Rent per paycheck calculator
Paid every two weeks with rent due once a month? The quick answer is rent times 12, divided by 26: $553.85 a paycheck for $1,200 rent. But that only works once you already have a rent saved. Enter your rent and your payday below to see what each paycheck should put aside so every rent is there on the day it is due.
Your rent, check by check
Each rent is paid for by the paychecks that come before it, in equal parts. When a month brings an extra check, every check that month gives a little less. This is how Atom Budget splits every bill.
The same $553.85 from every check
Right over a year, but from a standing start the first rents come up short. You would need $646.15 saved first.
Half the rent from every check
$600.00 a check is always on time, but it puts aside $1,200.00 more than a year of rent, because some months bring an extra check.
Why rent times 12 over 26 comes up short
Twenty-six paychecks a year put aside exactly twelve rents, so the even amount is right on average. The trouble is timing. Most months bring two checks, and two even shares of $553.85 come to less than $1,200. The difference is made up by the two months a year that bring a third check, but those come later. Until then, the rent that is due is short, unless a rent was already saved.
Why not half the rent from each check?
Half the rent from each of two checks a month pays every rent on time. It also keeps going in the months with a third check, so over a year it sets aside two extra halves, a whole extra rent, that nothing needed. Paying each rent from the checks before it gives half in a two-check month and a third in a three-check month, and the extra check stays yours.
How much rent can you afford?
The rule most people quote is to spend no more than 30% of your income before taxes on rent. Landlords often write the same rule the other way around, asking for a yearly income of 40 times the monthly rent. Enter one paycheck before taxes to see both.
Rent your pay supports
Every bill, not only rent
Rent is the biggest bill most people pay, but every bill has the same timing problem. Atom Budget splits every bill across the paychecks before it, and tells you how much to keep set aside so every one of them gets paid. It is free to start, with no card.
Create your free account, or try it with your own numbers first.