PITI Calculator

The payment number that actually matters

When a mortgage calculator shows you a tidy monthly figure, it's usually only telling you half the story — the principal and interest. The payment that genuinely leaves your account each month, and the one underwriters use to decide how much house you can afford, is PITI: Principal, Interest, Taxes, and Insurance. On a typical home, property taxes and insurance can tack on hundreds of dollars, turning a "$2,000 mortgage" into a $2,600 reality. Skipping them is how buyers end up house-poor.

Here's how the pieces fit. Principal and interest come from your loan amount, rate, and term — that's the part that pays off the house. Property taxes are set by your local government as a percentage of your home's assessed value and vary wildly by region, from under 0.5% in some states to over 2% in others. Homeowners insurance protects the structure and is required by every lender. If you put down less than 20%, PMI joins the party until you build equity, and many communities add monthly HOA dues on top. Lenders collect taxes and insurance in an escrow account and pay those bills on your behalf, which is why they're folded into your monthly payment rather than billed separately.

Seeing the full breakdown changes how you shop. Two homes at the same price can have very different PITI if one sits in a high-tax county or a flood zone with steep insurance. The colorful breakdown below splits your payment into its four parts so you can spot what's really driving the cost — and lenders generally want your total PITI to stay under about 28% of your gross monthly income.