Free Down Payment Calculator

Your Down Payment and Monthly Payment

The results card above updates as you type. It reports three things, and only one of them needs an interest rate.

The amount, the percentage and the loan are pure arithmetic, so they appear immediately with no rate at all. That is deliberate: you can work out exactly how much to save without us putting a rate in front of you that may not match your quote.

Open View Full Breakdown for the loan-to-value ratio, the total interest and the total cost of the purchase. LTV is simply the mirror of your down payment percentage — 20% down is an 80% LTV — and it is the term most lenders use in their own paperwork.

What Is a Down Payment?

A down payment is the part of a purchase price you pay in cash up front, with the rest financed by a loan. On a $400,000 home with $80,000 down, you borrow $320,000 — the down payment never appears in the loan at all. A down payment on a house is normally quoted as a percentage of the purchase price, which is why the calculator above accepts either form.

It serves two purposes. For you, it reduces what you borrow, which lowers the payment and the total interest. For the lender, it is evidence that you have a stake in the property: a borrower with real equity is less likely to walk away, which is why lenders price larger down payments more favorably and often require mortgage insurance when the deposit is small.

Two things are commonly confused with the down payment and are worth separating:

• Earnest money is a good-faith deposit paid when your offer is accepted. It is normally credited toward your down payment at closing, not an extra cost.
• Closing costs are separate from the down payment entirely — lender fees, appraisal, title work, recording and the escrow cushion. They arrive at the same time, which is why budgeting only for the deposit leaves buyers short.

The same idea applies to vehicles, which is why a car down payment works identically: price minus deposit equals the amount financed. Only the mortgage-specific parts, such as PMI, do not carry across.

How Much Should You Put Down?

There is no universally correct figure, and anyone who gives you one without knowing your situation is guessing. What there is instead is a clear set of trade-offs, and how much down payment makes sense depends on which of them matters most to you.

The case for a larger deposit. You borrow less, so the payment and the total interest both fall. At 20% on a conventional loan you avoid mortgage insurance entirely. You start with more equity, which protects you if values dip and gives you options to refinance or sell. Lenders may also view the application more favorably.

The case for a smaller deposit. Saving to 20% can take years, during which you are paying rent and prices may move. A smaller deposit preserves cash for closing costs, moving, repairs and an emergency fund — and a home bought with nothing left in reserve is a fragile position regardless of how good the loan looks.

Use the quick-pick percentage buttons above to compare 3.5%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% on your own price in a few seconds. To work from the other direction — what price your income supports in the first place — use the home affordability calculator.

What Is PMI and When Does It Apply?

PMI stands for private mortgage insurance. It is worth being precise about what it does: it protects the lender if you stop paying. It is not homeowners insurance and it buys you no cover at all.

On a conventional loan, PMI is normally required when your down payment is below 20% of the purchase price — equivalently, when your loan-to-value is above 80%. That is the single threshold the calculator checks, and it is why the results card flips between "Likely required" and "Not required" exactly at 20%.

How PMI drops off

PMI is not permanent on a conventional loan. Two routes end it:

• You request cancellation at 20% equity. Once your balance reaches 80% of the original value you can ask in writing. Lenders may require that you are current on payments and sometimes an appraisal.
• Automatic termination at 22% equity. Under the Homeowners Protection Act, servicers generally must remove PMI automatically once the balance reaches 78% of the original value on most loans, provided payments are current.

Equity can build from paying down the balance, from rising property values, or from both. If your area has appreciated, an appraisal may get you to the threshold sooner than the amortization schedule alone would — the amortization calculator shows exactly when the balance crosses it.

Low-Down-Payment and Assistance Programs

The 20% benchmark is a guideline for avoiding PMI, not a requirement to buy. The minimum down payment a lender will accept is often far lower, and several routes exist for buyers with less saved, each with its own eligibility rules and trade-offs.

Assistance programs are generally administered by state, county or city agencies rather than nationally, so what is available depends on where you are buying. Many are restricted to first-time buyers, though that term is often defined as not having owned a home in the past three years rather than literally never.

Two reliable, non-commercial places to start:

• The Department of Housing and Urban Development lists state-by-state programs and HUD-approved housing counselors, who advise at low or no cost.
• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau explains how to compare loan options and what questions to ask a lender.

One caution worth stating plainly: a smaller deposit means a larger loan, a higher payment and usually mortgage insurance. These programs widen access, which is genuinely valuable, but they do not make the purchase cheaper overall. Run both scenarios in the calculator above before deciding.

Down Payment by Purchase Price

This table is arithmetic only: each cell is that percentage of the purchase price in the first column. Your own price is included and marked, and the table rebuilds as you change it. No interest rate, payment or total is implied anywhere in it.

The gap between the columns is what makes the decision concrete. Moving from 3.5% to 20% on the same price is often a difference of tens of thousands of dollars in cash — and years of saving — against a lower payment and no mortgage insurance. Neither column is the right answer on its own; the table simply shows you the real size of the choice.

Note that only the 20% column clears the PMI threshold on a conventional loan. The 3.5% column corresponds to the usual FHA minimum, and the 5% and 10% columns to common conventional low-down options.

How to Use This Down Payment Calculator

Five fields, and everything updates as you type:

1. Enter the purchase price of the home or vehicle. The percentage you have set is kept, so the dollar amount rescales automatically.
2. Enter the down payment either way round — type a dollar amount and the percentage updates, or type a percentage and the dollar amount updates.
3. Or use a quick-pick button for 3.5%, 5%, 10%, 15% or 20% to compare the common thresholds instantly.
4. Add an interest rate if you want the monthly payment and total interest. It is optional: the down payment, percentage, loan and PMI position all work without it.
5. Pick a loan term — short terms for a vehicle, longer for a home.

Read the down payment figure first, then the loan, then the PMI line. The PMI row tells you whether you are above or below the 20% conventional threshold and, if below, exactly how much more would reach it.

For a vehicle, enter the vehicle price and a short term; ignore the PMI line, which applies to mortgages only. The car payment calculator and auto loan calculator handle trade-in, sales tax and fees.

Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere, so run as many versions as you like.

Our Methodology

The down payment percentage is the amount divided by the purchase price; the loan is the price minus the amount; and loan-to-value is the loan divided by the price. The amount and percentage fields are kept in sync in both directions, and a down payment can never exceed the price. The monthly payment uses the standard fixed-rate formula M = P × r / (1 − (1+r)⁻ⁿ), and total interest is the sum of all payments minus the loan. Before release, the percentage round trip, the loan and LTV arithmetic, the 20% PMI threshold and every cell of the table were recomputed independently, and the payment formula was checked against a published loan value.

No rate is supplied or implied. The interest rate field ships empty and stays empty until you fill it. The down payment, percentage, loan, LTV and PMI position are all pure arithmetic and appear without one; only the payment and total interest require a rate, and they stay blank until you provide it. The table contains no rates and no payments — every cell is simply a percentage of the price.

On PMI: the 20% conventional threshold, cancellation at 20% equity on request and automatic termination at 22% reflect the Homeowners Protection Act as described in CFPB consumer guidance. Individual loans, investor rules and FHA programs vary, so treat the PMI line as an indication rather than a determination for your specific loan.

What the estimate excludes: the PMI premium itself, property taxes, homeowners insurance, HOA dues, closing costs, the escrow cushion, origination fees, sales tax and registration on a vehicle, and any lender overlay. It assumes a fixed rate for the whole term and equal payments.

Figures are rounded for display only. If you find one that looks wrong, please tell us — we check every report. See our disclaimer for the limits of these estimates.

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