What does buying a home really cost, once you count tax and years of owning it?How much does a home really cost, once you add the income tax, the tax stack, and a decade-plus of ownership behind it?

Example price

$440,600

Example all in

$743,475

fees and the cost of owning it included

Example earn first

$1,185,852

Single filer on $75,000 in Harris County, Texas. Your calculator below uses your settings.

Nobody charges sales tax on a house — but property tax, insurance, upkeep, and mortgage interest more than make up for it over 11 years in the home.

Real property isn't hit with sales tax anywhere in the US — but property tax, insurance, maintenance, and mortgage interest more than make up for it over 11 years of ownership.

No state charges sales tax when you buy a house. Real estate just isn't treated like other purchases. What you get instead are three ongoing costs. First, property tax — about 0.94% of your home's value every year at the rate used here. It swings a lot around the country, from about 0.27% at the low end to about 2.11% at the high end. Second, a transfer tax when you buy. Texas bans it outright in its constitution. California charges about 0.11% at the county level, and some cities add much more on expensive homes. Third, insurance and upkeep — about $2,470.00 and $12,472.00 a year. Most Americans now stay 11 years before selling. That's the longest on record, and long enough that a thirty-year mortgage still has plenty left owing.

No state charges general sales tax on a home purchase — real estate is legally a different category from the tangible goods sales tax covers. Instead, most homeowners face three separate, ongoing costs: property tax (about 0.94% of home value a year at the effective rate used here, against a national spread running from about 0.27% to about 2.11%), a real estate transfer tax at time of purchase (Texas charges none — it's constitutionally banned there — while California's county transfer tax runs about 0.11%, and cities like Los Angeles layer a much higher 'mansion tax' on top of high-value sales), and homeowners insurance ($2,470 a year) plus what the average household puts into the house itself ($12,472 a year) on top of that. The typical American now holds a home for 11 years before selling — the longest tenure on record — which is long enough for a thirty-year mortgage to still carry a large remaining balance, and for the home's own appreciation to meaningfully offset the costs above.

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Annual income≈ $36/hr
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You must earn2.69× sticker
$1,185,852

to cover a home purchase

If invested for 11 years+$821,430 growth
$1,564,905

$743,475 invested upfront, assuming 7% a year. Includes your starting money and its growth. An illustration, not a forecast; investment growth is separate from the purchase cost above.

Sticker
$440,600
Markup
169%
Your time
32,886 hrs
189.9 work months
Total to earn$1,185,852select a band
  • Income tax (federal, FICA, state)37%$442,377
  • Ownership costs25%$298,214
  • Fees0%$4,661
  • Home purchase37%$440,600
  • Income tax (federal, FICA, state)
  • Ownership costs
  • Fees
  • Home purchase

Data for nerds — sources, confidence and assumptions

Data for nerdssources, confidence, assumptions

Where each number comes from

ComponentAmountConfidence
Item price$440,600.00Your figureHigh confidence. You supplied this, so it is exact by definition.
Fees$4,661.00Population averageLow confidence. A group statistic standing in for one person; your own costs may differ substantially.
Ownership costs$298,214.19Population averageLow confidence. A group statistic standing in for one person; your own costs may differ substantially.
Income tax to earn it$442,377.14StatutoryHigh confidence. This number is the law — federal, FICA and state tax rates are published rates, so the only real risk is staleness.

Jurisdiction applied

  • State: TX
  • Local income tax: none selected

Assumptions

  • Property tax uses the rate for the state you picked, not one national number. You can see the amount in the breakdown above, and it changes when you change state. Around the country the rate runs from about 0.27% to about 2.11%. It is a whole-state average, worked out from what a typical home is worth and what a typical owner pays, so your own county and your own house can be some way off it. We grow that cost with general inflation only, not with real reassessments.
  • Insurance ($2,470.00 a year) and upkeep ($12,472.00 a year) are national averages for a typical home. We don't scale them to your purchase price.
  • We only count mortgage interest for the 11 years you hold the home, not the full thirty-year loan. You'd still owe a large balance at that point — the same as in real life if you sell or refinance early.
  • The about 3.5%-a-year rise in home value is our own estimate from a long-run price index, not an official published number like the mortgage rate is. Treat it as the shakiest figure here.
  • The resale value we show is what the home is worth, not what you'd walk away with. We don't subtract the mortgage you'd still owe.
  • We don't include PMI — the extra insurance lenders usually require when your down payment is under a fifth of the price. If yours is smaller than shown, your real monthly cost is higher.
  • We show transfer tax for Texas (none) and California (county rate only, on the national median home price). Your own state may be very different, and city taxes on expensive homes aren't included.
  • Property tax uses the selected state's own effective rate — the Census ACS five-year ratio of median real estate tax paid to median home value — rather than one national figure. The rate applied appears in the cost breakdown above and changes with the state you pick; across the country it runs from about 0.27% to about 2.11%. Because it is a statewide aggregate of medians, your county and your individual assessment can sit well away from it. Reassessment and rate changes over the holding period are modeled only as generic inflation, not as a real reassessment schedule.
  • The $12,472/yr figure is total spending on the home, not unavoidable upkeep. Angi builds it from improvement projects as well as routine maintenance and emergency repairs, and improvement work is the largest of the three — so treat it as what a typical owner spends on the house rather than what the house obliges them to spend. A household that does no discretionary work would spend materially less. Homeowners insurance ($2,470/yr) is likewise a national average for a typical home, not scaled to your purchase price.
  • Mortgage interest is calculated only through 11 years of ownership, not the full thirty-year loan term — a large remaining balance is still owed at that point, same as in reality if you sell or refinance before the mortgage matures.
  • Home price appreciation (about 3.5% a year) is a derived long-run estimate from the S&P/Case-Shiller index's own trend, not an official published single statistic the way the mortgage rate or property tax rate are — treat it as the least certain figure in this model.
  • Resale value shown is gross market value at the end of the holding period, not net proceeds after paying off the remaining mortgage balance — the same simplification used for vehicle resale value elsewhere on this site.
  • PMI (private mortgage insurance, typically required when a down payment is under a fifth of the price) is not modeled — if your down payment is smaller than shown here, your real monthly cost is higher.
  • Real estate transfer tax is shown for Texas (none) and California (county rate only, applied to the national median home price) — your state's transfer tax, if any, may differ substantially, and city-level surtaxes on high-value homes (like Los Angeles's Measure ULA) are not included.

Sources

The loan

$2,265/mo

$352,480 borrowed at 6.66% over 30 years, after $88,120 down.

Interest, full term
$462,967
if you keep it 30 years
Interest by year 11
$239,101
what the result above counts
Still owed at year 11
$292,583
83% of the original loan

Early payments are mostly interest, so after 11 of 30 years you have paid 52% of the loan's total interest but retired only 17% of the principal. Only the interest actually paid within the holding period is counted in the cost above — assuming the loan runs its full term would overstate it.

Your position in the tax system

29.65% on the next dollar

Every extra dollar you earn is taxed at your marginal rate, not your average one — which is why a purchase costs more to fund than a paycheck stub suggests.

Federal22%
FICA7.65%
TX0%
Combined29.65%
Next bracket at
$121,800
$46,800 away
This purchase
37.3%
average rate paid to fund it
Tax to earn it
$442,377
on top of the price

Marginal rates are read in gross-income terms: below the standard deduction an extra dollar of pay adds nothing to taxable income, so the true rate there is 0%, not the lowest bracket's. Excludes pre-tax deductions (401(k), HSA), which would lower all three.

Same purchase, different state

TX is #14 of 51

The purchase inputs and income stay the same. Your row uses your calculator settings; other states use example counties and omit local income tax. Spread across all 51: $361,829, from Nevada to New Jersey.

  • $1,098,012
  • Texasyou$1,185,852
  • $1,459,841

Choose a state name to compare against somewhere else.

Where every dollar goes

37% never reaches you

The $1,185,852.33 you must earn, followed to where it lands. Select a band to isolate it.

  • Federal income tax$408,845.61
  • FICA (Social Security + Medicare)$33,531.53
  • Home purchase$440,600.00
  • Fees$4,661.00
  • Ownership costs$298,214.19
To tax $442,377.14To the purchase $743,475.19

Each tax layer is the extra tax this purchase causes — that layer's tax at your income subtracted from its tax at your income plus the gross-up — so bracket boundaries the purchase straddles are handled correctly rather than smoothed over with an average rate.

Is a raise actually a raise?

you keep 70%

A raise arrives on top of everything you already earn, so it is taxed at your marginal rate — not the average rate on your whole salary.

Kept $7,035To tax $2,965
Take-home now
$61,593
82% of gross
Take-home after
$68,628
+$7,035 a year
Per month
$586
what actually lands

Federal, FICA, state and any local income tax — no pre-tax deductions, benefit changes, or payroll withholding quirks, all of which move the real figure. Moving into a higher bracket never taxes the income below the threshold: only the dollars above it pay the higher rate.

Where this differs most

States whose answer is genuinely different from the national picture — either near the top or bottom of the range, or structurally unusual. States that land mid-pack are covered by the figures above.

Keep going

Your whole pictureSee this alongside everything else you pay forOne purchase is a curiosity. The basket works out the gross salary your whole life actually costs — and what would change it.Research · 8 minWhat ownership actually costsThe purchase price is the deposit. The cost is everything after it.Research · 9 minThe geography of the same purchaseThe same thing, the same salary, fifty-one different answers.The methodHow this figure is calculatedEvery layer, the arithmetic behind it, and where each rate comes from.

What you must earn to buy it

A $75,000 Texas salary

$686,470of pay, before any tax
Sticker price$440,600
Out of pocket$440,600
Income tax on earning it$245,870
Hours of work109.5 work months

35.82% of that pay never reaches the purchase.

This example uses the entered price and applicable sales tax. The full calculation above may also include fees, ownership costs.

If the money stayed put

A $75,000 Texas salary

$789,048in 10 years, at that rate
Spent today$440,600
Growth given up$348,448
Pay needed to buy it$686,470

Assumes a 6% annual return that you can edit. This example uses the entered price and applicable sales tax. The full calculation above may also include fees, ownership costs.

Questions people ask

Why do I have to earn more than the price?

You buy with take-home and you earn in gross. The gap between them is tax, which is why the salary a purchase demands is always more than the purchase costs.

Why is the total more than the price I was quoted?

The quoted price is not the amount that leaves. Fees are added on the way through — not tax, not optional, and included here for that reason.

Why count money I was going to spend anyway?

Nothing on the bill shows it, which is why it is easy to ignore. The return the money would have made had it stayed invested is a genuine cost of spending it instead.

Is the purchase price the end of it?

Buying is one payment; owning is a stream of them. This page counts both, because the second is usually the larger.

Why does required gross income exceed the purchase price?

Required gross income is the outlay divided by one minus the combined marginal rate applying to the incremental income — federal, FICA and any state or local layer. The excess over the nominal price is the marginal wedge, not a fee, and it rises with the buyer's marginal rate rather than with the price.

What non-tax charges are included in this total?

The total includes mandatory non-tax charges levied by the seller or an intermediary. These are not remitted to a taxing authority and are not deductible as tax, but they are a condition of the transaction, so excluding them would understate the cash outlay while appearing exact.

What justifies including forgone investment return in a cost figure?

Opportunity cost is the return forgone by consuming rather than investing the same sum over the modeled horizon. It is an economic cost rather than a cash outlay, so it is reported separately from cash totals and never added to them silently. ⚠️ It depends on an assumed rate of return and is the most assumption-sensitive figure on the page.

What ongoing costs follow this purchase?

Total cost of ownership includes recurring maintenance, insurance, consumables and replacement over the modeled holding period, discounted where applicable. For durable goods this component frequently exceeds acquisition cost, so a purchase-price-only comparison systematically favors cheaper items with higher running costs.

Sources: