Keys & Cents
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What a home really costs, every month.

Your mortgage payment is only part of the bill. Add up property tax, insurance, PMI, HOA, upkeep and utilities in one place, and see the number you’ll actually live with.

Run my numbers What can I afford?

Sterling, the Keys & Cents owl, holding a golden house key

True Monthly Cost calculator

The home
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%
The costs nobody quotes you
%/yr
$/yr
$/mo
%/yr
%/yr
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Your true monthly cost

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The lender will quote about –. Mortgage alone: –. Per year: –.

  • Principal & interest–
  • Property tax–
  • Home insurance–
  • HOA dues–
  • PMI (mortgage insurance)–
  • Maintenance reserve–
  • Utilities–
  • All-in monthly–

Down payment – · Loan –

Estimates only. Not financial advice. Terms

Sterling says:

Plan the whole purchase with the $19 Planner →

More keys are on the way

Sterling is building new free tools for budgeting, crypto basics and online business. The home calculators stay free.

See what’s coming next

Find the real number in three moves

Can I afford it?

Turn your income and debts into a comfortable price range, not just what a bank will approve.

Rent vs buy

See year by year whether owning or renting-and-investing builds more wealth.

City cost guides

Real Census data for 25 big U.S. counties: taxes, values, rents and an all-in example.

Why the “payment” is never the payment

Listing sites and loan quotes love one tidy number. But the U.S. median owner-occupied home was worth $360,600 in 2024, and the typical owner paid $3,211 a year in property tax alone (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 1-year). Add insurance, upkeep and utilities, and the gap between “the payment” and “the cost” is often hundreds of dollars a month.

Keys & Cents exists to close that gap. Every tool here shows the all-in number, explains each line in plain English, and lets you change every assumption.

Sterling’s 3 house rules

  • Budget for the whole bird, not just the beak: use the all-in number.
  • Approved ≠ affordable. Aim for the comfortable range.
  • Set aside about 1% of the home’s value each year for repairs. Roofs don’t send calendar invites.

Local cost guides

All-in monthly examples built on real Census data. Priciest of the 25 right now: Santa Clara County. Most affordable: Wayne County.

For serious house hunters

The True Cost Home-Buying Planner

A spreadsheet that does the math for your whole purchase: closing costs, move-in budget, maintenance reserve, affordability check and a side-by-side offer comparison. Plus a plain-English PDF guide.

See what’s inside: $19

Questions people ask

What is the “true monthly cost” of a home?

It’s everything you actually pay each month to own a home: principal and interest, property tax, homeowners insurance, HOA dues, PMI if you put less than 20% down, a maintenance reserve, and utilities. The quoted mortgage payment usually covers only the first item.

How much more than the mortgage payment does owning cost?

Using our defaults on the U.S. median home value ($360,600, Census ACS 2024) with 10% down at 7.32%, principal and interest is about $2,229 a month, but the all-in cost is about $3,460: roughly $1,230 more.

How much should I budget for home maintenance?

A common rule of thumb is about 1% of the home’s value per year, more for older homes. On a $400,000 home that’s roughly $333 a month set aside.

When does PMI go away?

On a conventional loan, PMI generally must be cancelled automatically once your balance is scheduled to reach 78% of the home’s original value, and you can usually request removal at 80%. Our calculator estimates when that happens.

Is this calculator free?

Yes. All calculators are free, need no sign-up, and run entirely in your browser.