Author Topic: What Percent of your Income do you Spend on Rent or Mortgage? (Read 27338 times)

Tyson · « **on:** June 23, 2016, 11:36:12 AM »

I saw on another thread that CNN shows that 11 million people in America spend 50% of their income on rent (or mortgage). I'm just wondering how things break down here at MMM. So what percent of your gross income do you spend on the place you live?

If you've already paid off you home, then what percent did you pay while you were paying it off?

And "paying extra" doesn't count. If you have a $1k payment and throw an extra $500 each month, calculate it based off the $1k minimum, not the $1.5k extra payoff amount.

OK, really curious to see the results!

EDIT - forgot to include my numbers. I'm at 20%.

EconDiva · « **Reply #1 on:** June 23, 2016, 11:40:37 AM »

Currently at 21.9% of gross which is the highest I have EVER paid in rent and the highest % of my gross I ever want to have paid in rent in my life.

Ideally for me it would under 20% of net.

Working on changing this.

dcheesi · « **Reply #2 on:** June 23, 2016, 11:46:43 AM »

This just tripled for me (LCOL->HCOL move), but I'm still under 20% of gross if you don't count the old house that I'm still trying to sell. Even counting both places, I'm well under 30%.

dougules · « **Reply #3 on:** June 23, 2016, 11:49:48 AM »

Here's a shout out to everybody else that is mortgage-free rent-free!

I paid off the last chunk of our mortgage as DH's birthday present in 2014.

Candace · « **Reply #4 on:** June 23, 2016, 11:50:04 AM »

9.8%. I bought my house with over 60% down in order to have a low payment compared to the niceness of the house.

RWD · « **Reply #5 on:** June 23, 2016, 11:50:35 AM »

If you had asked a couple months ago it would have been ~7% for us (renting). Now we're up to ~15% (15-year mortgage). It should go down a bit next year due to the way real estate taxes work around here. When we bought our first house in 2008 it was ~27% (30-year mortgage).

2Birds1Stone · « **Reply #6 on:** June 23, 2016, 11:52:53 AM »

Quote from: tyort1 on June 23, 2016, 11:36:12 AM

I saw on another thread that CNN shows that 11 million people in America spend 50% of their income on rent (or mortgage). I'm just wondering how things break down here at MMM. So what percent of your gross income do you spend on the place you live?

~7% of gross household income on rent which includes the following

Rent
Water
Heat
Electric
Lawn Care
Maintenance
Wifi Internet Access

ketchup · « **Reply #7 on:** June 23, 2016, 11:57:41 AM »

About 15% of gross income goes to PITI.

meg_shannon · « **Reply #8 on:** June 23, 2016, 12:08:00 PM »

We are just under 20% of gross, and feel it's way to high. However, my husband can bike to work and we're within walking distance of our child's school. Next year we have a big move to a lower COL area, but keeping the same salary. Hopefully we can get our rent to about 10%.

Roboturner · « **Reply #9 on:** June 23, 2016, 12:09:06 PM »

just under 15% here not including Airbnb, which generally pays half of the mortgage a month. 7% with it

catccc · « **Reply #10 on:** June 23, 2016, 12:13:34 PM »

Our rent is 16.8% of gross. Up from 14.3%. First rent increase since we moved in 5 years ago hit us in January 2016. I was bummed but I'm over it.

boarder42 · « **Reply #11 on:** June 23, 2016, 12:16:21 PM »

17.6% PITI

5.3% of which is TI + 1k annunally for repairs - the continuing cost we will pay once mortgage is done for a more apples to apples rent comparison.

i feel like including PI in the calc and comparing it to rent is not a reasonable comparison when looking at a mortgage vs rent.

and we live in what ALL here would consider is a McMansion.

Inaya · « **Reply #12 on:** June 23, 2016, 12:20:50 PM »

Rent, 15.5%, HCOL. Covers everything except Internet.

patchyfacialhair · « **Reply #13 on:** June 23, 2016, 12:29:08 PM »

12%

DINKs living in a 1BR apt.

Sadly this will probably go up as the wife has expensive taste for housing and we're both projecting our income to go down in a couple years (career changes). I'm forecasting an increase to about 20%.

Chanel No5 · « **Reply #14 on:** June 23, 2016, 12:30:26 PM »

Quote from: Inaya on June 23, 2016, 12:20:50 PM

Rent, 15.5%, HCOL. Covers everything except Internet.

Off topic response

Your cat has a FB page? How clever. My cat is way cool, maybe I'll make her a page and see how many friends she can attract.

Chanel No5 · « **Reply #15 on:** June 23, 2016, 12:31:09 PM »

My mortgage is 29% of income. This includes principal, interest and town taxes.

neophyte · « **Reply #16 on:** June 23, 2016, 12:33:33 PM »

I'm at 16% of gross for rent only but I lucked into finding an apartment well below average for the area and I also have roommates.

The low end of the normal price range for a studio apartment would put me at 30% of gross. My income is 1.5-2 times greater than the average household income for my zip code, so I can easily see how people spend 50% on rent. I think it's not at all uncommon in my city.

My sister (different town) pays 32% of her gross pay ($10k higher than mine) for a dark basement studio that smells of cigarettes.

mtn · « **Reply #17 on:** June 23, 2016, 12:37:23 PM »

Voted 30% of gross, but realized that didn't include my wife's income. Does not include utilities except water. HCOL area.

Eric9064 · « **Reply #18 on:** June 23, 2016, 12:41:32 PM »

I'm at 5.9% of my household's gross income.

mak1277 · « **Reply #19 on:** June 23, 2016, 12:46:46 PM »

12% of gross salary, not including bonus, on PITI.

It was 21% when we bought the house, but has been reduced due to refinancing and raises in salary.

ysette9 · « **Reply #20 on:** June 23, 2016, 12:49:05 PM »

That is an interesting calculation I hadn't done before. Based on last year's tax return we are around 12% of household gross income. Then again, we rent and are severely below market.

onlykelsey · « **Reply #21 on:** June 23, 2016, 12:52:42 PM »

I'm in Manhattan and own. I'm not sure how to count. I pay:

1,889 mortgage
~400 purchase heloc (but I vary this)
~100 property taxes (tax abatement, slowly phasing out)
~10 homeowner's insurance
~700 common charges
~150 utilities (electric, gas, internet, heat)
= 3249 (or 14% of last year's gross including large bonus, before husband's contribution)

But I had a huge 65K assessment last year that I paid partially in lump, partially via HELOC and partially via 401K loan, which I needed to pay to keep living here but which is sort of "capital" somehow. I pay another ~1600 a month towards those, which is more than I need to. So maybe 4900 (or 21% of my gross, before husband's contribution).

Market rent would be about $3000 (plus, say 10 for renter's insurance and the same 150 for utilities), so I"m just breaking even.

Inaya · « **Reply #22 on:** June 23, 2016, 12:58:52 PM »

Quote from: Chanel No5 on June 23, 2016, 12:30:26 PM

Quote from: Inaya on June 23, 2016, 12:20:50 PM
Rent, 15.5%, HCOL. Covers everything except Internet.

Off topic response

Your cat has a FB page? How clever. My cat is way cool, maybe I'll make her a page and see how many friends she can attract.

We were hoping for the next Famous Internet Cat. Isn't working out so well. You'd think there'd be more interest in a cat who goes to street festivals and rides Ferris wheels. Oh well, it's a fun hobby anyway.

To keep this slightly on topic, cat supplies and vet costs were 1.3% of my income in 2015.

onlykelsey · « **Reply #23 on:** June 23, 2016, 01:03:13 PM »

Quote from: Inaya on June 23, 2016, 12:58:52 PM

Quote from: Chanel No5 on June 23, 2016, 12:30:26 PM
Quote from: Inaya on June 23, 2016, 12:20:50 PM
Rent, 15.5%, HCOL. Covers everything except Internet.

Off topic response

Your cat has a FB page? How clever. My cat is way cool, maybe I'll make her a page and see how many friends she can attract.
We were hoping for the next Famous Internet Cat. Isn't working out so well. You'd think there'd be more interest in a cat who goes to street festivals and rides Ferris wheels. Oh well, it's a fun hobby anyway.

To keep this slightly on topic, cat supplies and vet costs were 1.3% of my income in 2015.

Oh man, my dog between his epilepsy and dog walks, I can't imagine. Money sink.

okits · « **Reply #24 on:** June 23, 2016, 01:29:29 PM »

I voted based on household income. I hope that was your intent! We are at 13%. I'm not sure how big our stash would have to be for me to feel comfortable spending the equivalent of 30% (never mind 50%!), but yeesh!! Lifestyle inflation on steroids if we were to do that!

TheStachery · « **Reply #25 on:** June 23, 2016, 01:38:46 PM »

About 12% of gross income goes to PITI. This will go down this fall when DW goes back to work.

andy85 · « **Reply #26 on:** June 23, 2016, 01:44:10 PM »

roughly 15% of gross
~50k gross salary
~600/month payment
(PITI)

noodlestache · « **Reply #27 on:** June 23, 2016, 01:56:41 PM »

We pay 8% of our combined gross for a 1BR apartment. Utilities are included, which is great, but we do have yearly rent hikes.

Edited to fix my math!

onlykelsey · « **Reply #28 on:** June 23, 2016, 02:11:05 PM »

Quote from: noodlestache on June 23, 2016, 01:56:41 PM

We pay .68% of our combined gross for a 1BR apartment. Utilities are included, which is great, but we do have yearly rent hikes.

holy crap.

noodlestache · « **Reply #29 on:** June 23, 2016, 02:14:22 PM »

Quote from: onlykelsey on June 23, 2016, 02:11:05 PM

Quote from: noodlestache on June 23, 2016, 01:56:41 PM
We pay .68% of our combined gross for a 1BR apartment. Utilities are included, which is great, but we do have yearly rent hikes.

holy crap.

Fixed

onlykelsey · « **Reply #30 on:** June 23, 2016, 02:17:04 PM »

Ah, forgot to multiply by 12? Still pretty awesome.

TheInsuranceMan · « **Reply #31 on:** June 23, 2016, 02:17:11 PM »

6.7% of gross take home pay, includes PITI

ETBen · « **Reply #32 on:** June 23, 2016, 02:18:08 PM »

19% including HOA and all the escrow items. This is still higher than I would like. It's higher than most of you would want, $-wise. But I love my house. I'm in a HCOL with a high single salary.

McBuck · « **Reply #33 on:** June 23, 2016, 02:19:38 PM »

I pay 12% of gross + hydro and internet at the moment but it will be dropping to 6% in September.

seathink · « **Reply #34 on:** June 23, 2016, 02:26:45 PM »

21.55%. In a HCOL to be close to work I shift rent heavy.

I would be interested in other percentages folks have. A couple for me are Food: 2.69%, utilities: 1.0-1.5%.

CmFtns · « **Reply #35 on:** June 23, 2016, 02:27:52 PM »

principle + interest + taxes + insurance = 7% of household gross

Shor · « **Reply #36 on:** June 23, 2016, 02:29:06 PM »

Renting, 30.7% of net take home, but it accounts for 75% of expenses!
That is with utilities rolled in to the cost..

Naturally, it looks way way better if I determine it rent / gross salary, but I'm not paying the rent in pre-tax dollars....

FLBiker · « **Reply #37 on:** June 23, 2016, 02:32:24 PM »

PITI is ~$750, gross is ~$9500, so ~8%.

desk_jockey · « **Reply #38 on:** June 23, 2016, 02:38:30 PM »

Under 10% for a few years now including 15-year mortgage, taxes and insurance. Next year it will be above 12%. Taxes are up, also paying a gap in the escrow, but also expect gross income to drop due to missing departmental bonus targets.

little_brown_dog · « **Reply #39 on:** June 23, 2016, 02:39:09 PM »

30% of net take home after taxes and all deductions for healthcare, retirement, etc.

Jack · « **Reply #40 on:** June 23, 2016, 02:47:47 PM »

PITI is about 10% of my gross income. My wife's income is relatively uncertain (due to a well-paying but temporary job of uncertain duration), but I'm estimating it'll drop to somewhere around 6-8% with hers included.

ReadySetMillionaire · « **Reply #41 on:** June 23, 2016, 02:53:50 PM »

Mortgage, PMI, Insurance, Taxes = 9.1% of gross. It will be 8.3% when we get rid of PMI (soon!).

BTH7117 · « **Reply #42 on:** June 23, 2016, 03:45:09 PM »

I was all excited to post my 20% (PITI+condo fee), but I have been humbled by so many people's badassity.

Great job, single-digiters!

HPstache · « **Reply #43 on:** June 23, 2016, 03:50:58 PM »

23.5% PITI

Gondolin · « **Reply #44 on:** June 23, 2016, 03:53:33 PM »

9.5% of gross. Renting, includes all utilities and internet.

Retire-Canada · « **Reply #45 on:** June 23, 2016, 04:16:46 PM »

11% of gross including property taxes which are part of my mortgage payment.

csprof · « **Reply #46 on:** June 23, 2016, 04:22:17 PM »

10.1% of gross household not counting unpredictable consulting income. Unfortunately, Pittsburgh has killer property taxes; just over 1/3 of that amount is taxes that won't go away with the mortgage.

canuck_24 · « **Reply #47 on:** June 23, 2016, 04:25:52 PM »

11% ish of our household gross income is spent on rent. This doesn't include utilities or insurance or anything other than straight rent to the landlord for a 3 bedroom townhouse in a northern Canadian town of 10,000 people.

stoaX · « **Reply #48 on:** June 23, 2016, 04:34:30 PM »

15% or so of my total income goes to rent in high cost SoCal. Always debating with myself whether to buy or rent, but in these parts the taxes and HOA fees on a house or condo would easily be $7k or higher per year.

jjcamembert · « **Reply #49 on:** June 23, 2016, 04:39:37 PM »

Why is it gross income? Obviously that makes it a very different number, but you pay rent/mortgage after-tax, so I'd think that's what matters.

I tried to find the CNN survey but the article I found (not sure if it's the same) didn't specify gross or take-home.

News:

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What Percent of your Gross Income do you Spend on Rent or Mortgage?

Author Topic: What Percent of your Income do you Spend on Rent or Mortgage? (Read 27338 times)

TheStachery