How this works
Two budgets, because they answer different questions. The lender-style ceiling applies the conventional benchmarks — housing at 28% of gross income, total debt at 36% — which the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau describes as planning guides while noting lenders may approve more. The comfortable ceiling takes the lowest of that, the monthly figure you name, and the amount that still leaves the money you want left over each month.
Then a price is solved for each town separately, because the same payment does not buy the same house everywhere. A town with a high tax rate, or one far enough out that you drive to work, costs more per month at the same purchase price. Two monthly totals are shown: the mortgage total a lender counts — principal, interest, tax, insurance, PMI and any condo fee — and the real-life total, which adds maintenance and the cost of the commute.
A purchase also has to be one you can complete. The maximum price is capped so that your deposit and closing costs fit inside your savings without touching the reserve you said you wanted to keep. Without that, a household with $40,000 saved is told it can afford a $900,000 house because the monthly arithmetic happens to clear.
What it assumes
- Interest rate. Defaults to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey average for a 30-year fixed, 6.55% as of 16 July 2026, updated weekly. That is a national survey average and not a rate you have been quoted — yours depends on your credit, deposit, loan size and lender. Edit it if you have a real number.
- Property tax is each town’s own FY2026 residential rate. It is the one town-specific cost here that is sourced rather than assumed.
- Insurance at $2,100 a year, maintenance at 1% of value a year, and PMI at 0.75% of the loan while you are under 20% equity. These are flat assumptions, not town figures — we hold no per-town insurance or condo-fee data.
- Commuting cost is the softest number here. Driving is priced at $0.35 a mile on straight-line distance scaled by 1.25× for real roads; transit at a $90 monthly pass, which is a floor — commuter rail zone passes cost more. Treat it as an order of magnitude.
- Prices are modeled medians, calibrated to Zillow and Redfin, not appraisals. That is why results are grouped into four bands rather than scored to a decimal place. Towns still pending verification are marked. Data version July 18, 2026.
- “See homes in …” opens a Redfin search filtered to the home type and budget worked out here — but scoped to a ZIP code, not the town. Redfin’s town URLs need an internal numeric id we cannot derive, and a wrong id does not error, it quietly shows a different town. Their ZIP URLs need no id, so each town is matched to the ZIP whose Census centre lies inside it and nearest its middle. For most Massachusetts suburbs that is the whole town; for Boston it is one ZIP of thirty-two. The link names the ZIP, and says how many the town holds, so you can see the scope before clicking. We hold no listings and have no relationship with the site.
What it deliberately does not do
- It does not use demographics. Not as a filter, not as a ranking input, not as a tie-break. They appear on town pages as neutral census fact and nowhere else — see the fair-housing policy.
- It does not ask about bathrooms, parking or condition. The site holds no data on any of them, and a filter that quietly does nothing is worse than an absent one.
- It does not decide first-time buyer eligibility. The Massachusetts programmes are shown as things you may qualify for, with a link to each. Limits change and the decision belongs to the programme and the lender.
- It is not advice, and not a pre-approval. It is arithmetic on figures you supplied and published town data. A lender will reach its own number.
Already know your budget? The town finder ranks towns directly against a price you set. Wondering whether to buy at all? Compare renting, buying and private school.
