With an automated underwriting approval, FHA allows up to a 46.99% housing ratio and a 56.99% total debt-to-income, and those are hard ceilings. Quick definitions. The housing ratio measures your full house payment (principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and any HOA dues) against gross monthly income. The total ratio adds your other monthly debts on top: car loans, student loans, credit card minimums. The house payment is already inside that total rather than stacked on top of it, so the less other debt you carry, the more of that 56.99% is available for the house payment. The caveats that matter: - Those maximums apply only to files that earn an automated (AUS) approval. They are not available to every borrower, and nobody can be pushed past them. - The figures reflect how FHA's automated system behaves in practice, the point beyond which files stop getting automated approvals, rather than a number printed in the FHA handbook. The actual decision rides on your whole file plus any lender overlays. - A manually underwritten FHA loan is tighter: roughly 31% housing and 43% total at base, stretching toward 40% and 50% only with documented compensating factors like strong reserves or credit. These are FHA program figures that can change, so confirm the current guidelines for your situation. To learn the ratio you would actually qualify at, and the payment it supports, the free Roadmap conversation (about 20 minutes) is where we run your real numbers.