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Budgeting calculator

Rent Affordability Calculator UK

Enter your take-home pay to see the rent you can afford as a sensible range, what's left for everything else, and the income letting agents want. Switch modes to work out the income a given rent needs.

Free, no signupGBP, UK figuresAffordability and referencing rules
What do you want to work out?
After tax and National Insurance, what actually lands in your account each month.
£
Not sure of your after-tax figure? Work it out with the take-home pay calculator.
Car finance, loan and credit card repayments, childcare. Leave at 0 if none.
£
A common guide is to keep rent between 30% and 40% of your take-home pay. Below 30% is comfortable, above 40% starts to squeeze everything else.
Rent you can afford
£750 to £1,000
a month, which is 30% to 40% of your £2,500 take-home pay.
Comfortable £750Ceiling £1,000
Comfortable (30%)
£750
£1,750 left for everything else
Ceiling (40%)
£1,000
£1,500 left for everything else
At £750 a month, most letting agents would reference you on gross annual income of about £22,500, which is 30 times the monthly rent.
Based on 30% to 40% of take-home pay, before council tax and bills. A guide, not financial advice.
Simon Chadwick
Simon Chadwick
Founder, Orbit Money
Method: 30% to 40% of take-home pay, plus the 30x monthly rent letting-referencing standardUpdated: 16 July 2026Sources: MoneyHelper, Shelter, GOV.UK: How to Rent

How much rent can you afford?

The quickest test is a share of your take-home pay, the money that lands in your account each month after tax and National Insurance. Keep rent between 30% and 40% of that figure. Thirty per cent is the comfortable end, where rent leaves room for bills, food and saving. Forty per cent is the ceiling, the point most people treat as the sensible maximum before rent starts to crowd out everything else.

On take-home pay of £2,500 a month, that puts your rent between £750 and £1,000. The calculator above shows both ends of the range, along with how much you would have left for everything else at each. If you carry other monthly commitments, car finance or loan and credit card repayments, enter them too and the tool trims the ceiling to keep your total fixed costs inside the same band.

The 30% and 40% rules explained

The 30% rule is the long-standing rule of thumb for a comfortable rent. Spend around a third of your income on rent and the rest stretches to cover the cost of living with something left to put by. The 40% rule is the upper marker: once rent passes 40% of take-home pay, budgets get tight and a surprise bill is harder to absorb. Neither is a legal limit, they are guides that keep rent in proportion to what you bring in.

One thing to watch: rent is only part of the cost of a home. Council tax, energy, water, broadband and contents insurance all sit on top. The 30% to 40% band is rent alone, so leave headroom for those bills when you decide where in the range to land.

How letting agents check what you can afford

Landlords and letting agents run referencing before they hand over the keys. This confirms your identity, checks your credit history and verifies your income against the rent. The common income threshold is gross annual pay of at least 30 times the monthly rent, which is the same as 2.5 times the annual rent. So a £1,000 a month rent usually needs proven gross income of around £30,000 a year.

The income mode in the calculator works this out for any rent. If your income falls short of the multiple, an agent may accept a guarantor on a higher threshold, rent paid several months in advance, or a larger deposit. Self-employed applicants are typically asked for tax returns or accounts covering the same income level.

How to use this calculator

  1. Leave it on "How much rent can I afford" to work out a rent range from your income.
  2. Enter your take-home pay, the after-tax figure, not your gross salary.
  3. Add any other monthly commitments so the ceiling reflects money already spoken for.
  4. Read your rent range and what's left over at the comfortable and ceiling ends.
  5. Switch to "Income needed for a rent" to see the salary a given rent needs for referencing.

Frequently asked questions

How much rent can I afford?
A widely used guide is to keep rent between 30% and 40% of your take-home pay. Thirty per cent is comfortable and leaves plenty for bills, food and saving. Forty per cent is the upper end that many tenants and landlords treat as the sensible maximum. On take-home pay of £2,500 a month, that puts your rent somewhere between £750 and £1,000. Below the range is easier on your budget, above it and rent starts to squeeze everything else. Enter your own take-home figure in the calculator above to see your range.
How to calculate rent affordability?
Start with your take-home pay, the amount that lands in your account each month after tax and National Insurance. Multiply it by 0.30 for a comfortable rent and by 0.40 for your ceiling. So £2,000 take-home gives a comfortable rent of £600 and a ceiling of £800. If you have other monthly commitments such as car finance or loan repayments, subtract those first, because they come out of the same pay. Letting agents work it the other way round, checking your gross annual income is at least 30 times the monthly rent.
Is 40% of salary on rent too much?
Forty per cent of your take-home pay is usually treated as the top of the affordable range rather than a comfortable spot to sit. It can work if your other costs are low and you have little or no debt, but it leaves less room for bills, savings and the unexpected. Most guidance suggests aiming nearer 30% where you can, and treating 40% as a ceiling you would rather not push past. Remember the 40% figure is rent alone, before council tax, energy and water.
What rent can I afford on a 30k salary?
A £30,000 gross salary works out to roughly £2,000 to £2,050 take-home a month in the 2026 to 2027 tax year, once income tax and National Insurance come out. On the 30% to 40% guide, that supports rent of about £600 to £800 a month. Toward the lower end you keep a healthy buffer for bills and saving, toward the top you are stretching. Letting agents referencing the 30 times rule would sign off a rent up to around £1,000 a month on a £30,000 income, but that is the referencing ceiling, not what is comfortable.
How much do you need to earn to pay £2,000 rent?
On the letting-referencing standard of 30 times the monthly rent, a £2,000 a month rent needs gross annual income of about £60,000, the same as 2.5 times the annual rent. On the 40% of take-home rule you would want at least £2,000 a month landing in your account after tax to carry it, which points to a similar gross salary. Use the income mode in the calculator above to check the figure for any rent.
How do landlords and letting agents check affordability?
Most use referencing, where an agency confirms your identity, checks your credit history and verifies your income against the rent. The common income threshold is gross annual pay of at least 30 times the monthly rent, or 2.5 times the annual rent. If you fall short they may ask for a guarantor who meets a higher multiple, several months' rent up front, or a larger deposit. Self-employed applicants are usually asked for tax returns or accounts to prove the same income level.

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Simon Chadwick
About the author
Simon Chadwick
Founder of Orbit Money

Simon is the founder of Orbit Money, a tool that helps people track subscriptions and recurring spend. He builds Orbit's free money calculators and writes about personal finance for UK and Australian readers.

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This tool is a guide, not financial advice.