Truck affordability calculator

See roughly how much truck you can afford before you shop, counting the loan, insurance, and fuel, not just the payment.

This is an estimate, not financial advice.

It uses common rules of thumb, not your full budget or credit. A lender may approve you for more than is comfortable. Your actual rate, taxes, and fees will change the numbers.

Before taxes. For a household, include everyone whose income pays for the truck.
If you leave this blank, it's estimated at 75% of your gross pay. Your real take-home depends on taxes, state, and deductions, so use your pay stub if you can.
Minimum payments on credit cards, student loans, other car loans, and your mortgage. Leave out rent, utilities, and insurance.
For trade-in, use what you'd get after paying off any loan still on it.
Use the rate you were quoted or pre-approved for. 48 months or less keeps interest down. Common terms are 36, 48, 60, 72, and 84.
Insurance and fuel start as examples. Get an insurance quote for the truck you want. Add a little to fuel for maintenance if you like.

Comfortable truck price

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Enter your income and loan details.

Treat the price as an out-the-door number, with sales tax, title, and dealer fees included. A stretch budget leaves little room for repairs or a surprise bill. Your own budget, savings, and job security matter more than any rule of thumb.

How we calculated this

Comfortable: insurance, fuel, and the loan payment together take up to 15% of your take-home pay. Stretch: up to 20%. Whatever's left after insurance and fuel is the most you'd pay each month.

Your other debts set a second limit. For comfortable, all your debt payments plus the truck payment stay at or under 36% of your gross monthly pay. For stretch, 43%. The lower of the two limits wins.

That payment is turned into a loan amount with the standard loan formula: loan = payment × (1 − (1 + r)−n) ÷ r, where r is the APR ÷ 12 and n is the number of months. At 0% APR, it's just payment × months. Your down payment and trade-in are added to get the price.

Total interest is the payment × months, minus the loan amount. If you leave take-home pay blank, it's estimated at 75% of gross. That's a rough figure, and real take-home can be well above or below it.

Sources and where they disagree

There's no single official rule for how much to spend on a vehicle. Guides disagree on the percentage and on whether to measure it against gross or take-home pay.

  • NerdWallet suggests a payment of no more than 10% of take-home pay, and 15 to 20% for total car costs, including insurance, gas, and maintenance. This tool's comfortable and stretch levels come from that range.
  • Edmunds suggests a payment of up to 15% of take-home pay for a new vehicle, plus about another 7 to 8% for fuel and insurance. That's more generous than NerdWallet's.
  • The "20/4/10 rule," explained by Acorns and others: put 20% down, borrow for 4 years or less, and keep total car costs under 10% of income. Some versions use gross pay, others take-home. It's stricter than this tool.
  • Debt-to-income: the CFPB used 43% of gross income as a cutoff in its mortgage rules, which this tool uses as the stretch limit. 36% is a common, more conservative lender benchmark, not an official rule. Auto lenders set their own limits.

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Rules of thumb and sources last reviewed November 2026.