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Rent to income ratio calculator for landlords

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This works out the income your rent-to-income rule asks for, adds up the income of everyone who will sign the lease, whatever their pay frequency, and writes the rule as one sentence for your criteria sheet. It runs in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere.

It does arithmetic against the threshold you set, and nothing else. It does not assess a person, and it asks nothing about who an applicant is: no names, no ages, no household make-up, no kind of income. The decision on any application stays with your team, made on the whole file.

Your rule

Works in US or Canadian dollars: enter every figure in one currency.

$

Your number. $1,650 is the worked example in our income requirements article, not a benchmark.

$

Optional. The monthly amount a voucher or other housing assistance pays directly. When you enter it, the test runs on the tenant-paid portion only: the part the household actually pays. Testing the full rent against the tenant's income tests a payment they will never make.

Switching converts the figure below: 3× is the same rule as 33.3%.

Your policy. No US or Canadian law sets the multiple. 3× means rent is at most 33.3% of income; 2.5× is 40%.

Changes only the wording of the criteria line. Most firms use gross, because pay stubs and offer letters state it; a 3× net test is far stricter than 3× gross.

Household income

Everyone who will sign the lease, combined. Enter pay as it is stated on pay stubs or offer letters; for hourly pay, enter hourly rate × weekly hours as a weekly figure. Leave unused lines at 0. Income from any lawful source counts.

$

Example figures: $3,100 a month, and 24 hours a week at $19 an hour ($456 a week). Replace them with yours.

$
$
$

Guarantor

$

Your policy. A guarantor is tested separately, on their own income, because they pay their own housing too. 4× is the example in our article, not a benchmark. Leave 0 if you do not accept guarantors.

What your rule asks for

Income needed at your rule — a month, or — a year

Combined household income — a month

—

Rent the test runs on (rent minus any subsidy) —
Applicant 1, a month—
Applicant 2, a month—
Applicant 3, a month—
Applicant 4, a month—
Rent as a share of combined income—
Combined income as a multiple of the rent —

Your income line, ready to paste

Fill in the documents you accept, put it on your criteria sheet and with the listing, and apply it the same way to every applicant.

Source: releaser.io/tools/rent-to-income-calculator/

How this is calculated

  • Monthly income for each line = amount × pay periods a year ÷ 12. Weekly is 52 periods, every two weeks 26, twice a month 24, monthly 12, yearly 1.
  • Rent the test runs on = monthly rent − the part paid by a housing subsidy. With no subsidy, it is the rent.
  • Income needed = that rent × your multiple. A rule written as a maximum share works the same way: 40% is a multiple of 100 ÷ 40 = 2.5.
  • Ratio = rent the test runs on ÷ combined monthly income.
  • Meets the threshold you set when combined income is at least the income needed. That is all the line means.
  • Guarantor = the guarantor's own monthly income against the rent × your guarantor multiple. It is not added to the household.

Worked example, from the article: $1,650 rent at 3× needs $4,950 a month. One applicant earns $3,100 a month; the other works 24 hours a week at $19, which is $456 × 52 ÷ 12 = $1,976. Combined: $5,076, which meets the threshold. Tested one at a time, neither would.

With a voucher paying $1,100 of the same rent, the tenant-paid portion is $550, and 3× asks for $1,650 a month.

What this deliberately does not do

  • It does not look at the person. There is no field for anything about who an applicant is, and the result is a sum against your rule, not a view on anybody.
  • It does not tell you what the multiple should be. The 30% line below is a research definition, not a rule for tenancies.
  • It does not interpret the law. Rules on income requirements and on source of income vary by state, province and city, and in some places human-rights decisions have found against using a rent-to-income ratio as the sole factor. Check the rules where the unit is.

Sources

Releaser is available to property management firms in the United States and Canada. Each property becomes one shareable link: applicants answer your questions, you review who matches your criteria, and the ones you approve book a showing on your calendar.

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