What does the Budget Calculator not do?

It does not connect to your bank account. It only counts the costs you enter; a forgotten cost makes "left" look bigger. It works with a monthly average. It does not know when each bill is due, or which months bring fewer paydays in your calendar. It does not follow your account balance between paydays: a month with money left overall can still have a bill due before enough pay arrives. It does not calculate tax. It uses take-home pay; from pay before tax, the answer is an estimate based on the deductions you enter. It has no data about rents or prices where you live, so it cannot say whether your costs are normal. It uses one pay amount at a time. It does not average or forecast pay that changes; try a slow month as a separate answer. It does not see savings or an emergency fund you already have. It uses today's amounts. It does not predict future pay or prices. It does not convert currencies: changing the currency changes the symbol only. Needs and wants are our starting labels; you decide what they are in your life. It does not tell you what to cut or what to do. It is not financial advice.

Budget Calculator: What's Left and Your 50/30/20 Split

Put in your take-home pay and a few monthly costs. See what’s left each month, and how your pay splits next to the 50/30/20 rule. Free, no sign-up.

Plan your monthly budget

Your pay

Take-home pay

The money that reaches your account, after tax and deductions. Choose how often you get it in the menu next to it.

Your monthly costs

Home and bills

Rent or mortgage, energy, water, phone, internet, insurance.

Groceries

Food you buy to cook. Eating out goes in Everything else.

Getting around

Car payment, fuel, car insurance, bus or train.

Debt payments (minimums)

The minimum you must pay on cards and loans. Extra payments go in Money you put aside.

Everything else

Eating out, shopping, subscriptions, fun.

Also count

Yearly costs not included above (optional)

Per year: car service, yearly insurance, gifts, holidays. Only costs not already in a monthly group above. We spread it over 12 months.

Money you put aside each month (optional)

Savings, investing, extra debt payments. Do not enter it as a cost too.

Your estimate

Budget Calculator

What this calculator is for

Pay arrives, and a week later it feels gone. The Budget Calculator answers two everyday questions: after my bills, how much do I actually have left each month? And how does my pay split, and how far is it from the 50/30/20 reference?

You enter your take-home pay and a few monthly costs. The calculator shows what is left (or short) in an average month, and where each $100 of your pay goes: needs, wants, money you put aside, and what is not yet planned.

Then it shows what the average hides: the cost that takes the biggest bite, how much of the 50% for needs your home uses on its own, what once-a-year bills add to every month, and why most months can bring less than your average when you are paid every two weeks.

It shows your numbers. What to change, if anything, stays your choice.

What you enter

There is one form, in three boxes. You don't need a 40-line audit: a few round numbers are enough for a first answer. The more complete your costs, the closer the answer gets to your real month.

Your pay: Take-home pay, the money that reaches your account after tax and deductions. In the menu next to it, choose how often you get it: per week, per 2 weeks, twice a month, per month or per 4 weeks. The calculator turns it into a monthly average: a week × 52 ÷ 12, every 2 weeks × 26 ÷ 12, twice a month × 2, every 4 weeks × 13 ÷ 12.
Your monthly costs: five groups. Home and bills (rent or mortgage, energy, water, phone, internet, insurance), Groceries (food you buy to cook), Getting around (car payment, fuel, car insurance, bus or train), Debt payments (minimums) (the minimum you must pay on cards and loans) and Everything else (eating out, shopping, subscriptions, fun).
Also count: Yearly costs not included above, per year, such as car service, yearly insurance, gifts and holidays; the calculator spreads them over 12 months. And Money you put aside each month: savings, investing and extra debt payments above the minimum.

Each cost goes in one place only. A car loan payment goes in Getting around, not again in Debt payments. An extra payment on a card goes in Money you put aside, not as a cost too. A yearly bill that is already inside a monthly group stays out of Yearly costs not included above.

The form starts empty. The answer needs two things: your take-home pay and at least one monthly cost. Until then, the answer box shows how many of the two you have (for example 1 of 2) and lists what is Still needed.

Your answer

Once both are entered, the answer comes in two parts, one after the other.

Your estimate is the quick one, and it changes while you type. At the top it says Left each month or, when your costs and savings are more than your pay, Short each month, with Needs your attention above it. The short card also says what your costs and savings add up to, next to your take-home pay. When the two are equal, it says Left each month $0. "Left" is room in an average month, not money in your account today. Amounts are rounded to whole dollars.

Under the number, a line says which pay was used: for example Based on take-home pay of $3,400 a month, from $1,569 every 2 weeks. With a second pay it says (your two pays together); from pay before tax, (estimated from your pay before tax).

Then the split: Where each $100 of your pay goes, in up to four parts, Needs, Wants, Put aside and, when something is left, Not yet planned, each in dollars and as a share of your pay. Below it, the 50/30/20 reference for the same pay (50% of pay for needs, 30% for wants and 20% put aside), and one sentence such as Needs are 23.5 points above the 50% reference. A point is the gap between two percentages: needs at 73.5% are 23.5 points above 50%. When you are short, a dashed line marks where your pay ends.

50/30/20 is one common reference, not a target, and the card says so. Your split sitting far from it does not mean you are doing something wrong.

Short lines under the split say what the answer includes and what it does not:

Yearly costs not included, when that field is empty, with what even a small yearly amount would take each month. Once you fill it in: they are spread over 12 months and counted as needs, and in the month a bill arrives, less is left.
When you are paid every week, every 2 weeks or every 4 weeks: in how many months of the year you get fewer paydays, and how much less than your average they bring.
Still empty, with the names of the cost groups you have not filled in yet. Type 0 in a group you don't have.

The second part is the insights. Under the card, a line with your own result (for example $200 left is an average month.) and a button: N things worth knowing about your budget, where N is how many insights your numbers produce.

Why open it? Because "left each month" is an average, and real months are not. The insights show, in your numbers, why a real month can leave less (or more) than the average, and which costs or paydays make the difference. At the top, What your numbers reveal lists one finding from each part, in your numbers (for example Home and bills take $1,400, your biggest cost); click a line to jump to it. The parts are:

A closer look at your numbers: your pay, group by group, down to what is left; how much of the 50/30/20 needs reference your home takes on its own; what your yearly bills add to each month.
Why real life may differ from your plan: the months with fewer paydays (when you are not paid monthly), pay that changes month to month, and saving that may already happen before your pay arrives.
How much room you have, when something is left: what it adds up to over a year, if it stays unspent. Or Ways to make it work, when you are short: your gap set next to each of your own costs and the money you put aside.
Your next question, when your numbers point to one: the Savings Goal Calculator when something is left, the Debt Payoff Calculator when you have debt payments.

If you change a number after opening it, the button shows Update. Click it and the insights catch up.

Start over, under the form, clears everything you typed. If you click it by mistake, Undo brings your numbers back.

More options, your country and your currency

More options, under the form, holds what only some budgets need:

Count each group as: Need or Want for each group, including Yearly costs. These are our starting labels: everything is a need except Everything else. If a group is different in your life, switch it. The switch moves the whole group: a group that holds both needs and wants cannot be split.
A second take-home pay: for example a partner's pay, if you budget together. It has its own menu for how often it comes. The answer then compares both pays with the costs you enter, so it fits when those are the household's costs.
I only know my pay before tax: tick it, enter Pay before tax (with the same "per" as your take-home pay) and My deductions (tax, pension and anything else taken before your pay arrives; your payslip lists them), as a percent of pay or an amount. The calculator fills in Take-home pay and marks the answer as estimated.

Above the form, a line shows the country and currency the calculator detected, for example Using (detected): United States · USD. If it is wrong, or you want another currency, click Not your country? Change it. Each amount also has a small currency box next to it. The calculator does not convert amounts: changing the currency changes the symbol, not the numbers you typed.

Your numbers stay private: what you type is calculated in your browser. It is not sent to us or stored. If you save or share a result, what that result contains leaves your browser with it.

Three scenarios, three people

Instead of a tour of every box, here is the calculator through the eyes of three people. There is one form, so each scenario is a different situation, and each one shows a different side of the answer.

Scenario 1: Where does my pay go? Sam, 29, is paid every two weeks and has a little left on paper.
Scenario 2: Why am I short when I thought I had room? Kevin, 41, budgets with two pays and forgot the yearly bills.
Scenario 3: What if my pay changes every month? Michael, 38, runs a small business and only knows his pay before tax.

The people are made up. The numbers are the calculator's answers for their inputs, in US dollars.

Open the scenario closest to your own situation. You do not need to read all three.

Start here if you want the full picture of one ordinary month, and you are paid every week or every two weeks.

Sam's question

Sam is 29. He rents, has a car loan and a credit card, and is paid every two weeks. He heard about 50/30/20 online, tried it once in a spreadsheet, found that rent and the car already took more than half, and gave up.

His question: after my bills, how much do I actually have left each month, and is my split normal?

His worry: that a needs share far above 50% means he is bad with money.

What Sam enters

In Take-home pay he types 1,569, the amount on each paycheck, and in the menu next to it he chooses per 2 weeks.

His monthly costs: 1,400 in Home and bills (rent, energy, phone and internet), 450 in Groceries, 400 in Getting around (his car payment, fuel and insurance), 150 in Debt payments (minimums) (the minimum on his card) and 600 in Everything else.

Under Also count: 1,200 in Yearly costs not included above (car service, his yearly renter's insurance and gifts), and 100 in Money you put aside each month.

Sam's answer

Left each month: $200. The line under it: Based on take-home pay of $3,400 a month, from $1,569 every 2 weeks. The calculator turned his paycheck into a monthly average: $1,569 × 26 paydays ÷ 12 months, which is $3,399.50, shown rounded as $3,400.

Where each $100 of your pay goes: Needs $2,500 (73.5%), Wants $600 (17.6%), Put aside $100 (2.9%), Not yet planned $200 (5.9%). Needs are his home, groceries, getting around, his card minimum and the yearly costs; wants are Everything else.

The 50/30/20 reference for $3,400 is $1,700 for needs, $1,020 for wants and $680 put aside. Needs are 23.5 points above the 50% reference. A point is the gap between two percentages: 73.5% is 23.5 points above 50%.

Then a line he did not expect: In 10 months of the year you get two paydays, $3,138, which is $262 less than this average, so those months are $62 short.

What the insights show Sam

The preview line: $200 left is an average month. He clicks 7 things worth knowing about your budget.

Part 1, A closer look at your numbers, opens with Where your pay goes, group by group: a chart that starts from his $3,400 and takes away each group in turn. Home and bills take the biggest bite: $1,400 (41.2%). At the bottom, $200 is left.

Next, How much of the needs reference your home takes on its own: 82%. His home and bills are $1,400, which is 82% of the $1,700 the 50/30/20 reference gives to all needs, before food, transport or debt. So his needs share is far above 50% before groceries, the car or his card are counted: one fixed cost uses most of the reference on its own.

Then What your yearly bills add to each month: $1,200 a year is $100 every month, already counted. The answer spreads it evenly. At his average pay, if the whole $1,200 lands in one month, that month leaves $900 short; the other months leave $300. Months with two paydays look different, as Part 2 shows.

Part 2, Why real life may differ from your plan, starts with Most months bring less than your average. Paid every two weeks, Sam gets 26 paychecks a year. Most months have two of them, $3,138, which is $262 less than his $3,400 average. His costs and savings are $3,200, so in those 10 months he is $62 short. The other 2 months bring three paydays, $4,707. Which months depends on the calendar, and some years have one payday more.

The same part has two short notes. If your pay changes month to month: the answer uses the pay you typed. Saving may already be happening before your pay arrives: if money for a pension or retirement plan is taken from his pay before it arrives, it is not in this split.

Part 3, How much room you have: at the same amounts, $200 left each month adds up to $2,400 over 12 months, but only if it stays unspent. "Left" is money not yet given a job in this plan, not money sitting in his account today.

Part 4, Your next question: the Savings Goal Calculator (what his leftover could grow into) and the Debt Payoff Calculator (how long until his debts are paid).

Sam's doubt

"The card says $200 left. How can I be short in most months?"

Both are true. $200 is what is left in an average month, and the average includes the 2 months with a third paycheck. In the 10 months with two paychecks, $3,138 comes in and $3,200 goes out. The $4,707 months make up for it over the year. The calculator shows the size of the gap, $62, and in which kind of month it happens. How Sam handles those months is his choice.

Start here if you budget with two pays, or if your answer looks better than your bank account feels.

Kevin's question

Kevin is 41, a warehouse supervisor, married with two children. After a hard year he has two cards and a car loan. He just got a raise and plans to pay $100 a month extra on his debts.

He and his wife budget together. His take-home pay is $3,500 a month, hers $1,700 a month.

His question: with the extra $100 on my debts, does our month still work?

His worry: that the raise disappears and the debts never end.

What Kevin enters

In Take-home pay he types 3,500, per month. He opens More options and types 1,700 in A second take-home pay, also per month.

The family's monthly costs: 2,300 in Home and bills, 950 in Groceries, 850 in Getting around (fuel, insurance and his $260 car loan payment, which goes here and not under debts), 195 in Debt payments (minimums) (his two card minimums, $120 and $75) and 700 in Everything else.

The extra 100 for his debts goes in Money you put aside each month, as the hint says. He leaves Yearly costs not included above empty.

Kevin's first answer

Left each month: $105, Based on take-home pay of $5,200 a month (your two pays together). Needs are 82.6% of their pay. The extra $100 seems to fit.

But a line under the split says: Yearly costs not included. Even $1,200 a year would take $100 from what's left.

Kevin adds them up: car registration and service, the yearly home insurance, school costs and holiday gifts come to about $1,800 a year. He types 1,800 in Yearly costs not included above.

Kevin's answer

Short each month: $45, with Needs your attention above it. Your costs and savings add up to $5,245; your take-home pay is $5,200.

The $1,800 a year is $150 every month. It took the $105 that was left and $45 more. The calculator counts yearly costs as needs, so needs are now 85.5% of their pay, 35.5 points above the 50% reference (85.5% is 35.5 points above 50%), and the dashed line shows that 100.9% of their pay is already used.

What the insights show Kevin

He clicks 6 things worth knowing about your budget.

Part 1, A closer look at your numbers: Home and bills take the biggest bite: $2,300 (44.2%), and at the end of the chart $45 is missing. Home and bills alone are 88% of the $2,600 the 50/30/20 reference gives to all needs. What your yearly bills add to each month: $150. If the whole $1,800 lands in one month, that month leaves $1,695 short; the other months leave $105.

Part 2, Why real life may differ from your plan: they are paid monthly, so there is no payday note. The two short notes are there: pay that changes month to month, and saving that may already happen before pay arrives.

Part 3 is Ways to make it work, because they are short. Your gap, next to each of your costs sets the $45 next to each of his monthly groups, his yearly costs and the money he puts aside: to break even, costs and money put aside together would need to be $45 lower each month, or pay $45 higher.

$45 is 2% of Home and bills, 4.7% of Groceries, 5.3% of Getting around, 23.1% of Debt payments, 6.4% of Everything else, 30% of Yearly costs ($150 a month) and 45% of Money you put aside. The card ends: These are your own numbers. This is not advice about what you should change; the choice of what to change is yours.

Part 4, Your next question: the Debt Payoff Calculator, because he has debt payments.

Kevin's doubt

"So should I drop the extra $100 on my debts?"

The calculator does not say. It shows that in an average month, with the yearly bills counted, the family is $45 short, and that $45 is a small slice of some groups and almost half of the extra payment. In the Debt Payoff Calculator he can see how long until his debts are paid, with and without the extra $100. Where the $45 comes from, if anywhere, is his and his wife's choice.

Start here if your pay is different every month, from your own business, gig work, hourly shifts or commission, or if you only know your pay before tax.

Michael's question

Michael is 38. He runs a small business, is married with one child, and has $60,000 set aside. The family lives on what his business pays him, and it is different every month.

Last year his business paid him about $76,800 before tax, $6,400 a month on average. A slow month can bring $5,200. He moves 25% of every payment to a separate account for his taxes.

His question: does our month work in an average month, and in a slow one?

His worry: a run of slow months.

What Michael enters

He does not know a take-home figure, so he opens More options and ticks I only know my pay before tax. He types 6,400 in Pay before tax, with per month in the menu next to Take-home pay. In My deductions he types 25 and keeps % of pay. His tax is not taken before the money reaches him; he sets the 25% aside himself, so he enters it as a deduction to keep that money out of his spending budget. The calculator does not check whether 25% will cover his actual tax.

The calculator fills in Take-home pay: 4,800.

His monthly costs: 1,900 in Home and bills, 700 in Groceries, 500 in Getting around, 0 in Debt payments (minimums) (he has no debt; a 0 tells the calculator the group is not missing) and 800 in Everything else. Under Also count: 3,000 in Yearly costs not included above and 450 in Money you put aside each month.

Michael's answer, in an average month

Left each month: $200, Based on take-home pay of $4,800 a month (estimated from your pay before tax). Needs are $3,350 (69.8%), including the $250 a month of yearly costs, which the calculator counts as needs: 19.8 points above the 50% reference (69.8% is 19.8 points above 50%).

The insights show what the average hides even here. Home and bills take the biggest bite: $1,900 (39.6%), 79% of the $2,400 needs reference. His $3,000 of yearly costs is $250 every month. At his average pay, if it all lands in one month, that month leaves $2,550 short, and the other months leave $450.

Michael's answer, in a slow month

Then he tries the slow month, as the insights note If your pay changes month to month suggests: Type your lowest recent month in the pay field to see how much less. He changes Pay before tax to 5,200. Everything else stays the same.

Short each month: $700. Your costs and savings add up to $4,600; your take-home pay is $3,900. The line under the card uses its usual words, $700 short is an average month. Here, $700 short is the result for the slow-month pay he typed, with his yearly costs still spread over 12 months. The calculator uses one pay amount at a time; it does not average his good and slow months together.

Part 3 is now Ways to make it work: to break even in that month, costs would need to be $700 lower, or pay $700 higher. $700 is 36.8% of Home and bills, 100% of Groceries, 140% of Getting around, 87.5% of Everything else, 280% of Yearly costs ($250 a month) and 155.6% of Money you put aside. A gap bigger than a group shows that one group alone could not close it. Debt payments, at 0, is not listed, and there is no Part 4 here: he has no debt and nothing is left.

Michael's doubt

"I'm $700 short in a slow month, but I have $60,000 set aside. Am I fine?"

The calculator does not see his savings: the $60,000 is in neither answer. It shows the two ends: $200 left in an average month, $700 short in a slow one. How many slow months a year he has, and whether the $60,000 is the cushion for them, is something only he knows. Comparing the two answers shows how much his budget depends on which pay figure he uses.

The rest of the page

The parts below are the same whatever your numbers.

Explore Where Your Pay Really Goes

THE BIGGER PICTURE

What your budget shows, and what an average month hides

Your answer is what’s left in an average month. Yearly bills, how you’re paid and your rent decide how real that number is. The calculator does not connect to your bank account.

Your result answers one question: does an average month work with the pay and costs you entered? Here is how to read it, and what it can’t see.

What your result really means

“Left each month” is room in an average month, not money in your account. It is what your take-home pay leaves after the costs you entered and the money you put aside. The calculator can’t tell what happens to it during the month.

“Short each month” is a number to work with, not a verdict. It shows how much your costs and the money you plan to put aside exceed your pay in an average month. The gap can come from your costs, from the amount you put aside, or from both. The insights under the answer set it next to each of your own costs.

50/30/20 is a reference, not a grade. The split is widely credited to All Your Worth, a 2005 book by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi that divides pay into must-haves, wants and savings. Your split sitting far from it does not mean you are doing something wrong. It means your needs, wants or money put aside differ from the reference. The next section shows some of the things that move that split.

What decides your number

Your home costs. Rent or a mortgage, plus energy and the other bills, often decide whether your needs fit inside 50% before anything else is counted. The insights show how much of the needs reference your home takes on its own.
Debt minimums. This calculator counts required minimum payments as needs, because missing one can lead to fees or other charges. It counts extra payments above the minimum as money you put aside.
Bills that come once a year. The calculator spreads car service, yearly insurance, gifts and other yearly costs across 12 months. $1,200 a year is $100 a month.
How often you are paid. The calculator turns the pay and frequency you enter into a monthly average. With weekly or every-two-week pay, the number of paydays changes from month to month, even when each paycheck stays the same.

The bills a typical month forgets

A month with no car repair, yearly insurance bill or holiday can make your costs look lower than they are across the year. That is why the calculator has a field for yearly costs. It divides them by 12 and counts them in every month.

In the month a $1,200 bill arrives, you pay $1,200, not the $100 the average counts, unless the rest was set aside in the months before.

Paid every two weeks: most months bring less than your average

In February 2023, 43% of US private business establishments paid their workers every two weeks, the most common schedule measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Every two weeks is not the same as twice a month. Twice a month means 24 paydays a year. Every two weeks usually means 26, and some years have 27.

In a typical 26-payday year, 10 months have two paydays and 2 months have three. Take Sam, who gets $1,569 every two weeks. His monthly average is $3,400. In the 10 months with two paydays he receives $3,138, which is $262 less than that average. If his budget only just works on the average, those 10 months are short.

The 2 months with a third payday are not extra money beyond the average. They are part of the yearly total the average is built from, and they offset the lighter months.

The calculator shows this for your own numbers when you choose “per 2 weeks”, “per week” or “per 4 weeks” next to your pay.

Saving that happens before your pay arrives

Money taken from your pay for a pension or a retirement plan never reaches your account, so it is not part of your take-home pay and not part of this split. It is still saving. If your payslip shows such contributions, they are not included in the saving this calculator shows.

What to try next in the calculator

Each of these takes one change and shows a different side of the same month:

Enter a lower recent month’s pay and choose “per month”, to see how the result changes when pay is lower and everything else stays the same.
Set the menu next to your pay to how you are really paid.
Add your yearly costs, if the field is still empty.
Under More options, switch a group between need and want if our starting label doesn’t fit your life. The switch applies to the whole group.
If you add a second take-home pay, make sure the costs you entered cover the same people.

Something left each month? The Savings Goal Calculator shows how long it would take to turn it into a goal. Paying down cards or loans? The Debt Payoff Calculator shows how long until they are paid.

What this calculator can’t know

Costs you haven’t entered. It only counts the costs you enter. A forgotten cost makes the amount left look bigger than it is.
Your calendar. It works with a monthly average, so it can’t tell whether each bill can be paid on its due date.
Your tax. It uses take-home pay, so tax is already out of the numbers. If you start from pay before tax, the answer is an estimate based on the deductions you enter.
Your city. It has no data about local rents or prices, so it can’t say whether your costs are normal where you live.
The future. It uses today’s amounts. It does not predict future pay or prices, so a budget is a snapshot to update when either changes.
How you see your costs. Needs and wants are our starting labels. You can change them under More options.

It shows your numbers. It does not tell you what to cut or what to do; that choice stays yours.

Financial terms, explained

Words that appear in this calculator or on this page, in plain English.

Take-home pay: The money that reaches your bank account after tax and other deductions. Your payslip may call it net pay. This is the pay the calculator uses.
Pay before tax (gross pay): Your pay before anything is taken off. If it is the only number you know, enter it under More options with your deductions; the answer is then marked as estimated.
Deductions: Money taken from your pay before it reaches you, such as income tax, a pension or retirement plan, and health insurance. Your payslip lists them.
The 50/30/20 rule: A simple reference split of take-home pay: 50% for needs, 30% for wants, 20% put aside. On $3,400 a month that is $1,700, $1,020 and $680. A reference, not a target you must meet.
Needs: Costs this calculator starts by treating as necessary: Home and bills, Groceries, Getting around, Debt payments (minimums) and Yearly costs. Some costs in these groups may be wants in your life; you can change a group’s label under More options.
Wants: Costs you could change or skip without falling behind. In this calculator they start as Everything else: eating out, shopping, subscriptions and fun.
Money you put aside: Money from the take-home pay you entered that you plan to save, invest or use for extra debt payments each month. Not savings you already have, and not amounts already taken from your pay. Enter it once, not as a cost too.
Minimum payment: The smallest amount a card or loan requires each month to stay in good standing. The calculator counts minimums as needs.
Left each month / Short each month: What your take-home pay leaves after your costs and the money you put aside, in an average month. “Short” means the costs and the money put aside add up to more than the pay.
Percentage point: A way to describe the gap between two percentages. If needs take 73.5% of your pay instead of 50%, the gap is 23.5 percentage points, not 23.5% of your pay.
Every two weeks vs twice a month: Every two weeks (biweekly) usually means 26 paydays a year, and some years 27; twice a month (semimonthly) means 24. Choose the one that matches your pay in the menu next to it.
Yearly costs: Costs that come once or a few times a year, such as car service or yearly insurance. The calculator divides them by 12 and counts them in every month.

Common questions about budgeting your pay

Should I use my take-home pay or my pay before tax?

Use your take-home pay, the amount that reaches your account. Tax and other deductions are already out of it, so the split shows the money you can actually plan with. If you only know your pay before tax, enter it under More options with your deductions, and the answer is marked as estimated.

Is the 50/30/20 rule realistic with high rent?

Not necessarily. High rent can take most of the 50% for needs before food, transport or debt are counted. In 2023, 22.6 million US renter households, half of all renters, spent more than 30% of their household income on rent and utilities, according to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. That measure uses income before tax, so it is not the same as this calculator’s split, which uses take-home pay. When your home alone takes most of the needs reference, a needs share above 50% is arithmetic, not a failure.

Is food a need or a want?

Both. Groceries you buy to cook count as a need here; eating out goes in Everything else, which counts as a want. You can change how either group is counted under More options; the change applies to the whole group.

Where do debt payments go?

Minimum payments go in Debt payments and count as a need. Extra payments above the minimum go in Money you put aside. The calculator groups them with saving and investing for the 50/30/20 comparison, although paying down debt is not the same as saving cash.

Does my 401(k) or pension count as saving?

Yes, but it isn’t in this split. Money taken from your pay before it arrives is not part of your take-home pay, so it doesn’t appear in Money you put aside. Your payslip shows how much is taken.

What if my pay changes every month, for example from gig, hourly or freelance work?

Your result changes with your pay, because the calculator uses one pay amount at a time. To see a leaner month, enter that month’s take-home pay and choose “per month”; the result shows what would be left if your costs and savings stayed the same. For an average, the US government’s consumer.gov suggests adding up last year’s income and dividing by 12. Comparing the two shows how much your result depends on which pay figure you use.

What if my costs are more than my pay?

Then your budget has a gap even before any money is put aside. The calculator’s “Short each month” includes both your costs and the money you plan to put aside, so it helps to check which part makes the gap. The insights set the gap next to each of your costs and next to your pay. It does not tell you what to cut; that choice is yours.

Budget Calculator (Excel)

Free Excel file · no sign-up · runs on your computer

Save different versions
Work with your own numbers
Stays on your device

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The file is a snapshot. It does not update itself when this calculator changes.