Mortgage Calculator
Enter your home price, down payment, rate, and term to get your monthly payment — instantly, no signup.
Mortgage payment calculator
How this is calculated
Principal & interest use the standard fixed-rate amortization formula: it solves for the payment that pays off your loan amount (home price minus down payment) in equal monthly installments over the loan term, at a fixed interest rate. Property tax and insurance are added on top as an estimated monthly escrow amount — this tool does not include PMI, HOA dues, or closing costs (more on those below).
Worked example
Using this calculator's default numbers — a $450,000 home, $90,000 down (20%), a 6.5% rate, and a 30-year term:
| Loan amount | $360,000 |
| Monthly principal & interest | $2,275.44 |
| Tax + insurance (monthly) | $600.00 |
| Total monthly payment | $2,875.44 |
| Total interest paid over 30 years | $459,160 |
| Total cost of the loan | $819,160 |
Every payment splits between interest and principal, and that split shifts over the life of the loan — early payments are mostly interest, later ones are mostly principal. That's why extra principal payments matter more than their dollar amount suggests: putting an extra $200/month toward principal on the example above pays the loan off in about 24 years instead of 30, and saves roughly $109,000 in interest.
What isn't included
PMI (private mortgage insurance) applies if your down payment is under 20% — typically 0.5%–1.5% of the loan amount per year until you reach 20% equity. HOA dues, if the property has them, are a separate monthly fee this tool doesn't know about. Closing costs (typically 2%–5% of the home price) are a one-time expense at purchase, not part of the monthly payment. The property tax and insurance figures are also just your entered estimates — for an actual purchase, pull the real number from the county assessor and a real homeowners insurance quote rather than guessing.
Mortgage payoff calculator: what if I pay extra?
See exactly how much time and interest an extra monthly payment actually saves on a given loan.
15-year vs. 30-year: the real trade-off
On the same $360,000 loan at 6.5%, a 15-year term runs $3,135.99/month in principal & interest — about $861 more per month than the 30-year's $2,275.44 — but total interest drops from $459,160 to $204,478, a savings of roughly $254,700. (In practice, 15-year rates are often somewhat lower than 30-year rates, so the real gap is usually even bigger than a same-rate comparison shows.) The 30-year term is the more common choice because it keeps the required monthly payment lower and more flexible; the 15-year term is worth it if the higher payment is comfortably affordable and the goal is minimizing total interest paid.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I put down?
20% avoids PMI and lowers your loan amount, but many buyers put down less — conventional loans often allow as little as 3%–5%, and FHA loans as little as 3.5%. A smaller down payment means a bigger loan, a bigger monthly payment, and PMI until you hit 20% equity — run both numbers through the calculator above to see the actual dollar difference for your situation.
Will paying extra toward principal actually help?
Yes, and it compounds — see the worked example above: an extra $200/month on a $360,000, 30-year, 6.5% loan cuts about 6 years off the payoff and saves around $109,000 in interest. There's usually no penalty for this (confirm with your lender), and even small, occasional extra payments add up because they reduce the balance interest is calculated on for every payment after that.
How does the mortgage payoff calculator work?
It simulates your loan month by month rather than using a fixed formula, since adding a flat extra dollar amount each month changes how many payments it actually takes to reach zero. Each month it applies your standard payment plus the extra amount, splits it into interest and principal at that month's remaining balance, and keeps going until the balance hits zero — then compares that payoff time and total interest against the standard (no-extra-payment) schedule.
Why do my property tax and insurance change the monthly payment shown here?
Most lenders collect a monthly slice of your annual property tax and homeowners insurance bill in an escrow account, then pay those bills on your behalf when they're due — so they show up as part of your monthly payment even though they're not part of the loan itself. This calculator adds them the same way so the total matches what you'd actually see on a monthly statement.
Does my credit score affect the numbers here?
Indirectly — your credit score affects the interest rate a lender will actually offer you, which is the "Interest rate" field above. This tool doesn't estimate a rate for you; enter the rate you've been quoted, or a current market rate, to get an accurate payment.