Rent affordability calculator
Enter your yearly income to see the monthly rent that passes a typical letting agent income check. Add a rent to see what share of your pay it takes and what is left each month. The sum is shown step by step under the result.
What the calculator assumes
- The income you enter is gross, meaning before tax, and is the total for everyone who will sign the tenancy. You can enter up to two earners.
- Take-home pay is worked out for the 2026/27 tax year with the standard tax code, no pension contributions and no student loan. The take-home pay calculator covers those.
- The rent you enter is the monthly rent for the whole home, before any bills.
- Figures are rounded down to the penny.
How letting agents check income
Before a tenancy starts, many letting agents pass your details to a referencing firm. One common test compares your yearly income with the rent. HomeLet, one of the larger referencing firms in the UK, says your yearly salary will usually need to be 30 times the monthly rent. That is the same as 2.5 times the yearly rent.
The calculator turns this rule around. It divides your yearly income by 30 to give the highest monthly rent that passes. If you enter a rent, it multiplies that rent by 30 to show the income the check asks for.
Agents and referencing firms do not all use the same test. Some use a different multiple, and some look at other things such as your credit record or how long you have been in your job. Where income falls short, some accept a guarantor, a person who agrees to pay the rent if you do not. Some accept several months of rent paid in advance. The rule here is a common starting point, and a given agent can apply a different one.
The ONS measure of affordability
The Office for National Statistics uses a different measure. In its private rental affordability bulletin, it treats rent as affordable if a renting household spends 30% or less of its gross income on it.
The ONS uses this measure to compare areas of the country. It does not use it to decide whether one person can rent one home. The calculator shows it beside the letting agent figure because it is a second, widely quoted benchmark. On the same income, the ONS figure is lower than the letting agent figure, so the gap between them gives a range to compare a rent against.
What the figures leave out
Both rules look only at rent and gross income. Several other costs come with renting a home:
- Bills for energy, water, broadband and a TV licence, unless the rent includes them.
- Council tax, which in most homes the tenant pays. The amount depends on the council and the band of the property.
- A deposit, usually several weeks of rent, paid at the start and held in a protection scheme until you leave. Many agents also ask for a holding deposit to reserve the home.
- Other debts, such as loan, credit card or car finance payments, which come out of the same take-home pay.
The "Left each month after rent" line shows your take-home pay minus the rent. These costs still come out of that figure.
Spotted a mistake?
Email [email protected]. Tell us what you entered and what you expected to see. Fixed errors are listed on the corrections page.