There is no single right percentage, and most of the old rules of thumb are folklore. The classic guideline put housing around 28% of gross income, but we rarely see ratios that low anymore outside of wealthy borrowers financing a small amount relative to what they earn. For most first-time and conservative buyers, housing lands somewhere in the low-to-mid 30s of gross income, and more aggressive budgets run higher. What a loan program allows is a separate question from what is comfortable for you. Conventional loans, on an automated approval, can go up to a 50% total debt-to-income ratio. FHA, on an automated approval, tops out at 46.99% housing and 56.99% total. Those FHA figures are hard ceilings that apply only to AUS-approved files, and they describe how the automated system behaves rather than a number printed in the FHA handbook; approval at those levels still depends on the whole file, compensating factors, and lender overlays, so they are available to some borrowers, never to all. Two cautions: - Budgeting off take-home pay is shaky, because net pay is distorted by your withholding, dependents, and retirement contributions. We prefer a residual-income approach, similar to how VA underwriting works: estimate the taxes, utilities, and living costs for your household in your area, then check whether enough is left to live comfortably. - The DTI math never sees your lifestyle. The honest way to set your number is to pull a few months of bank and card statements and look at what you actually spend. If you want your real range instead of a rule of thumb, that is exactly what we map out on the free Roadmap conversation, about 20 minutes where we run your real numbers.