Enter your monthly income and expenses across categories like housing, food, transportation, and utilities to see your budget breakdown. The Budget Calculator shows your total expenses, remaining balance, and a visual chart of where your money goes — helping you spot opportunities to save or reallocate spending.
Monthly Balance (Income − Expenses)
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Total Monthly Income
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Total Monthly Expenses
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Savings Rate
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Expense-to-Income Ratio
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A budget is a plan for how you allocate your income toward expenses, savings, and financial goals. Creating a budget helps you understand where your money goes, avoid overspending, build savings, and work toward goals like paying off debt or buying a home. Even a simple monthly budget can significantly improve your financial wellbeing.
Enter your total monthly take-home income and your estimated spending across categories like housing, food, transportation, and utilities. The calculator adds up all your expenses, subtracts them from your income, and shows your remaining balance. A donut chart visualizes the proportion of each spending category.
A widely cited guideline is to keep housing costs — including rent or mortgage, taxes, and insurance — at or below 28–30% of your gross monthly income. Keeping housing under 30% leaves more room for other essential expenses and savings goals.
The 50/30/20 rule suggests allocating 50% of after-tax income to needs (housing, utilities, food), 30% to wants (entertainment, dining out, hobbies), and 20% to savings and debt repayment. It's a simple framework to start budgeting, though your ideal percentages may differ based on personal goals and cost of living.
Most financial experts recommend saving at least 15–20% of your monthly take-home income. This includes contributions to emergency funds, retirement accounts, and other savings goals. Even starting with 5–10% and increasing over time can make a significant long-term difference.
If your total expenses exceed your income — shown as a negative monthly balance — you'll need to reduce spending, increase income, or both. Start by identifying non-essential categories (entertainment, dining, subscriptions) where you can cut back. Prioritize essentials and debt payments, and look for opportunities to boost income through side work or negotiating a raise.
Use your net income — the amount deposited into your account after taxes and any pre-tax deductions like 401(k) contributions or health insurance premiums. This is what you actually have available to spend and save, making it the most accurate figure for personal budgeting purposes.
Review your budget at least once a month to compare planned spending against actual spending. Major life changes — a new job, moving, having a child, or taking on new debt — should trigger an immediate budget review. Regular check-ins help you stay on track and adjust your plan before small overspending becomes a larger problem.