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Mortgage · monthly payment
Not just principal and interest — property tax, insurance and PMI are part of the payment too. See the full number, and how much interest you'll pay over the life of the loan.
What's in the payment
Balance over time
| Year | Principal | Interest | Balance |
|---|
Principal & interest only — taxes, insurance and PMI aren't amortized.
The number a lender quotes you and the number that actually leaves your bank account each month are rarely the same thing. A real mortgage payment is built from several pieces stacked together — often shortened to PITI, plus a couple of extras:
The big headline number at the top of the results is all of these combined. The “what’s in the payment” bar breaks it into its colored slices so you can see exactly where each dollar goes.
You can get a realistic estimate in under a minute:
As you type, the calculator updates the monthly payment, the loan amount, the total interest, the total of all payments, and a payoff date. Open the amortization schedule to see a year-by-year table of principal, interest, and remaining balance, plus a chart of your balance falling over time.
Say you’re buying a $400,000 home with 20% down ($80,000), borrowing $320,000 at 6.5% over 30 years, with $4,800 a year in property tax and $1,800 in insurance. Principal and interest land around $2,023 a month. Add $400 of tax and $150 of insurance and your full payment is roughly $2,573 a month — there’s no PMI because you put 20% down. The eye-opener is lifetime interest: over 360 payments you’d pay about $408,000 in interest alone, more than the price of the house. Drop to a 15-year term and the monthly P&I jumps, but total interest falls by well over half. That trade-off is the whole game.
These estimates are for planning only and aren’t financial advice. Rates, taxes, and insurance costs change, so confirm the live figures with your lender before you commit.
The full “PITI” plus extras: principal and interest on the loan, your property tax and homeowners insurance (paid into escrow), PMI if your down payment is under 20%, and any HOA dues. Most calculators show only principal and interest — which is why their number always feels too low when the real bill arrives.
Private mortgage insurance is typically required when you put down less than 20%. It protects the lender, not you, and is added to your monthly payment until you reach about 20% equity, at which point you can usually request its removal. Put down 20% or more and there’s no PMI.
On a 30-year loan, interest compounds over hundreds of payments, so you can easily pay nearly as much in interest as the home’s price. Shortening the term (15 or 20 years) or making extra payments cuts that dramatically — see our early payoff calculator to model it.
Twenty percent is the figure that lets you skip PMI and shrinks both your loan and your monthly payment, but it isn’t a hard requirement — many loans allow far less down. A smaller down payment keeps more cash in your pocket up front but adds PMI and more interest over time, so weigh the trade-off against your savings and emergency fund. Use the down-payment field above to see how different amounts change your payment.
The interest rate is the cost of borrowing the money, and it’s what this calculator uses to figure your monthly principal and interest. The APR is broader — it folds in certain lender fees and points, so it’s usually a little higher and is the better number for comparing one loan offer against another. When you shop, compare APRs side by side rather than just the headline rate.
The rate is set to a current 30-year ballpark so the calculator shows a realistic number out of the box, but mortgage rates move daily and your actual rate depends on your credit, down payment, and loan type. Treat the default as a starting point and replace it with a real quote once you have one. The monthly payment and total interest update instantly when you change it.
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