USDA Mortgage Calculator
See your real USDA loan payment — the 1% upfront guarantee fee, the 0.35% annual fee, and a full PITI breakdown — plus a quick check on whether your household income fits USDA’s 115% area median income rule.
Reviewed for accuracy: August 2026 · Guarantee fee data from USDA Rural Development · Income limits methodology from USDA’s published AMI guidance
Your Loan Details
Most USDA borrowers put $0 down. Leave this at zero unless you’re choosing to put money down anyway.
Taxes, Insurance & HOA
Monthly USDA Payment
Quick Household Income Eligibility Check
USDA loans cap total household income at 115% of your county’s area median income (AMI). Since AMI varies block by block in some areas, plug in your county’s published figure for the most accurate read.
Don’t know your county’s AMI? Look it up on the USDA Income Eligibility tool before relying on this estimate.
USDA Guarantee Fee vs. FHA MIP vs. Conventional PMI
USDA’s fee structure lands squarely between FHA and conventional in most scenarios, but the real story is in how each one behaves over time, not just at closing.
| Loan Type | Typical Min. Down | Upfront Fee | Ongoing Fee | Ever Cancels? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USDA Loan | 0% | 1.00% guarantee fee | 0.35% annual, monthly | No, life of loan |
| FHA Loan | 3.5% | 1.75% UFMIP | 0.50%–0.55% annual MIP | Only with 10%+ down (11 yrs) |
| Conventional (PMI) | 5%–20% | None | 0.46%–1.5% annual PMI | Yes, at 78–80% LTV |
If your income and property are both USDA-eligible, the combination of $0 down and the lowest upfront fee of the three often makes USDA the cheapest path into a home. Compare your exact numbers against FHA using our FHA Mortgage Calculator.
What Actually Determines USDA Eligibility
Every USDA question I get eventually comes down to two separate gates, and people usually only know about one of them. The first gate is the property: it has to sit inside a USDA-designated eligible area. The word “rural” in the program’s name does a lot of unhelpful work here, because the actual eligible footprint covers roughly 97% of the country’s land area, including a surprising number of suburban towns just outside major metro centers, not only the farmland you’d picture. The second gate is the household: your total income, counting every adult living in the home whether or not they’re on the loan, has to fall at or under 115% of your county’s area median income.
Both gates have to open for you to qualify, and that’s exactly where this calculator’s income checker earns its keep — it’s common for a buyer to clear the property eligibility test easily and then get surprised by the income side, especially in counties where the area median income is higher than they assumed. Since AMI is set per county and adjusted for household size, the same income can qualify a family of four in one county and miss the cutoff by a few thousand dollars in the next county over.
Why the annual fee never goes away
This is the detail that trips up buyers coming from a conventional-loan mindset. Conventional PMI has a built-in expiration date, automatically at 78% loan-to-value under federal law. USDA’s annual fee doesn’t work that way. It’s baked into the loan for its entire life, recalculated each year against your shrinking balance, which is actually good news long-term (it gets cheaper every year as your balance drops) but it means “wait for it to cancel” isn’t a strategy the way it is with PMI. The only way off the annual fee entirely is refinancing into a conventional, FHA, or VA loan once you qualify.
Financing the guarantee fee versus paying it in cash
Since most USDA borrowers are already putting $0 down, rolling the 1% upfront guarantee fee into the loan balance is the default choice for a reason — it keeps the zero-down promise intact instead of requiring a surprise check at closing. The trade-off is a slightly larger loan balance and a few extra dollars of interest over the life of the loan, which the toggle above lets you see directly for your own numbers.
Frequently Asked Questions
USDA loans carry a one-time upfront guarantee fee of 1% of the loan amount, plus an annual fee of 0.35% of the remaining principal balance, billed in monthly installments for the life of the loan. Both figures are set by USDA Rural Development each federal fiscal year and have held steady at these rates recently.
No. USDA Guaranteed Loans allow 100% financing for eligible borrowers, meaning qualified buyers can finance the full purchase price with no down payment at all, which is one of the program’s signature advantages over FHA and conventional financing.
USDA loans cap total household income at 115% of the area median income (AMI) for your county and household size, counting every adult occupant’s income, not just the borrowers on the loan. Because AMI varies significantly by county, the actual dollar limit is different almost everywhere, so it’s worth checking your exact county figure on USDA’s income eligibility tool rather than relying on a national average.
The property needs to sit in a USDA-designated eligible area, but that’s a broader footprint than most people expect, covering roughly 97% of the geographic United States, including many suburban communities just outside major metro cores, not only remote farmland.
No. Unlike conventional PMI, which typically cancels once you reach 78–80% loan-to-value, the USDA annual fee stays in place for the entire life of the loan regardless of how much equity you build, unless you refinance into a different loan type entirely.
USDA doesn’t set one universal minimum credit score, but most approved lenders commonly look for a score around 640 or higher to use USDA’s automated underwriting system. Lower scores can sometimes still qualify through manual underwriting with strong compensating factors, though exact requirements vary by lender.
Yes, and it’s what most USDA borrowers do since they’re already financing 100% of the purchase price. Rolling the 1% upfront fee into the loan balance avoids a cash outlay at closing, at the cost of a slightly larger loan and a bit more interest over time.
Often, yes, for eligible buyers. USDA’s combined fee structure (1% upfront, 0.35% annual) is typically cheaper than FHA’s (1.75% upfront, 0.50–0.55% annual), and USDA allows $0 down versus FHA’s 3.5% minimum. The trade-off is USDA’s stricter property location and household income requirements that FHA doesn’t impose.
USDA counts the combined gross income of every adult who will occupy the home, including wages, self-employment income, Social Security, pensions, and other regular income sources, regardless of whether that person is actually a borrower on the loan.
Possibly. USDA allows certain deductions from gross household income, including qualified childcare expenses for children 12 and under, that can bring an otherwise over-limit household back under the threshold. A USDA-approved lender can run these deductions against your specific numbers.
Yes. Enter your annual property tax and insurance estimates, plus any monthly HOA dues, and the calculator combines them with principal, interest, and the USDA annual fee into one complete PITI + fee monthly payment.
Yes, through USDA’s streamlined and non-streamlined refinance options for borrowers who already have a USDA loan, though these programs have their own specific eligibility rules separate from the purchase program covered by this calculator.
Related Mortgage Calculators
- Mortgage Calculators Hub — browse every state-specific and loan-program calculator on DexoCalc, including FHA, VA, and PMI tools alongside this USDA calculator.
- Main Mortgage Calculator — compare your USDA scenario against a standard conventional PITI payment with an adjustable PMI toggle.
- FHA Mortgage Calculator — if your property or income doesn’t clear USDA’s eligibility gates, run the same home price through FHA’s 3.5%-down structure instead.