Revolutionizing · Modernizing · SimplifyingRevolutionizing · Modernizing · SimplifyingThe arithmetic: $570,000 at 20% down leaves $456,000 to borrow, which is $2,882 a month over 30 years at 6.5%. Add the $394 a month in tax and dues that the sales themselves recorded and you get $3,276. Divide by 0.28 and multiply by twelve, and that is $140,410.
It is a floor. Homeowner’s insurance is not in this, and neither is the mortgage insurance a lender adds below 20% down — neither figure exists in an MLS feed, so we have not guessed at them. Every calculator that gives you one clean number has guessed at both.
The measured half of this is genuinely measured: 62,720 sales September 2025 to August 2026, tax and dues summed on each sale before any median was taken.
We publish no rate. Find the row that matches your offer.
| Interest rate | Monthly floor | Income floor |
|---|---|---|
| 5% | $2,842 | $121,796 |
| 5.5% | $2,983 | $127,848 |
| 6% | $3,128 | $134,055 |
| 6.5% | $3,276 | $140,410 |
| 7% | $3,428 | $146,905 |
| 7.5% | $3,582 | $153,532 |
| 8% | $3,740 | $160,284 |
Less cash down, more income needed — and below 20% a lender normally adds mortgage insurance that is not in this table.
| Deposit | Cash needed | Monthly floor | Income floor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3% (adds mortgage insurance) | $17,100 | $3,889 | $166,659 |
| 5% (adds mortgage insurance) | $28,500 | $3,817 | $163,571 |
| 10% (adds mortgage insurance) | $57,000 | $3,637 | $155,850 |
| 20% | $114,000 | $3,276 | $140,410 |
Each town on its own median sold price and its own measured tax and dues, not a state figure stretched over a map.
| Town | Median sold price | Deposit at 20% | Tax + dues a month | Monthly floor | Income floor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denver | $580,000 | $116,000 | $376 | $3,309 | $141,806 |
| Aurora | $470,000 | $94,000 | $441 | $2,818 | $120,753 |
| Littleton | $649,950 | $129,990 | $458 | $3,745 | $160,479 |
| Colorado Springs | $474,000 | $94,800 | $240 | $2,637 | $113,006 |
| Fort Collins | $570,000 | $114,000 | $386 | $3,268 | $140,067 |
| Arvada | $620,000 | $124,000 | $352 | $3,487 | $149,445 |
| Parker | $685,000 | $137,000 | $491 | $3,955 | $169,489 |
| Castle Rock | $682,500 | $136,500 | $486 | $3,937 | $168,732 |
| Thornton | $523,250 | $104,650 | $425 | $3,071 | $131,607 |
| Lakewood | $570,000 | $114,000 | $353 | $3,235 | $138,653 |
| Loveland | $509,000 | $101,800 | $281 | $2,855 | $122,348 |
| Longmont | $565,000 | $113,000 | $374 | $3,231 | $138,469 |
| Boulder | $955,000 | $191,000 | $684 | $5,513 | $236,271 |
| Centennial | $650,000 | $130,000 | $484 | $3,771 | $161,604 |
| Broomfield | $617,500 | $123,500 | $453 | $3,575 | $153,232 |
| Greeley | $425,000 | $85,000 | $214 | $2,363 | $101,273 |
| Highlands Ranch | $705,000 | $141,000 | $463 | $4,028 | $172,623 |
| Commerce City | $497,500 | $99,500 | $526 | $3,042 | $130,356 |
| Brighton | $525,000 | $105,000 | $458 | $3,113 | $133,401 |
| Westminster | $545,000 | $109,000 | $348 | $3,104 | $133,021 |
| Sold price | Median in band | Tax + dues a month | Monthly floor | Income floor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $300k | $240,000 | $421 | $1,635 | $70,053 |
| $300k to $500k | $420,000 | $273 | $2,397 | $102,718 |
| $500k to $750k | $599,900 | $344 | $3,377 | $144,747 |
| $750k to $1M | $845,000 | $465 | $4,738 | $203,048 |
| $1M to $1.5M | $1,185,000 | $595 | $6,587 | $282,300 |
| $1.5M and up | $1,963,500 | $918 | $10,847 | $464,851 |
At least about $140,410 a year for the median home of $570,000, if you put 20% down and borrow at 6.5% over 30 years. That comes from the 28% rule — lenders generally want housing costs at or under 28% of gross monthly income — applied to a monthly figure of $3,276: the loan payment plus the $394 a month in property tax and dues that 62,720 real sales September 2025 to August 2026 actually recorded.
Because two real costs are missing and both push the number up. Homeowner’s insurance is not in an MLS feed. Mortgage insurance, which a lender normally adds below 20% down, is not either. We do not hold those figures, so we do not invent them — which means the income on this page is the least you would need, not the amount you would want. Every other affordability calculator fills those gaps with a guess and does not tell you it did.
$114,000 for 20% of the median home, before closing costs. The table on this page runs the same arithmetic at 3%, 5%, 10%, 20% so you can see the trade: a smaller deposit needs less cash and more income, and below 20% it also adds mortgage insurance we have not counted.
No. The 28% rule looks only at housing. Lenders also apply a back-end ratio — usually around 36% of gross income for housing plus car payments, student loans and card minimums together — so a household carrying other debt needs more income than this page shows, on top of the insurance already missing from it.
No, and we have deliberately not published one. We carry no rate feed, so the tables run from 5% to 8% and you use the row that matches the offer you have been given. The 6.5% column in the per-town table is the middle of that ladder, chosen so the table fits on a page.
The per-town table on this page runs the same arithmetic on each town’s own median sold price and its own measured tax and dues, so the differences are real and not a state average stretched over a map. Towns are ordered by how many homes sold there, and every one links through to what actually sold.
A median is a starting point, not your number. Tell us the home and the deposit you have in mind and we will work the real tax, the real dues and the real payment on it.
Get your numbersEvery figure on this page is measured from our live MLS feed and recomputed every fifteen minutes - it is not a monthly snapshot, and the moment these figures were worked out is stamped at the foot of the page. Sales figures cover residential sales only, over the last twelve complete calendar months; rentals, land and commercial are excluded, as are fractional co-ownership shares, which are priced per share and would distort every median. Market data is deemed reliable but not guaranteed - talk to us before making a decision on it.
The income figures apply the 28% front-end ratio to the monthly cost of the median home: an ordinary 30-year repayment on the balance after the deposit, plus the property tax and HOA dues measured on 62,720 real sales. We carry no interest-rate feed and quote no rate — the tables show a ladder. Homeowner’s insurance, mortgage insurance below 20% down, and every debt other than the mortgage are excluded because we cannot measure them, so every income figure here is a floor rather than a target. This is not mortgage advice and it is not an offer of credit.
These figures were worked out from the live MLS feed at September 6, 2026 at 9:03 PM Mountain time, and are recomputed every fifteen minutes.