Starts at 7.28%, the national average on a 30-year fixed (Freddie Mac, Oct 1, 2026). Type a lender's quote over it.
Anything you pay on top of principal & interest, applied straight to the balance. Tell your servicer to apply it to principal.
Starts at 0.89% of the home price — the national average effective rate (2024 American Community Survey) — and follows the price until you enter your own bill. Rates range from about 0.3% to over 2% by state, so your county's bill is the real number.
Starts at the measured US average for a home at this price — $1,930 a year at $400,000 (2024 American Community Survey) — and follows the price until you enter your own premium. It climbs far more slowly than the price does, because you insure the house, not the land. Your own declarations page is the real number.
Not part of the payment — it sets what the house costs to keep up. A new build costs far less to maintain than a 1950s one; no lender counts either.
Your numbers save automatically on this device. The link opens this calculator with these exact numbers filled in, so you can bookmark a scenario or send it to someone. Printing gives you a clean sheet of just your numbers and the answer, so open the schedule first if you want it on there — whichever view you leave showing is what prints.
Your monthly payment
$2,647.81
$2,189.48 loan + $458.33 taxes, insurance
💡 Over 30 years you'd pay $468,213 in interest, more than the $320,000 you borrowed. A shorter term, or a little extra principal each month, cuts that dramatically. The payment above is what a lender collects. A 1980s home at $400,000 also costs roughly $333.33 a month to keep up — 1% of its value a year for the roof, furnace, water heater and the hundred smaller things — which no escrow collects and no lender counts, so owning it really runs about $2,981.15 a month.
Change one thing and see both mortgages side by side. Everything else stays exactly as you set it above.
| Figure | 30 yrYour numbers | 15 yrCompared | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly payment | $2,647.81 | $3,384.91 | +$737.10 |
| Payment + upkeep | $2,981.15 | $3,718.24 | +$737.09 |
| Principal & interest | $2,189.48 | $2,926.58 | +$737.10 |
| Down payment | $80,000 | $80,000 | same |
| Loan amount | $320,000 | $320,000 | same |
| Total interest | $468,213 | $206,784 | −$261,429 |
| Total of all payments | $788,213 | $526,784 | −$261,429 |
| Paid off in | 30 yr | 15 yr | 15 yr sooner |
Only the field you picked changes — except the property tax, which follows the home price at 0.89% a year unless you've entered your own bill, so comparing two prices compares two tax bills too, and the upkeep, which is a share of the price. Insurance, HOA and the PMI rate are identical in both columns. Total interest and total of all payments cover the loan itself, not tax, insurance, HOA, PMI or upkeep.
How each year of the mortgage splits between principal and interest, and what you still owe at the end of it. Switch to Months to step through the payments themselves.
| Year | Principal | Interest | Balance left |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,079 | $23,195 | $316,921 |
| 2 | $3,311 | $22,963 | $313,610 |
| 3 | $3,560 | $22,714 | $310,050 |
| 4 | $3,828 | $22,446 | $306,222 |
| 5 | $4,116 | $22,157 | $302,105 |
| 6 | $4,426 | $21,848 | $297,679 |
| 7 | $4,759 | $21,514 | $292,919 |
| 8 | $5,118 | $21,156 | $287,802 |
| 9 | $5,503 | $20,771 | $282,299 |
| 10 | $5,917 | $20,356 | $276,381 |
| 11 | $6,363 | $19,911 | $270,019 |
| 12 | $6,842 | $19,432 | $263,177 |
| 13 | $7,357 | $18,917 | $255,820 |
| 14 | $7,911 | $18,363 | $247,910 |
| 15 | $8,506 | $17,768 | $239,404 |
| 16 | $9,146 | $17,127 | $230,258 |
| 17 | $9,835 | $16,439 | $220,423 |
| 18 | $10,575 | $15,699 | $209,847 |
| 19 | $11,371 | $14,902 | $198,476 |
| 20 | $12,227 | $14,046 | $186,249 |
| 21 | $13,148 | $13,126 | $173,101 |
| 22 | $14,138 | $12,136 | $158,963 |
| 23 | $15,202 | $11,072 | $143,762 |
| 24 | $16,346 | $9,928 | $127,415 |
| 25 | $17,577 | $8,697 | $109,839 |
| 26 | $18,900 | $7,374 | $90,939 |
| 27 | $20,323 | $5,951 | $70,616 |
| 28 | $21,852 | $4,421 | $48,764 |
| 29 | $23,498 | $2,776 | $25,266 |
| 30 | $25,266 | $1,007 | $0 |
| Total | $320,000 | $468,213 | $0 |
Interest is charged on the balance you still owe, so early years are mostly interest and later years mostly principal. Assumes every payment is made on time and the rate never changes. It also assumes no extra principal is paid. This is the loan itself — principal and interest only. Property tax, insurance, HOA and PMI aren't part of the balance you owe, so they're not in the table.
Mortgage Calculator · Far Better Off
https://farbetteroff.com/calculators/mortgage-calculator
Open that link to get this calculator back with these exact numbers. Estimates for education only — Far Better Off is not a lender or a financial advisor, and these results are not financial advice.