If you’re looking to rent an apartment, you may be wondering, “How much rent can I afford?” It’s definitely not a number you should pull out of thin air. Nor does any landlord want to hazard handing over the keys to tenants who haven’t bothered to make sure they can actually pay the rent. As such, before you even start perusing listings, it makes sense to calculate how much rent you can afford, given your current income. Read on for some easy number-crunching exercises to get you in shape for finding the right place for you, financially speaking.
How your income affects what you can afford to rent
When you’re looking at apartments, you will have to bring in a certain income each month to even qualify for many units. It can vary from company to company, but there is one widely used industry standard: According to Manisha Thakor, director of Wealth Strategies for Women at the BAM Alliance, your rent should be no more than one-fourth of your take-home pay. So if the monthly rent on an apartment is $1,000, that means you’ll have to bring home $4,000 per month to qualify.
