PMI Calculator
Estimate the annual and monthly private mortgage insurance cost from a home price, down payment, and quoted annual PMI rate.
Mortgage specification
PMI estimation
How to use this PMI calculator
What this calculator does. This tool estimates borrower-paid private mortgage insurance for a conventional mortgage when you already have a quoted annual PMI rate. It converts a home price and percentage down payment into the mortgage loan amount and loan-to-value ratio, then applies the PMI rate to estimate annual and monthly premiums. It is useful for budgeting and comparing loan scenarios, but it does not determine whether a lender will approve a loan, whether PMI will actually be required, or the exact rate an insurer will quote. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau explains that mortgage insurance generally protects the lender and adds to the borrower's loan cost.
When to use it. Use the calculator when comparing a smaller versus larger down payment, checking the monthly effect of a PMI quote from a lender, estimating the insurance component of a housing budget, or reviewing whether a lower loan-to-value ratio could make a quoted mortgage more affordable. Because PMI pricing can also depend on credit, property, occupancy, loan type, and insurer rules, treat this as a transparent cost estimate based on the rate you enter rather than a rate-shopping engine.
How to calculate
- The calculator opens with a ready-to-use demonstration: a $100,000 home price, 12% down payment, and 1.20% annual PMI rate. The matching example Excel workbook is available immediately.
- Replace Home price with the purchase price you want to evaluate. Enter a U.S. dollar amount using a period as the decimal mark; a correctly grouped value such as $350,000 is accepted.
- Enter Down payment as a percentage of the home price. The calculator derives the dollar down payment, mortgage loan, and LTV ratio automatically.
- Enter the lender or insurer quote in PMI rate as an annual percentage. Results update live, so no separate Calculate button is needed.
- Read Monthly PMI first for cash-flow planning, then review Annual PMI, Mortgage loan, LTV ratio, and Down payment amount to understand the assumptions behind that monthly estimate.
- Select Download Excel to export the current inputs and canonical calculated values as a real XLSX workbook. Reset clears the demonstration inputs and results; Excel export is then disabled until all three required fields contain a complete valid state again.
Input guide
Home price is a required U.S. dollar amount greater than zero and up to $100,000,000. A realistic entry might be $425,000. Raising the price while keeping the same down-payment percentage and PMI rate raises the mortgage loan and therefore raises both annual and monthly PMI. Do not paste unsupported currency codes, scientific notation, or a decimal-comma value such as “425000,50”; the parser uses a U.S. period-decimal convention and rejects ambiguous formatting.
Down payment is a required percentage from 0% through 100%; for example, 10%. A higher percentage reduces the mortgage loan and the LTV ratio, which reduces the calculated premium for a fixed PMI rate. A common mistake is entering a dollar amount such as “30000” in this field even though the control is percentage-based. The CFPB's loan-to-value explanation describes LTV as the financing amount compared with property value and notes that a larger down payment lowers LTV.
PMI rate is a required annual percentage from 0% through 10%; for example, 0.75% or 1.20%. It should come from a lender, insurer, or loan estimate rather than being inferred from this calculator. Increasing the PMI rate increases annual and monthly PMI proportionally. Do not enter a monthly dollar premium here, and do not convert 1.20% to 0.012 before typing; the control already interprets 1.20 as percent.
Output guide
Mortgage loan is the estimated financed principal before other loan-specific additions: home price minus the derived down-payment amount. LTV ratio is that mortgage loan divided by home price and shown as a percentage. Lower LTV usually reflects more borrower equity at purchase. Down payment amount is the exact identity “home price × down payment percentage,” shown in dollars.
Annual PMI is the mortgage loan multiplied by the annual PMI rate. Monthly PMI is annual PMI divided by 12 and is the primary budgeting result. A zero PMI result can occur if the entered PMI rate is 0% or the mortgage loan is $0; it does not by itself establish that a real loan has no mortgage-insurance requirement. A high result means either a larger financed balance, a higher quoted rate, or both. All results are estimates driven only by the three visible inputs.
Worked example
Using the opening values, the down payment is $100,000 × 12% = $12,000. The mortgage loan is therefore $100,000 – $12,000 = $88,000, so the LTV ratio is $88,000 ÷ $100,000 = 88.00%. Applying the entered annual PMI rate gives $88,000 × 1.20% = $1,056.00 of annual PMI. Dividing by 12 produces the first-open primary result of $88.00 monthly PMI. These same typed values are used by the on-page results and the startup XLSX export.
How PMI fits into mortgage planning
PMI is commonly associated with conventional mortgages where the borrower has less than 20% equity at origination, but requirements and pricing vary. The CFPB notes that borrowers making less than a 20% down payment will usually encounter PMI or a government-backed alternative, while the exact loan terms still depend on the lender and product. This calculator deliberately asks for the PMI rate rather than attempting to manufacture one from a credit score or LTV band.
Down payment amount = Home price × Down payment %
Mortgage loan = Home price – Down payment amount
LTV = Mortgage loan ÷ Home price
Annual PMI = Mortgage loan × PMI rate
Monthly PMI = Annual PMI ÷ 12
For many covered conventional mortgages, PMI may not last for the full loan term. The CFPB explains that eligible borrowers can generally request cancellation when the scheduled principal balance reaches 80% of the home's original value, while automatic termination generally occurs when the scheduled balance reaches 78%, subject to applicable requirements such as being current on payments. See the CFPB's PMI cancellation and automatic-termination guidance for the legal framework and important exceptions.
Interpreting changes in your assumptions
- A higher Home price raises PMI when the down-payment percentage and rate stay unchanged because more dollars are financed.
- A higher Down payment lowers both the financed balance and LTV, reducing the calculated premium at a fixed rate.
- A higher PMI rate changes the premium proportionally; doubling the rate doubles annual and monthly PMI for the same loan amount.
- Crossing 80% LTV is important in mortgage-insurance discussions, but this calculator does not automatically force the PMI rate to zero. Real cancellation depends on the loan, servicer, payment history, property value rules, and applicable law.