What Is a Good Debt-to-Income Ratio for a Mortgage?

A good debt-to-income ratio for a mortgage is 36% or below, and most lenders draw a hard line around 43% for the loans they’ll approve. That single percentage — your total monthly debt divided by your gross monthly income — is often what decides your loan, more than your income or even your credit score. Two people earning the same salary can qualify for very different homes depending on what else they owe.

Find your number in seconds with the Home Affordability Calculator, then use the rules below to read it.

Front-end vs. back-end DTI

Lenders actually track two ratios, and you need to clear both:

• Front-end (housing) ratio — your full monthly housing payment (principal, interest, property taxes, homeowners insurance, plus any HOA dues or PMI) divided by gross monthly income.
• Back-end (total debt) ratio — that same housing payment plus every other recurring debt: car loans, student loans, minimum credit-card payments, personal loans, child support. Also divided by gross income.

The back-end ratio is the one that usually binds. Your housing payment alone might look comfortable, but stack a car payment and student loans on top and the total can push past a lender’s ceiling. Whichever ratio is tighter sets your limit.

The 28/36 rule (and the 43% backstop)

The classic guideline lenders and financial planners cite is the 28/36 rule:

• Keep your front-end ratio at or under 28%.
• Keep your back-end ratio at or under 36%.

That’s the conservative target — the zone where a payment is genuinely manageable. Many loan programs stretch further: the Qualified Mortgage standard generally allows a back-end DTI up to 43%, and some government-backed loans (FHA, VA) go higher still with compensating factors like strong credit or cash reserves.

Back-end DTI	What it signals	Typical outcome
≤ 36%	Comfortable, low risk	Best approval odds and rates
37–43%	Acceptable to most lenders	Approvable, rate may be slightly higher
44–49%	Stretched	Possible with FHA/VA + strong credit
50%+	Over most limits	Usually declined

Sitting under 36% doesn’t just get you approved — it tends to get you a better rate, because a lower ratio reads as lower risk.

How to calculate it

The formula is simple. Add up your monthly debt payments, divide by your gross (pre-tax) monthly income, and multiply by 100.

What counts as debt: the proposed housing payment, car loans, student loans (even if deferred — lenders estimate a payment), credit-card minimums, personal loans, and court-ordered payments like alimony.

What doesn’t count: utilities, groceries, insurance premiums (other than the homeowners insurance inside your payment), streaming subscriptions, and taxes. These are real expenses, but lenders leave them out — which is exactly why qualifying for a payment and affording it comfortably aren’t the same thing.

A worked example

Say you earn $8,000 a month before tax and carry these debts:

Item	Monthly amount
Proposed housing payment (PITI)	$2,000
Car loan	$450
Student loans	$300
Credit-card minimums	$150
Total monthly debt	$2,900

Now the two ratios:

Ratio	Calculation	Result
Front-end	2,000 ÷ 8,000	25%
Back-end	2,900 ÷ 8,000	36.25%

The front-end ratio is well within the 28% target. The back-end ratio sits right at the 36% line — approvable at most lenders, but with almost no room to spare. Paying off that credit card (−$150) would drop the back-end ratio to 34.4% and open up a better rate tier. Confirm what a lender would approve with the Mortgage Qualifier Calculator.

How to improve your DTI

There are only two levers — lower the top of the fraction, or raise the bottom — and the top is usually faster to move:

• Pay off a small loan entirely. Eliminating a $400 car payment frees more back-end room than a modest raise. Knocking out the loan closest to its final payment is often the quickest win.
• Pay down, don’t just pay off, revolving debt. Lenders count the minimum payment, so reducing a card balance lowers that minimum and your DTI at once.
• Don’t take on new debt before applying. Financing furniture or a car right before closing can sink an approval that was already in hand.
• Consolidate high-rate balances into a single lower payment where it genuinely reduces your monthly obligations — model it with the Mortgage Debt Consolidation Calculator.
• Increase documentable income. A raise, a second job with a track record, or stable side income (usually needing a two-year history) raises the denominator.
• Make a larger down payment. A smaller loan means a smaller housing payment, which pulls down both ratios at once. See the guide on how much house you can afford.

The bottom line

Aim to walk into a lender with a back-end DTI under 36% for the best rate and the most breathing room. You can often still qualify up to 43%, and beyond it with a government-backed loan and compensating strengths — but the higher you climb, the tighter the payment will feel once you’re living in the house.

Is 43% DTI too high to buy a home? Not necessarily — many conventional and most FHA loans approve at 43%, and FHA can go higher with strong credit or reserves. But a payment at that level leaves little margin, so borrow toward the lower end of what you qualify for.

Does DTI or credit score matter more? Both gate your approval, but they do different jobs: DTI proves you can carry the payment, while your score sets the rate you’re offered. A great score won’t rescue a DTI over the limit, and a low DTI won’t fix a thin credit file. Strengthen whichever is weaker — start by pricing your real numbers in the Home Affordability Calculator.