Estimate your monthly mortgage payment, including principal, interest, taxes, and insurance.
The principal & interest portion uses the standard amortization formula based on your loan amount, interest rate, and term. Property tax, home insurance, and HOA fees are added on top as monthly averages of the annual figures you enter.
This tool gives a helpful estimate for planning purposes. Your actual lender may include other costs (like mortgage insurance) or use slightly different rounding.
Enter your home price or loan amount, down payment, interest rate, and loan term. Add your estimated annual property tax, home insurance, and HOA fees if applicable — these get converted to a monthly average and added to your principal and interest payment. The result shows your full estimated monthly payment (often called PITI: Principal, Interest, Taxes, and Insurance), which gives a more realistic picture of your total monthly housing cost than the loan payment alone.
A typical mortgage payment has several components beyond just paying back the loan. Principal is the portion that reduces your actual loan balance. Interest is the lender's charge for borrowing the money, calculated on the remaining balance. Property tax is charged by your local government and is often collected monthly by the lender and held in escrow until the annual tax bill is due. Homeowners insurance protects the property and is frequently collected the same way. If your down payment is below 20%, many lenders also require private mortgage insurance (PMI), an additional monthly cost that protects the lender, not you, until you build enough equity.
A larger down payment reduces both your loan amount and your monthly payment, since you're borrowing less to begin with. It can also help you avoid private mortgage insurance if it brings your down payment to 20% or more of the home's price, which can meaningfully lower your total monthly cost. Even a modest increase in down payment — say from 5% to 10% — reduces the loan principal enough to noticeably shrink both the monthly payment and the total interest paid over the life of the loan, since interest accrues on a smaller balance from day one.
This calculator assumes a fixed-rate mortgage, where the interest rate — and therefore the principal and interest portion of your payment — stays the same for the entire loan term. An adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) starts with a lower introductory rate for a set period (often 5, 7, or 10 years), after which the rate adjusts periodically based on market conditions, which can raise or lower your payment. Fixed-rate loans offer payment predictability, which is why they're the more common choice for buyers planning to stay in a home long-term, while ARMs can make sense for buyers who expect to sell or refinance before the adjustable period begins.
On a 30-year mortgage, it's common for total interest paid over the life of the loan to be comparable to, or even exceed, the original loan amount — a fact that often surprises first-time buyers. This happens because interest is calculated on the outstanding balance every month, and on a long-term loan the balance stays relatively high for many years before principal reduction accelerates. This is why even a small reduction in interest rate, or a shorter loan term, can save tens of thousands of dollars over the full life of a mortgage — differences that don't show up dramatically in the monthly payment but add up significantly over 15 or 30 years.
Refinancing means replacing your existing mortgage with a new one, typically to secure a lower interest rate, change the loan term, or switch from an adjustable to a fixed rate. It generally makes the most financial sense when the new rate is meaningfully lower than your current one and you plan to stay in the home long enough for the interest savings to outweigh the closing costs of refinancing, which can run into the thousands of dollars. This calculator can help estimate what a refinanced payment would look like by simply entering your remaining balance as the new loan amount along with the new rate and term you're considering.
Does this calculator include PMI (private mortgage insurance)? Not automatically — if your down payment is below 20%, add your estimated PMI cost manually to get a fully accurate monthly total, since PMI rates vary by lender and loan type.
Why is my lender's quoted payment different from this estimate? Lenders may use slightly different assumptions for taxes, insurance, or rounding, and your actual rate depends on your credit profile and the specific loan product — this calculator provides a close planning estimate, not a binding quote.
Should I choose a 15-year or 30-year mortgage? A 15-year loan has a higher monthly payment but significantly less total interest paid. A 30-year loan has a lower monthly payment, offering more monthly flexibility but higher total interest cost. The right choice depends on your budget and financial priorities.
What counts as a "good" down payment? 20% is the traditional benchmark that avoids PMI, but many loan programs allow lower down payments (sometimes as low as 3-5%) — the tradeoff is a higher monthly payment and, in most cases, added mortgage insurance.
Does this calculator work for investment properties? The same principal-and-interest math applies, though investment property loans often carry different rates and larger down payment requirements than owner-occupied homes.
What's an escrow account and why does it affect my payment? An escrow account is where lenders often collect your monthly property tax and insurance portions, holding the funds until the annual bills are due — this is part of why PITI is often higher than principal and interest alone.
Last reviewed by Mehmed on July 11, 2026.