Budget Calculator
Split monthly take-home pay across spending categories, by amount or share, and see what is left or how far over you are.
Result
Left unallocated: $0.00
Negative when the budget is overA plan, not a record. It does not track what you actually spend.
- Total allocated
- $4,500.00
- Share of pay allocated
- 100%
- Allocated over a year
- $54,000.00
https://calcgallery.com/finance/budget-calculator/
Results are arithmetic estimates based on the values you enter. Rates, fees and terms are set by your lender or provider, and your actual agreement controls what you pay or receive. Confirm important figures with them or with a qualified adviser. Read the full disclaimer
How to use the Budget Calculator
- Enter your monthly take-home pay, what reaches your account after tax and deductions.
- Adjust the categories. Each can be an amount or a percentage of pay, and you can add, rename or remove them.
- Read what is left unallocated, or how far over your pay the categories come to.
How it works
Each category is either an amount, such as 2,000 for rent, or a share of take-home pay, such as 15% for food. Shares are converted to amounts at your pay, then everything is added up:
allocated = the sum of every categoryunallocated = take-home pay − allocated (negative when you are over)The allocated total is also shown over a year, which often makes regular spending easier to judge.
Using it
Start with the fixed costs you know, such as rent, loan payments, insurance and subscriptions, as amounts. Then decide the flexible categories as amounts or shares. If the budget comes out over, the categories to look at first are usually the flexible ones. A budget plans spending but does not record it. Comparing it with what you actually spend is what makes it useful.
Emergency savings and debt repayment each have calculators of their own that take a monthly amount from a budget like this one.
With your numbers
- Allocated across the categories: $4,500.00, 100% of take-home pay
- Left unallocated = take-home pay − allocated = $0.00
Quick reference
A plan, not a record. It does not track what you actually spend.
| Example | Left unallocated |
|---|---|
| USD 4,500 at 50/30/20 | $0.00 |
| USD 4,500 at 50/30/10 | $450.00 |
| USD 4,500 at 60/40/20, over budget | -$900.00 |
| USD 4,500 by amounts | $400.00 |
| USD 3,200, rent plus shares | $1,000.00 |
| EUR 3,000 at 50/30/20 | €0.00 |
Common questions about the Budget Calculator
- What is the 50/30/20 rule?
- A way of dividing take-home pay: half for needs such as housing, food and bills, 30% for wants, and 20% for saving and paying down debt. It comes from the 2005 book All Your Worth by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi. It is one framework among many, not a standard, and it fits some incomes and places far better than others. The page starts from it because it is widely known, and you can change every figure.
- Why doesn’t the page make my categories add up to 100%?
- Because a budget that does not add up is the normal case, and the gap is the useful part. If your categories come to more than your pay, the page says so and by how much. If they come to less, it shows the money not yet given a job. Quietly scaling your figures to fit would hide both.
- Should I use take-home pay or gross pay?
- Take-home pay, what actually arrives each month. Gross pay includes tax and deductions you never get to spend. The paycheck calculator can work out take-home pay from a salary.
- Where does saving go?
- In a category of its own, like any other. The 50/30/20 start gives it 20%. Anything left unallocated is also money you could save or use to pay down debt, once you have decided which.