Enter a home price, down payment and interest rate to see the exact monthly payment ā principal, interest, property tax and insurance (PITI). Results update instantly as you type.
The monthly principal & interest payment uses the standard amortization formula: M = PĀ·r / (1 ā (1+r)^ān), where P is the loan amount, r the monthly rate (APR Ć· 12) and n the number of months. Property tax and insurance are added as flat monthly costs, which is how escrow works at most US lenders.
| Home price ($) | Monthly principal & interest | Total monthly payment |
|---|---|---|
| 200,000 | $758.48 | $1,058.48 |
| 300,000 | $1,390.55 | $1,790.55 |
| 400,000 | $2,022.62 | $2,522.62 |
| 600,000 | $3,286.75 | $3,986.75 |
| 800,000 | $4,550.89 | $5,450.89 |
Every number above is computed by the same in-browser engine as the calculator ā nothing is hardcoded.
The payment formula M = PĀ·r / (1 ā (1+r)^ān) produces one fixed monthly amount for the entire loan. Each month, the lender first takes interest equal to the remaining balance times the monthly rate r, which is the annual rate divided by 12, and everything left in your payment attacks principal. Because the balance falls every month, the interest portion shrinks and the principal portion grows. On a $320,000 loan at 6.5 percent over 30 years, the payment is $2,023, and the very first payment sends $1,733 to interest and only $290 to principal. By year 15 the split is roughly even, and by the final year almost the whole payment is principal. That front-loaded interest curve is why refinancing after several years restarts the clock, and why extra principal payments early in the loan save far more interest than the same dollars added in year 25.
Three levers dominate. First, loan amount: at 6.5 percent for 30 years every extra $10,000 borrowed adds about $63 to the monthly payment. Second, rate: moving from 6.0 to 7.0 percent on a $320,000 loan raises the payment from $1,919 to $2,129, a $210 monthly swing, and adds roughly $76,000 of interest over the term. Third, term length: a 15-year loan raises the monthly figure but slashes total interest by more than half. Taxes and insurance move the total too, often silently. A property tax reassessment from 1.2 to 1.5 percent on a $400,000 home adds $100 per month through escrow without touching your loan, and homeowners insurance premiums have climbed sharply in states with severe weather, so revisit the tax and insurance fields once a year rather than trusting the number you entered at closing.
The most frequent error is quoting principal and interest as the whole payment. Most lenders escrow property tax and insurance, so the real outflow is PITI, plus HOA dues and PMI when the down payment is under 20 percent. PMI on conventional loans typically costs 0.2 to 2 percent of the loan per year and stays until you reach 78 to 80 percent loan-to-value. A second mistake is using a teaser rate that never locks, or ignoring lender fees entirely. Third, buyers budget for the first payment instead of the escrow-adjusted one; lenders recalculate escrow annually and the payment can jump when taxes rise. Finally, many borrowers forget that property tax is based on the purchase price after a sale, not the seller old assessment, which can add hundreds per month in fast-appreciating or high-tax states such as New Jersey and Illinois.
As of mid-2026 the 30-year fixed average hovers around 6.3ā6.7%. Every 0.5% you shave off saves tens of thousands in interest over 30 years ā compare at least 3 lenders.
20% avoids private mortgage insurance (PMI), but FHA loans allow 3.5% and conventional loans 3%. Use the calculator with a smaller down payment to see how the payment changes.
No ā add your PMI/HOA to the insurance field to include them in the total monthly payment.
The note rate is what your interest actually accrues at and drives the monthly payment in this calculator. APR adds lender fees such as origination charges and discount points, spread over the loan term, so it is always equal to or higher than the note rate. On a $320,000 loan, a 0.5 point costs $1,600 and typically lifts APR by about 0.05 to 0.08 percent. Compare lenders on APR, but model payments with the note rate.
Paying half the monthly amount every two weeks results in 26 half-payments per year, which equals 13 full payments instead of 12. On a $320,000 30-year loan at 6.5 percent, that single extra payment per year shortens the term by roughly four years and cuts about $50,000 of interest. Some lenders charge a setup fee for official biweekly plans; you can replicate the effect for free by adding one twelfth of a payment each month.
On a $320,000 loan at 6.5 percent, the 30-year payment is about $2,023 per month with $408,142 of total interest. The 15-year version costs $2,788 per month but pays only about $181,758 in interest, a saving of roughly $226,000. The 15-year makes sense when the higher payment stays under about 25 percent of take-home pay; otherwise the 30-year with voluntary extra principal payments gives nearly the same flexibility at lower risk.