Mortgage Calculator - Free Online Tool

Who Uses Mortgage Calculator

Use it when: setting a budget before house hunting, comparing a 15-year and 30-year loan, checking a lender's quote, deciding whether to put 20% down to avoid PMI, or working out how fast extra payments clear the loan.

Mortgage Calculator Features

• Full monthly payment — Principal, interest, property tax, insurance, PMI and HOA - the number that actually leaves your account.
• Extra payment savings — See exactly how many years and how much interest an extra $100 or $500 a month saves.
• Amortization schedule — Year-by-year principal and interest, plus a month-by-month CSV for your spreadsheet.
• Automatic PMI removal — PMI stops in the month your balance reaches 78% of the original value, as US law requires.

How to Use Mortgage Calculator

Three steps, results update live.

1. Enter the home price — Add your down payment as dollars or a percentage, and the interest rate you were quoted.
2. Add taxes and extras — Property tax, insurance, PMI and HOA are pre-filled with typical values - adjust them to yours.
3. Read the payment — The breakdown and schedule update as you type. Copy the summary or download the schedule.

Frequently Asked Questions

What goes into a monthly mortgage payment

The payment a lender quotes first is usually principal and interest only. Principal is the part that pays down what you borrowed; interest is the lender's charge for the loan. On a fixed-rate mortgage the two always add up to the same monthly amount, but the split changes over time: early payments are mostly interest, and later ones mostly principal. That is why, a few years into a 30-year loan, the balance has fallen far less than people expect.

Most borrowers pay more than that each month. Lenders usually collect property tax and homeowners insurance through an escrow account, adding a twelfth of each yearly bill to the payment and paying the bills on your behalf. If you put down less than 20% on a conventional loan you also pay private mortgage insurance, and if the home is in a community association there are HOA dues on top. Together these can add 30% or more to the principal and interest figure, which is why this calculator shows the full payment, broken down part by part.

The breakdown also shows which part you can change. The interest rate and loan amount drive principal and interest; the down payment decides whether PMI applies; property tax depends on the home's location and assessed value; insurance depends on the home and the cover you choose.

To judge whether a payment is affordable, lenders commonly apply the 28/36 rule: the full housing payment should stay under 28% of gross monthly income, and all debt payments, including car loans, student loans and card minimums, under 36%. A household earning $120,000 a year, or $10,000 a month, would aim for a housing payment of no more than about $2,800. Treat those as ceilings rather than targets; leaving room for repairs, savings and the costs of owning a home that never appear in the payment is what keeps a mortgage comfortable.

Reading the amortization schedule

An amortization schedule lists every payment over the life of the loan and how it splits between interest and principal. Interest each month is the remaining balance multiplied by the monthly rate, and whatever is left of the fixed payment reduces the balance. Because the balance is largest at the start, so is the interest: on a $320,000 loan at 6.5%, the first payment is about $1,733 of interest and only $289 of principal.

The yearly table here adds up each year's principal and interest and shows the balance at the end of the year, which is the clearest way to see how slowly a long loan pays down at first and how quickly it finishes. Download the CSV for the full month-by-month version, including the date of each payment and the PMI charged, to use in a spreadsheet or to check against your lender's statements.

The schedule is also how you know when PMI stops. Lenders must cancel it automatically when the scheduled balance reaches 78% of the home's original value. The calculator finds that month and stops charging PMI from then on, so the total cost includes only the PMI you will actually pay.

The schedule is also the best way to compare loan terms. With the same $320,000 at 6.5%, a 30-year loan costs about $2,023 a month in principal and interest and roughly $408,000 in interest over its life. A 15-year loan costs about $2,788 a month but only around $182,000 in interest, and in practice 15-year loans are usually offered at a lower rate, which widens the gap further. Switch the term above and watch both the payment and the yearly table change.

Paying off a mortgage early

Any money you pay on top of the scheduled amount goes straight to principal. That shrinks the balance the next month's interest is calculated on, so the saving compounds for the rest of the loan. Adding even $100 or $200 a month to a 30-year mortgage typically takes several years off the term and saves tens of thousands of dollars of interest; the Extra principal field shows the exact effect for your loan, including the new payoff date.

There are a few ways to do it. You can add a fixed amount to every payment, which is what this calculator models. You can make one extra full payment a year, which is what biweekly payment plans achieve, since 26 half-payments equal 13 full ones. Or you can put lump sums such as a bonus or tax refund toward principal when they arrive. Whichever you choose, tell your servicer the extra is for principal, so it is not simply held toward the next payment.

Paying early is not always the best use of spare cash. If your rate is low, money in a retirement account with an employer match, or in a high-yield savings account, may earn more than the interest you would save, and an emergency fund should come first. Check your loan has no prepayment penalty, though most US mortgages made since 2014 do not.