Rent Affordability Calculator: How Much Rent Can I Afford?

What you get

Max rent, two checks, your band

Inputs

Income, take-home, costs

Time

About a minute

Price

Free, no account

How the calculator works

It runs two independent checks and shows the lower result, because a rent has to pass both.

1. 01
   The 30% rule, on gross income. Monthly income before tax × 0.30 is the ceiling for rent plus utilities. Utilities you pay separately come off that ceiling, and what is left is the rent itself. This is the line housing agencies use: CMHC calls housing affordable when it costs less than 30% of before-tax household income, and US statistics call households paying more than 30% cost burdened.
2. 02
   The needs check, on take-home pay. The 50/30/20 budget keeps all needs within 50% of after-tax income. Half your take-home pay, minus utilities and your other essentials, is the most rent can be while needs still fit. When this number is the lower one, your other fixed costs are the reason, and it is the safer figure to rent by.
3. 03
   Your listing, placed in a band. Enter a specific rent and the calculator shows its share of gross income: up to 30% is within the guideline, above 30% is cost burdened, above 50% is severely cost burdened. It also shows what remains of take-home pay after rent, utilities and essentials.

How much rent can I afford on my salary?

The 30% rule on common incomes. The figure covers rent and utilities together; if you pay hydro or heat separately, take that off. Hourly rows assume 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year.

30% ceiling = income per month × 0.30, rent and utilities together. 50% line = where US housing statistics start counting a household as severely cost burdened.

A quick reverse check works too: multiply a listing’s rent plus utilities by 40 to get the yearly gross income it needs under the 30% rule. A $1,650 apartment with $150 of utilities needs about $72,000 a year.

Rent calculator for Canada

The calculator follows the Canadian definitions. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation states that housing is considered affordable when it costs less than 30% of a household’s before-tax income (CMHC, affordable housing in Canada). For renters, its shelter costs are rent plus, where they apply, electricity, fuel, water and other municipal services (CMHC core housing need methodology). That is why the calculator subtracts utilities you pay on top of rent.

Two practical points for Canadian renters:

1. 01
   Use household income if you rent together. The CMHC test is per household. Two incomes in one apartment are tested together; roommates splitting rent can each test their own share. See how to split bills with roommates.
2. 02
   Count tenant insurance and separately paid parking as essentials. They sit outside CMHC’s shelter cost list, so the 30% rule ignores them, but the needs check picks them up when you add them to other essential costs.

In the US: the cost burden lines

US housing statistics use the same 30% line with a second one at 50%. A Congressional Research Service brief defines “cost burdened” as spending more than 30% of household income on housing and “severely cost burdened” as more than 50%, with renters’ housing costs counted as rent plus utilities and fuels. By that measure 49.4% of renter households, 22.7 million, were cost burdened in 2024 (CRS, Housing Cost Burdens in 2024: In Brief, 13 May 2026). The gauge in the calculator draws both lines.

When the 30% figure is too high or too low

1. 01
   Big fixed costs elsewhere. Car payments, student loans or childcare can make 30% of gross too much. The needs check catches this; trust the lower figure.
2. 02
   Lower incomes. On a small income, 30% of gross leaves less in dollars for everything else, so the needs check is usually the binding one.
3. 03
   High-cost cities. Where rents run far above 30% of local pay, many households pay more. Going over the line can work if the needs check still passes and savings continue; the gauge shows how far over you are.
4. 04
   Gross vs take-home. 30% of gross is a bigger share of what lands in your account. On the example numbers above, $1,500 of rent and utilities is 39% of $3,800 take-home.

For the full reasoning behind the rule and its limits, read how much you should spend on rent. For the split of the whole paycheque, see budget percentages by income.

A rule-of-thumb guide for planning, not personal financial advice. Updated 1 Nov 2026.

Related: How much should I spend on rent? · The 50/30/20 rule · Budget percentages by income · How to make a budget · Finman budgets