, before tax and deductions.
- 2Enter your rent or mortgage payment.
- 3Add your car, student loan, credit card minimum and other monthly debt payments.
- 4Read your DTI percentage and the explanation below it.
- 5Check how much you would need to cut to reach 36 percent, then press Copy result.
Why lenders look at DTI
A credit score shows how you handled borrowing in the past. DTI shows whether you can afford more of it today. Two people with the same score and different DTI ratios can get different decisions, because someone with little left over each month is a bigger risk for the lender.
Common reading of the ratio
- Up to 20%: low, comfortable
- 21% to 36%: generally good
- 37% to 43%: manageable, but expect more scrutiny
- 44% to 50%: high, options may narrow
- Over 50%: very high
Tips for a better ratio
Focus on payments, not balances: a loan with a large payment hurts DTI more than a larger loan with a small payment. Do not close a paid-off card just for DTI reasons since it does not appear in the ratio. When planning a mortgage, include the new housing payment in place of your current rent to see the ratio you would have after buying.
Related tools
Use the Budget Calculator to see what payment is comfortable, the Mortgage Calculator to size a home loan, the Debt Payoff Calculator and Credit Card Payoff Calculator to plan repayments, and the Salary Calculator to convert pay between yearly, monthly and hourly.
Features
- Total DTI (back-end) and housing ratio (front-end)
- Plain-language reading of your result
- Income left after debt payments
- How much monthly debt to cut to reach 36%
- Six income and debt boxes
- Currency symbol picker
- Runs in your browser
Frequently asked questions
What is a debt-to-income ratio?
It is your total monthly debt payments divided by your gross monthly income, shown as a percentage. If you earn 6,000 a month and pay 2,000 in debts, your DTI is 33.3 percent. The lower it is, the more room you have for a new loan.
What is a good DTI?
Many lenders like to see a total DTI of 36 percent or lower, and some accept up to about 43 percent for a mortgage. Below 20 percent is considered low. These are rules of thumb, not guarantees, and limits vary by lender, loan type and country.
What counts as debt in DTI?
Regular required payments: rent or mortgage, car loans, student loans, minimum credit card payments, personal loans and obligations like child support. Everyday costs such as groceries, utilities and phone bills are normally not included.
What is the difference between front-end and back-end DTI?
Front-end DTI looks only at housing costs as a share of income. Back-end DTI includes all debts. Lenders often check both. The calculator shows the housing ratio in the rows and the total ratio as the main result.
Should I use gross or net income?
Lenders use gross income, which is what you earn before tax and deductions. Use that for comparability with their rules. If you want to see your personal budget, a net-income view will give a higher percentage.
How can I lower my DTI?
Pay down balances that have high payments, avoid taking new debt before applying for a loan, or increase income. Paying off a small loan entirely removes its whole monthly payment from the ratio. The calculator shows how much to cut to reach 36 percent.