{"version":"1.9","identifier":"5f1ba10e-9267-46f9-8590-4d78eaf24940","language":"en-US","title":"Home affordability: at 7.4%, a $100,000 household income buys about $309,000 of house","layout":{"columns":7,"width":1024,"margin":32,"gutter":20},"componentLayouts":{"text":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"maximumContentWidth":720,"margin":{"top":12,"bottom":12}},"photo":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"margin":{"top":20,"bottom":20}}},"componentTextStyles":{"default":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"textColor":"#171717"},"headline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue-Bold","fontSize":36,"lineHeight":42,"conditional":[{"conditions":{"maxViewportWidth":480},"fontSize":28,"lineHeight":34}]},"intro":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":20,"lineHeight":28,"textColor":"#555555"},"caption":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":19,"textColor":"#666666"},"byline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":20,"textColor":"#666666"},"body":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"paragraphSpacingAfter":14,"linkStyle":{"textColor":"#00704a"}}},"metadata":{"canonicalURL":"https://www.pointsfrog.com/news/home-affordability-100000-income-309000-house-7-4-percent","datePublished":"2026-10-18T23:55:38.044948Z","dateModified":"2026-10-19T00:07:12.531679Z","authors":["Points Frog Editorial"],"excerpt":"That's under the 28/36 rule, with $40,000 down and $500 a month of other debts. A rate one point lower would raise the budget to about $332,000, roughly 7% more house.","thumbnailURL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/5f1ba10e-9267-46f9-8590-4d78eaf24940/c1110bd00330475459a56ca5917fb896.jpg","keywords":["other"],"generatorName":"Frog News","generatorVersion":"1.0"},"components":[{"role":"title","text":"Home affordability: at 7.4%, a $100,000 household income buys about $309,000 of house","textStyle":"headline","layout":"text"},{"role":"intro","text":"That's under the 28/36 rule, with $40,000 down and $500 a month of other debts. A rate one point lower would raise the budget to about $332,000, roughly 7% more house.","textStyle":"intro","layout":"text"},{"role":"byline","text":"By Points Frog Editorial · Published October 18, 2026","textStyle":"byline","layout":"text"},{"role":"photo","URL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/5f1ba10e-9267-46f9-8590-4d78eaf24940/c1110bd00330475459a56ca5917fb896.jpg","caption":"New homes in a subdivision in rural Walton County, Georgia. · Ncsr11, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)","accessibilityCaption":"New homes in a subdivision in rural Walton County, Georgia.","layout":"photo"},{"role":"caption","text":"New homes in a subdivision in rural Walton County, Georgia. · Ncsr11, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)","textStyle":"caption","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"How much house can a household afford at today's mortgage rates? The [home affordability calculator](https://www.pointsfrog.com/home-affordability-calculator) works it out from income, debts, down payment and the rate. Then it shows how the answer moves when rates change.\n\nIts example household earns $100,000 a year, pays $500 a month on other debts and has $40,000 to put down. At 7.4%, Freddie Mac's average 30-year rate for the week of October 15, 2026, that household can afford a home of about $309,000. That price leaves room for property tax and insurance.\n\n[Try the calculator on Points Frog](https://www.pointsfrog.com/home-affordability-calculator)\n\n## How the budget is set\n\nThe calculator uses the 28/36 rule, a common lending guideline. Housing costs can take up to 28% of gross monthly income. Housing plus all other debt payments can take up to 36%. The budget is whichever limit is lower.\n\nFor the example, gross income is about $8,333 a month, and 28% of that is $2,333. The 36% limit is $3,000, less $500 of debts, or $2,500. So the 28% limit applies, and the $500 of debts does not shrink the budget at all.\n\nAt about $309,000, the $2,333 splits like this:","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"},{"role":"htmltable","html":"
Monthly costAmount
Principal and interest$1,861
Property tax$232
Home insurance$129
Mortgage insurance$112
Total$2,333
","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"Mortgage insurance appears because $40,000 is less than 20% of the price. The calculator adds it at 0.5% of the loan a year whenever the down payment is under 20%.\n\n## How rates change the answer\n\nHigher rates put more of each payment toward interest, so the same budget buys less house. For the example household, a rate one point lower, 6.4%, raises the budget to about $332,000, roughly 7% more house. A rate one point higher, 8.4%, cuts it to about $289,000.","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"},{"role":"htmltable","html":"
30-year rateHome you can afford
5%$369,000
6%$342,000
6.27% (a year ago)$335,000
7%$318,000
7.4% (October 15, 2026)$309,000
8%$296,000
9%$277,000
","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"At the record-low average of 2.65% in January 2021, the same monthly budget would have bought about $447,000. The rate later climbed to 7.79% in October 2023. On the calculator, a slider lets you try any rate from 2% to 12%, and a chart shows the price you could pay at each one.\n\nThe loan term matters too. A 15-year loan at Freddie Mac's 6.71% average lowers the budget to about $260,000, because the loan is repaid twice as fast. In exchange, it costs far less interest over its life.\n\n## A rough rule by income\n\nWith 10% down and no other debts, the calculator puts buying power at roughly 3.0 times yearly income at 7.4%. That is about $225,000 on $75,000 of income, $300,000 on $100,000 and $450,000 on $150,000. At 6%, the $100,000 household could afford about $336,000. At 5%, it could afford about $366,000. Other monthly debts lower these figures.\n\n## What the calculator leaves out\n\nClosing costs, maintenance and utilities are not included. Property tax defaults to 0.9% of the home's value a year, about the US average, and insurance to 0.5%. Both can be changed to match your area. Lenders also weigh your credit score, savings, job history and loan program. Many approve higher ratios, up to about 45% to 50% of income for some loans, but the page notes that the 28/36 rule leaves room in the budget for everything else. It also notes that nobody can reliably predict rates or home prices. A lower rate raises your budget, but prices can rise at the same time, and refinancing later is possible but comes with closing costs.\n\n## Where the figures come from\n\nThe rates are Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey averages, read from FRED. They are 7.4% for 30 years and 6.71% for 15 years in the week of October 15, 2026; 6.27% a year earlier, on October 16, 2025; the 2.65% low of January 7, 2021; and the 7.79% peak of October 26, 2023. The 0.9% property tax default matches ATTOM's national effective rate on single-family homes in 2025.\n\n## Use it on your own site\n\nThe home affordability calculator is free to embed on a blog or website with copy-and-paste code, with no ads or tracking. Here is [how to embed it](https://www.pointsfrog.com/calculators/embed).\n\nSource: [Freddie Mac via FRED](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MORTGAGE30US), weeks of October 15, 2026, October 16, 2025, October 26, 2023 and January 7, 2021; [ATTOM](https://www.attomdata.com/news/market-trends/home-sales-prices/2025-annual-tax-report), 2025 tax data. Figures are educational estimates, not financial advice.\n\n## Related reading\n\n* [Mortgage calculator](https://www.pointsfrog.com/mortgage-calculator)\n* [Am I house poor?](https://www.pointsfrog.com/house-poor-calculator)\n* [Rent vs buy calculator](https://www.pointsfrog.com/rent-vs-buy-calculator)","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"}]}