Calculate your true monthly home loan payment with principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and PMI — plus a full amortization schedule.
Enter your home price, down payment, interest rate, and loan term. The calculator shows your full PITI payment plus total interest over the life of the loan.
Buying a home is rarely about the sticker price. The number that actually matters is your monthly payment — the figure that hits your bank account every month for the next 15, 20, or 30 years. Get this number wrong and you could find yourself house-poor, struggling to cover groceries while a beautiful home drains your paycheck. Get it right and you'll have a comfortable, sustainable budget for decades.
This mortgage payment calculator gives you the full picture by computing all four parts of PITI — Principal, Interest, Taxes, and Insurance — plus PMI when applicable. Most online calculators show only principal and interest, which understates your real monthly cost by 20% to 35%. That gap is the difference between affording a home and being squeezed every month.
Beyond the monthly number, the calculator also shows your total interest over the loan's lifetime and a full amortization schedule so you can see exactly how each payment splits between principal and interest. Spoiler: in early years, almost all of your payment goes to interest. Understanding this changes how you think about extra payments, refinancing, and selling.
Every mortgage on Earth uses the same underlying formula to calculate monthly principal and interest:
Where:
To this base payment, lenders add monthly amounts for property taxes (annual tax ÷ 12), home insurance (annual premium ÷ 12), and — when down payment is below 20% — PMI. The sum is your total PITI.
Let's calculate a realistic mortgage scenario step by step. Suppose you're buying a $400,000 home with a 20% down payment ($80,000), 6.5% interest rate, 30-year term, 1.2% annual property tax, and $1,500 yearly home insurance.
Down payment is 20% of home price, so no PMI is required. ✓
Total monthly payment: $2,022.62 + $400 + $125 = $2,547.62
Over 30 years, you'll pay $728,144 total — meaning $408,144 in interest alone, more than the original loan.
Choosing between a 15-year and 30-year mortgage is one of the most consequential decisions you'll make. The 15-year loan has higher monthly payments but cuts total interest dramatically. Here's the same $320,000 loan at 6.5% across different terms:
| Loan Term | Monthly P&I | Total Paid | Total Interest | Interest Saved vs 30-yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 years | $2,786 | $501,549 | $181,549 | $226,595 |
| 20 years | $2,386 | $572,757 | $252,757 | $155,387 |
| 25 years | $2,160 | $648,144 | $328,144 | $80,000 |
| 30 years | $2,023 | $728,144 | $408,144 | — |
The 15-year loan costs $763 more per month but saves $226,595 in interest. For most buyers who can afford the higher payment, this is the better long-term choice. The 30-year loan makes sense when you need lower payments to qualify or to free up cash for other investments that might earn more than the interest savings.
Interest rates change daily based on bond markets, Federal Reserve policy, and your personal credit profile. Even a small rate change has a huge impact on your payment and total cost. Here's the same $320,000, 30-year loan at different rates:
| Interest Rate | Monthly P&I | Total Interest (30 yrs) |
|---|---|---|
| 5.0% | $1,718 | $298,374 |
| 5.5% | $1,817 | $334,179 |
| 6.0% | $1,919 | $370,683 |
| 6.5% | $2,023 | $408,144 |
| 7.0% | $2,129 | $446,428 |
| 7.5% | $2,237 | $485,539 |
Going from 5.0% to 7.5% adds $519 per month and $187,165 in lifetime interest — on the same house. This is why credit score matters so much: borrowers with 760+ credit typically get rates 0.5% to 1% lower than those with 620–680 scores. Spending six months improving your credit before applying can save you a fortune.
PMI is what lenders charge when you put down less than 20%. It protects the lender (not you) in case you default. PMI typically costs 0.3% to 1.5% of your loan amount per year, depending on your credit score, loan type, and down payment size.
For a $320,000 loan, PMI of 0.5% adds $133/month, while PMI of 1.0% adds $267/month. The good news: PMI is not permanent. You can request its removal once you reach 20% equity (typically by paying down the loan or through home appreciation), and lenders must automatically remove it at 22% equity.
Strategies to avoid PMI altogether: save for a 20% down payment, use an 80-10-10 piggyback loan, or look into VA/USDA loans (which have their own fees but no PMI).
Click "Show Amortization Schedule" in the calculator above to see your loan broken down month by month. Two patterns will jump out:
This is why extra principal payments early in the loan are so powerful. An extra $200 per month for the first 10 years can shave 5+ years off the loan and save $80,000+ in interest. The amortization table makes these dynamics visible.
To stay accurate and easy to use, this tool focuses on the recurring monthly cost. It does not include one-time costs like:
For a complete affordability picture including all of these, we recommend pairing this tool with our Mortgage Affordability Calculator.
The monthly principal and interest portion is calculated using the standard amortization formula: M = P × [r(1+r)n] / [(1+r)n − 1], where P is the loan amount, r is the monthly interest rate (annual rate ÷ 12), and n is the total number of monthly payments (years × 12). Property taxes, insurance, and PMI are then added to get the full PITI payment shown by this calculator.
PITI stands for Principal, Interest, Taxes, and Insurance. These are the four components most lenders combine into a single monthly payment. Principal pays down your loan, interest is the bank's fee for lending, and taxes and insurance are typically collected and held in an escrow account on your behalf. The lender then pays your tax bill and insurance premium when they come due.
Private Mortgage Insurance is generally required when your down payment is less than 20% of the home's purchase price on a conventional loan. PMI typically costs 0.3% to 1.5% of the loan amount per year and can be removed once your equity reaches 20% (or automatically at 22% by federal law). FHA loans have a similar but separately structured insurance called MIP, which has different removal rules.
A 15-year loan has higher monthly payments but saves tens of thousands in interest. A 30-year loan has lower payments but you pay much more interest over time. For our example $320,000 loan at 6.5%, the 15-year saves $226,595 in interest versus the 30-year — but costs $763 more per month. Use the calculator to run both scenarios and compare total interest before deciding.
Yes — significantly. On a $400,000 home with 1.2% property tax, you pay an extra $400 per month just in taxes. In high-tax areas like New Jersey or Texas, the tax portion can be $700–$1,000 per month and can actually be larger than the interest portion of your payment in the early years. Always include taxes when comparing homes in different states or counties.
The interest rate is what you pay on the loan principal. APR (Annual Percentage Rate) includes the interest rate plus most upfront fees (origination, points, mortgage insurance) annualized over the loan term. APR is always higher than the interest rate when there are fees, and is the better number for comparing loan offers. For example, two loans both at 6.5% interest could have very different APRs depending on fees.
Yes. Most US mortgages allow extra principal payments anytime without penalty. Even small extra payments early in the loan have a huge impact because they reduce the balance that earns interest for decades. An extra $200/month from the start of a $320,000, 30-year loan at 6.5% can shave about 6 years off the term and save over $90,000 in interest. Always confirm there's no prepayment penalty in your specific loan agreement.
The amortization formula is universal — it works for fixed-rate mortgages anywhere in the world. However, defaults like property tax rates, PMI thresholds, and insurance averages reflect US norms. Buyers outside the US can still use the tool: enter your local property tax rate (or 0 if paid separately), use your country's actual insurance cost, and ignore PMI if your loan doesn't have it. For variable-rate or interest-only loans common in some countries, this calculator will give an approximation only.
A few reasons: lenders may add small fees that change the effective rate, your specific credit score affects pricing, escrow shortages can adjust your monthly payment year-over-year, and HOA fees aren't included here. The calculator gives an accurate estimate of the underlying loan math — your actual quote should be within 5% if you used realistic inputs.