Down Payment Calculator
Enter dollars or a percent to see your down payment and loan amount, then compare 3, 5, 10, and 20 percent side by side with a PMI threshold flag.
- Free, no account
- No watermark
- No usage limit
About the Down Payment Calculator
Most down payment calculators answer one narrow question. You type a home price and a percent, they hand back a single dollar figure, and if you want to see what 5 percent looks like next to 20 percent you get to run the whole thing again, once per option you want to compare. This one lines the common choices up in a single view. Enter a home price and you see 3, 3.5, 5, 10, 15, and 20 percent side by side, each with its down payment, its loan amount, and a flag telling you whether it lands you above or below the 20 percent mark where private mortgage insurance kicks in.
That PMI flag is the part the free tools bury in a sentence at the bottom, if they mention it at all. For most buyers it is the whole question. Twenty percent down is the number that lets a conventional lender skip PMI, and sitting at 18 percent instead of 20 costs real money every single month. So we made the threshold impossible to miss. Every row is marked, and the main result tells you how much more cash would get you over the line.
The basic versions also force you to think in percent. Plenty of people know the cash they have, not the percentage. You saved $60,000, so what percent is that on a $425,000 house, and does it clear PMI? Flip the toggle to Dollars, type your number, and the percent falls out, and it works the other way just as well.
Everything runs in your browser. The price and the cash you type never leave your device, there is no account, and there is no cap on how many times you run it. Change a number and the whole thing updates instantly.
How to use
- Enter the home price. Use what you actually expect to pay, before the down payment.
- Pick how you want to enter the down payment. Leave it on Percent to type a percentage, or switch to Dollars to type the cash you have. The other figure is worked out for you either way.
- Read your result. You get the down payment in dollars, the loan amount, the down payment percent, the loan-to-value ratio, and a PMI flag for your exact plan.
- Scan the comparison table. It shows the common down payments on your home price with a PMI status on each. Tap any row to load that percentage back into the calculator.
- Copy the shareable link when you want to save the setup or send it to someone. It reopens with your exact numbers already filled in.
Reading the comparison table
The table is the quickest way to see what an extra chunk of savings buys you. On a $400,000 home, 5 percent down is $20,000 and leaves a $380,000 loan. Bump to 10 percent and the down payment is $40,000 against a $360,000 loan. Go all the way to 20 percent and you are at $80,000 down, a $320,000 loan, and no PMI. Same house, four very different cash requirements, and you see them all without touching the inputs.
If your own plan is not one of the standard tiers, say 12 percent, the table adds a row for it marked "your plan" and drops it into the right spot, so you can see where you sit relative to the tiers just above and below. The 3.5 percent row carries an FHA tag, since that is the standard minimum on an FHA loan.
The 20 percent line, and why the flag matters
Twenty percent is just a threshold with a specific payoff. Put down less than 20 percent on a conventional loan and the lender almost always requires private mortgage insurance, a monthly charge that protects the lender rather than you and adds nothing to your equity. Once you reach 20 percent, that requirement drops away.
PMI is not permanent, even if you start below 20 percent, and most calculators never mention it. On a conventional loan you can usually request cancellation once your loan-to-value drops to 80 percent of the original value, and by law it auto-cancels at 78 percent on the original schedule. So a smaller down payment does not lock you into PMI for the life of the loan, it just means paying it until the balance comes down enough. The flag here shows where you stand today, and the loan-to-value figure is the exact number those cancellation rules are written around.
If you land under the line, the result also tells you the gap. Say your $70,000 gets you to 17.5 percent on a $400,000 home. The tool shows that another $10,000 would put you at 20 percent and drop PMI entirely. Sometimes that gap is smaller than people expect, and seeing it in dollars makes the choice concrete.
Dollars or percent, enter what you know
People come at this from both ends. A first-time buyer has a savings number in mind and wants to know what percent it buys. A repeat buyer rolling equity from a sale thinks in percentages. The toggle handles both. Enter $85,000 on a $500,000 home and it reads back 17 percent, under the line. Go the other way and type 20 percent, and it shows the $100,000 you would need.
What the loan amount here does not cover
The loan amount this tool produces is the mortgage principal, the price minus your down payment. It is not your monthly payment, and it is not the total cash you need on closing day. Two things sit outside it on purpose.
Closing costs are the largest piece. On top of the down payment, buyers usually pay around 2 to 5 percent of the loan for things like origination, appraisal, title insurance, and prepaid taxes. Those vary too much by location and lender to fold in cleanly, so they stay a separate line you estimate with your lender. Plan to bring more than the down payment to the table.
The loan amount also leaves out property taxes, homeowners insurance, and PMI itself, all of which land in your monthly payment. If you want the monthly number on the loan figure here, run it through a mortgage or loan payment calculator. This tool answers the clean first question, how much down and how much borrowed.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the calculator flag PMI at 20 percent?
Because 20 percent down is the point where a conventional lender stops requiring private mortgage insurance. Below it, PMI rides along as a monthly cost on your payment. At or above it, that cost is gone. The flag marks every scenario in the table so you can spot which ones avoid the charge without doing the math yourself.
Can PMI be removed later if I put down less than 20 percent?
It hangs on your loan type. Conventional PMI can be cancelled once you build enough equity in the home. FHA mortgage insurance is stickier, though. Put down under 10 percent and it usually runs for the life of the loan, so the common exit is refinancing into a conventional loan later on. VA loans skip monthly mortgage insurance altogether. A low down payment does not mean paying insurance forever, but how you shed it depends on the loan you take.
What is the lowest down payment I can make?
It depends on the loan. Conventional loans can go as low as 3 percent for qualified buyers. FHA loans commonly ask 3.5 percent. VA loans for eligible veterans and USDA loans in some rural areas can allow zero down. The comparison table covers the 3, 3.5, 5, 10, 15, and 20 percent tiers so you can weigh the common ones directly against each other.
How do I enter my down payment if I only know the cash I have?
Switch the toggle to Dollars and type your savings. The calculator converts it to a percentage against the home price and tells you whether it clears the PMI line. No need to work out the percentage first. Flip back to Percent whenever you want and it converts the other way.
Does a bigger down payment lower my interest rate?
Often it does. Lenders read more money down as lower risk, and that can show up as a better rate on top of a smaller loan and no PMI. The trade is cash out of your pocket now against a lower monthly cost later. Comparing the tiers here shows the loan-size half of that trade in plain dollars.
Is the down payment the same as the cash I need at closing?
No. The down payment is only part of the cash due at signing. A lot of the rest is negotiable, though. Sellers will often cover some closing costs as a concession, and lenders offer credits in exchange for a slightly higher rate. Your earnest money deposit counts too, since it gets applied at closing rather than paid on top. Ask for a Loan Estimate early and it lays out every line, so you know the real number to save for.
Does anything I type get uploaded?
No. The math runs entirely in your browser. The home price and the amount you enter never leave your device, and nothing is stored anywhere. Run as many scenarios as you want, no account, no limit.