USDA loan calculator
Enter the price and rate, get the payment with the USDA guarantee fees.
The rate, tax and insurance are examples — use your own. Income limits and eligible areas are not checked: see the FAQ below.
How do the USDA guarantee fees work?
USDA Rural Development charges the lender two fees on a Section 502 guaranteed loan, and the lender may pass them on to you. The upfront guarantee fee is currently 1% of the loan amount, and the annual fee is 0.35% of the loan's average scheduled balance, collected in 12 monthly parts. The regulation caps them at 3.5% and 0.5% (7 CFR 3555.107). USDA sets the actual rates for each fiscal year, which starts on October 1; the figures here were checked on October 1, 2026, so confirm them with your lender.
How is the upfront fee figured when I add it to the loan?
The fee is 1% of the final loan, including the fee itself, so financing it makes the loan the base amount ÷ (1 − 1%), not the base × 1.01. On a $250,000 base loan the loan becomes $252,525.25 and the fee $2,525.25 — USDA's own fee calculator does it this way. If you pay the fee at closing instead, it is 1% of the $250,000 base loan: $2,500.00.
How is the annual fee calculated?
For each year USDA averages the scheduled loan balance at the start of the 12 months and takes 0.35% of it. The lender pays USDA once a year and usually collects one twelfth of it with your payment. It is based on the original payment schedule, so extra payments do not lower it, and it cannot be added to the loan. On the example loan the average balance in year 1 is $251,246.75, the fee $879.36 a year — $73.28 a month. It shrinks as the balance does, to $2.95 a month in year 30.
When does the USDA annual fee end?
It does not drop off. The regulation sets the annual fee for the life of the loan, and USDA bills it for every month the loan is outstanding until it is paid in full. Unlike private mortgage insurance on a conventional loan or FHA insurance, there is no loan-to-value level or year at which it stops. Only paying off the loan — by selling the home or refinancing into another loan — ends it. On the example it adds up to $17,342.93 over 30 years, on top of the $2,525.25 upfront fee.
Is there a minimum down payment?
No. The program offers 100% financing: the loan can be up to the appraised value, plus the upfront fee if you finance it. A down payment lowers the base loan, so it lowers both fees and the payment. USDA lenders also look at your debts and income; the calculator does not.
Who can get a USDA guaranteed loan?
The home must be your primary residence in an eligible rural area, your household income cannot exceed 115% of the area's median household income, and you must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. non-citizen national or qualified alien. Loans are 30-year fixed rate only, and the rate is negotiated with an approved lender. The calculator does not check income or location: look up an address on USDA's eligibility site and the income limit for your county and household size.
Example
A $250,000 home with no down payment at 6.5% (an example rate, not a current one) for 30 years: the upfront fee of $2,525.25 is added to the loan for a total of $252,525.25, and principal and interest come to $1,596.13 a month. The annual fee is $73.28 a month in year 1, so with $3,000 of property tax and $1,200 of insurance a year the payment is $2,019.41. The fees cost $19,868.18 over the loan — $17,342.93 of annual fee and the upfront fee — and financing the upfront fee adds $3,220.35 of interest.
What does this calculator leave out?
Closing costs and lender fees (USDA's lender training lists a $25 technology fee that may be passed to the borrower), the interest rate you will actually be offered (you enter it), your income and debt ratios, whether the address is eligible, and refinancing. The amounts are estimates — your Loan Estimate shows the real figures.
Estimates for planning only — not financial advice. Your lender's figures decide. Sources: USDA Rural Development, Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program page and lender training (February 2026) for the 1% and 0.35% fees, the guaranteed annual fee calculation guidance and FAQ, and its guarantee fee calculator; 7 CFR 3555.107 for the 3.5% and 0.5% limits; checked October 1, 2026. Check an address on USDA's property eligibility site and your household on the income eligibility site. Compare with an FHA loan, a VA loan or a conventional loan in the mortgage calculator, or plan the down payment. How we check our calculators.