Budget Calculator
Plan your monthly budget in minutes. Enter your income and expenses to instantly see your leftover balance, savings rate, and a full category-by-category breakdown.
Build Your Monthly Budget
Enter your monthly income and expenses by category below. Your leftover balance, savings rate, and spending breakdown update instantly as you type.
Monthly Income & Expenses
Enter amounts for each category that applies to you
Your Budget Summary
Leftover balance and spending breakdown
How This Budget Calculator Works
The calculator compares everything coming in against everything going out to show exactly where your money stands each month.
Total Your Income
Your take-home monthly income is used as the baseline for every calculation on this page.
Sum Every Category
Each expense category is added together to produce your total monthly spending.
Find Your Balance
Total expenses are subtracted from income to reveal your leftover balance and savings rate.
The 50/30/20 Rule
A popular guideline for splitting after-tax income across needs, wants, and savings. Use it as a benchmark, not a strict rule, when reviewing your own numbers above.
| Category | Target Share | On $4,500/mo |
|---|---|---|
| Needs (housing, food, utilities, insurance, minimum debt) | 50% | $2,250 |
| Wants (entertainment, dining out, hobbies) | 30% | $1,350 |
| Savings & Extra Debt Repayment | 20% | $900 |
Budget Calculator FAQ
Everything you need to know about building and understanding a monthly budget.
Add up all sources of monthly income, then add up all monthly expenses across categories like housing, transportation, food, and utilities. Subtract total expenses from total income to find your leftover balance, which can be saved, invested, or used to pay down debt.
The 50/30/20 rule suggests allocating 50 percent of after-tax income to needs, 30 percent to wants, and 20 percent to savings and debt repayment. It is a general guideline rather than a strict requirement, and actual allocations often vary by location and life stage.
Needs are essential costs required to live and work, such as housing, groceries, utilities, insurance, and minimum debt payments. Wants are discretionary spending like dining out, entertainment, subscriptions, and hobbies that could be reduced without affecting basic wellbeing.
A savings rate of around 20 percent of take-home income is a commonly cited target, though any positive savings rate is a step in the right direction. The right number depends on income, debt, goals, and cost of living.