These tiers are about loan size and county, and credit score has nothing to do with the labels. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lend up to a baseline conforming loan limit that FHFA resets every year. Loans at or below the baseline are standard conforming. In designated high-cost counties the ceiling rises (by statute, 115% of the area's median home value, capped at 150% of the baseline), and loans between the baseline and that ceiling are called high-balance or super-conforming. Because the limits reset annually, look up the current numbers for your county rather than working from a remembered figure. What changes once you cross into the high-balance tier: - Pricing. High-balance loans carry loan-level price adjustments that grow as your down payment shrinks. With less than 25% down, the add currently works out to roughly an eighth to a quarter of a percent in rate, and most buyers absorb it in the rate rather than paying the fee in cash. These adjustments shift, so confirm current pricing. - Down payment. The 3%-down conventional option goes away. A one-unit primary-residence purchase tops out at 95% financing, so plan on at least 5% down, with larger requirements for 2-4 units and non-owner properties. One planning point we see often: if your loan amount lands just barely over the standard conforming limit, putting a little more down to drop back under it can meaningfully lower your rate. Run both scenarios before you lock, and we are glad to do that with you in a free Roadmap conversation.