Free Down Payment Calculator

When somebody says they're saving to buy a house, one of the first numbers that comes up is the down payment. And for some reason, 20% gets repeated so often that it can start sounding like you cannot even think about buying a home until you have that much sitting in the bank.

That is not really the whole story.

The down payment is simply the portion of the purchase price you pay upfront instead of financing through the mortgage. If you're looking at a $350,000 home and putting 10% down, your down payment would be $35,000. Before other financed costs, that leaves about $315,000 to be covered by the mortgage.

Pretty simple math.

The real question is not only, "What is 10% of $350,000?" It's: how much cash do I actually need before I start shopping for this house? That's where the conversation gets more useful.

Your down payment is one major piece of the upfront cash picture, but it is not necessarily the only piece. You may also have closing costs, moving expenses, immediate repairs, inspections, prepaid expenses, and the amount of cash you personally want to keep available after the purchase.

So this calculator is designed to help you work through the whole picture instead of giving you one percentage and calling it a day.

Twenty percent matters, but it is not a universal minimum.

Depending on the mortgage program and borrower eligibility, some buyers may qualify with significantly less. FHA loans can permit down payments as low as 3.5% for eligible borrowers. Certain conventional loan options may allow low down payments for eligible borrowers. VA-backed purchase loans can offer qualifying borrowers a no-down-payment option in many situations, and USDA's eligible rural housing program can provide 100% financing for qualifying borrowers.

That does not mean everyone qualifies for the lowest down payment. And it definitely does not mean "put down as little as possible" is automatically the right answer.

It simply means the question should not begin with: "Do I have 20%?" It should begin with: "What mortgage options might apply to me, how much cash do I actually have available, and what does each down-payment scenario do to the rest of my finances?"

Let's use a $350,000 home.

At 3% down: down payment $10,500, starting loan before other financed items approximately $339,500. At 5% down: down payment $17,500, starting loan approximately $332,500. At 10% down: down payment $35,000, starting loan approximately $315,000. At 20% down: down payment $70,000, starting loan approximately $280,000.

These are mathematical examples only. Loan eligibility, mortgage-insurance requirements, rates, closing costs, and underwriting vary by loan program and borrower.

Look at the difference between 10% and 20%. That's another $35,000 in cash upfront. Yes, the 20% option produces a smaller loan balance. But now there is another question: what else could that $35,000 need to do for you?

That is why I don't want this calculator to turn 20% into some magical "good buyer" number. The right comparison is the entire financial picture.

This is probably one of the biggest things I want this calculator to make obvious.

If you have $40,000 saved, that does not automatically mean you have $40,000 available for a down payment. Closing costs are separate.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau tells buyers to account for expected closing costs when determining how much of their available cash can actually be devoted to the down payment. Closing costs can include things such as lender-related charges, appraisal costs, title-related costs, taxes, insurance, prepaid interest, and other transaction expenses. The actual amount varies. That is why this calculator lets you enter your own estimate instead of pretending everybody's closing costs equal one exact percentage.

That's a very different conversation from "10% of $350,000 is $35,000." Both answers are mathematically correct. Only one gives you the bigger picture.

This part is personal. I don't want the calculator telling every visitor that they "must" keep one exact number of months in savings. Your household is your household. But I do think it's worth asking: if I used this amount for the down payment and closing costs tomorrow, what would I have left?

Because homeownership does not stop costing money the day you get the keys. Maybe you move in and the water heater dies. Maybe you need a refrigerator. Maybe your insurance deductible comes into play. Maybe the car needs a repair the exact same month. Maybe nothing happens at all. The point is that you should at least be able to see the number before deciding.

That's why this calculator includes an optional "Cash I Want to Keep After Closing" field. It is not saying a lender requires that amount. It is saying: "This is money I personally don't want to spend buying the house."

So if your down payment is $35,000, your estimated closing costs are $10,500, and you want $15,000 left afterward, your personal savings target becomes $60,500. Now you know what you're actually working toward. Want to see what that $15,000 reserve represents in terms of your essential monthly expenses? Use the Emergency Fund Calculator.

This is where CalculateThisWay should do something more useful than just calculate the percentage.

Let's say your total down-payment goal is $35,000. You've already saved $18,000. That means you're about 51% there. Your remaining down-payment gap is $17,000. If you're saving $1,200 per month and we ignore interest for this simple example, $17,000 divided by $1,200 is about 14.2 months. So you're looking at roughly 15 monthly contributions depending on timing.

Now you have an actual timeline. And once you have a timeline, you can start testing decisions. What if you save $1,400 instead? What if the home price drops from $350,000 to $325,000? What if your goal is 10% instead of 20%? What if you receive a one-time bonus and put $3,000 toward the goal? Those scenarios are what make a calculator useful.

What If You Have the Down Payment but Not the Closing Costs Yet? Then you're not starting over. Separate the goals. Maybe you've already reached the entire $35,000 down-payment target. Now the remaining cash goal might be closing costs plus whatever reserve you want after the purchase. The result should tell you: down payment goal complete, closing-cost goal $X remaining, cash-reserve goal $X remaining. That is much more encouraging and accurate than showing one giant combined goal and making it look like you're nowhere close.

What If You Have a Lot of Cash but Don't Know the Home Price? Work backward. Suppose you have $50,000 available for the down payment after setting aside closing costs and the reserve you want to keep. If the goal is 10% down, $50,000 divided by 10% is a $500,000 home price mathematically represented by that down payment. But stop right there. That does not mean you can afford a $500,000 home. This calculator is solving the down-payment math. Affordability includes income, debts, mortgage rate, taxes, insurance, HOA costs, and other factors. Take that $500,000 scenario into the Home Affordability Calculator before treating it like your shopping budget.

What If You Know the House Price and the Cash You Have? This comes up all the time. Say home price is $500,000, total cash is $100,000, and you want to keep $15,000 available for estimated closing costs. That leaves $85,000 toward the down payment. $85,000 divided by $500,000 is 17%. So your effective down payment is 17%, not 20%. The starting mortgage balance would be about $415,000 before other financed costs. Now you can compare: what happens at 17%? How much more cash gets you to 20%? What would 10% look like? The calculator should help you see those tradeoffs without pretending it can make the decision for you.

Private mortgage insurance can apply to certain conventional mortgages when the borrower has a smaller down payment, but the actual requirements and cost depend on the loan and borrower situation. Do not turn "20%" into "you must put 20% down or you're doing something wrong." Instead, when your selected conventional down-payment scenario is below 20%, this calculator flags that mortgage insurance may be part of the financing scenario, and points you to the Mortgage Calculator where the full monthly payment can be modeled more completely.

More money down can reduce the starting loan balance. That is straightforward. What is not straightforward is whether putting another $20,000 or $40,000 into the home is the best choice for that particular person. Maybe the larger down payment meaningfully improves the mortgage. Maybe they would rather keep additional cash. Maybe they have high-interest debt they should pay off with the Debt Payoff Calculator instead. Maybe they want reserves. The calculator should show the financial difference and let you decide what deserves priority.

Reaching the down-payment goal is only one side of home buying. You can have plenty of cash upfront and still end up with a monthly payment that is uncomfortable. Once you've narrowed down the home price and down-payment scenario, use the Mortgage Calculator to estimate the payment, then run that monthly housing amount through the Budget Calculator. That lets you answer "Can I make this payment?" and then "What happens to the rest of my life after I make this payment?" Those are two very different questions.

Do not leave this page thinking only "I need $35,000." Leave knowing: my down-payment target is $35,000, my estimated closing-cost goal is $10,500, I want another $15,000 left in savings, my total personal cash target is $60,500, I already have $28,000, I have $32,500 left to save, and at my current pace that is approximately X months. And if I change the home price, down-payment percentage, savings rate, or reserve goal, I can immediately see what changes.

That is what a down-payment calculator should actually help you figure out.