Introduction
A 15 year mortgage lets you pay off your home in half the time of a standard 30 year loan. You pay less interest overall, but your monthly payments are higher. This 15 year mortgage calculator helps you see exactly what those payments will be before you commit.
Enter your home price, down payment, and interest rate to get a full breakdown of your monthly costs. The calculator includes property taxes, homeowner's insurance, HOA fees, and PMI so you can see your true all-in payment, not just the principal and interest. It also shows closing costs, a complete amortization schedule, and a side-by-side comparison of 15 year vs. 30 year loans so you can see how much interest you save with the shorter term.
Use this tool to plan your budget and understand the real cost of a 15 year home loan.
How to Use Our 15 Year Mortgage Calculator
Enter your home price, down payment, interest rate, and other loan details below. The calculator will show your monthly payment, total interest paid, an amortization schedule, and a side-by-side comparison of a 15-year vs. 30-year mortgage.
Home Price: Type the full purchase price of the home you plan to buy.
Down Payment ($): Enter the dollar amount you will pay upfront. This field stays in sync with the down payment percent field, so you only need to fill in one.
Down Payment (%): Enter your down payment as a percent of the home price. If you type a dollar amount instead, this field updates on its own.
Loan Principal: This is the amount you borrow. It equals the home price minus your down payment. It fills in automatically, but you can edit it by hand.
Interest Rate: Enter the annual interest rate your lender quoted you. Use a number between 0.01% and 25%.
Loan Origination Date: Pick the month, day, and year your loan starts. Your first payment is due one month after this date.
Annual Property Taxes: Enter the total property taxes you expect to pay each year. The calculator divides this by 12 to get your monthly escrow amount.
Annual Homeowner's Insurance: Enter your yearly home insurance premium. This is also divided by 12 for the monthly payment.
Monthly HOA Fees: If your home has a homeowners association fee, enter the monthly amount here. If not, leave it at $0.
PMI Rate: Enter the annual private mortgage insurance rate as a percent of your loan. PMI is usually required when your down payment is less than 20%. If your down payment is 20% or more, the calculator sets this to $0.
Discount Points: Enter the number of discount points you are buying to lower your rate, or switch to dollars and type a dollar amount. One point equals 1% of the loan amount.
Origination Points: Enter the lender's origination fee in points or dollars. One point equals 1% of the loan amount.
Other Closing Costs: Enter any remaining closing costs such as title fees, appraisal fees, attorney fees, and recording fees.
Finance Closing Costs: Choose "Yes" to roll your closing costs into the loan balance. Choose "No" to pay them out of pocket at closing.
Click the Calculate button to see your results. Click Reset to Defaults to return all fields to their starting values.
What Is a 15-Year Mortgage?
A 15-year mortgage is a home loan you pay back over 15 years, or 180 monthly payments. Each month, part of your payment goes toward the money you borrowed (called the principal) and part goes toward interest, which is the fee the bank charges you for lending the money. Because you pay off the loan in half the time of a 30-year mortgage, your monthly payment will be higher, but you pay much less interest over the life of the loan.
How This 15-Year Mortgage Calculator Works
This calculator takes your home price, down payment, interest rate, taxes, insurance, and other costs to figure out your total monthly payment. It breaks everything down so you can see exactly where your money goes each month. This is sometimes called a PITI breakdown: principal, interest, taxes, and insurance. It also builds a full amortization schedule, which is a table showing every single payment from the first month to the last. You can see how much of each payment goes to principal, how much goes to interest, and how your loan balance shrinks over time.
What Your Monthly Payment Includes
Your total monthly mortgage payment is more than just principal and interest. It also includes property taxes, homeowner's insurance, and sometimes PMI (private mortgage insurance). PMI is an extra cost you pay when your down payment is less than 20% of the home price. Once you build enough equity, meaning you owe less than 80% of your home's value, PMI goes away. The ratio of what you owe compared to your home's value is known as loan-to-value (LTV), and it plays a key role in determining when PMI is removed. If you live in a neighborhood with a homeowners association, your HOA fees are added to your monthly total as well.
Closing Costs and Points
When you get a mortgage, you pay one-time fees at closing. These include discount points, which you pay upfront to get a lower interest rate, and origination points, which the lender charges for processing your loan. Other closing costs cover things like the home appraisal, title search, and legal fees. This calculator lets you choose whether to pay these costs out of pocket or roll them into your loan balance. These fees affect your APR (annual percentage rate), which reflects the true cost of borrowing when fees are included.
15-Year vs. 30-Year Mortgage
The biggest reason people pick a 15-year mortgage is to save money on interest. Since you pay off the loan faster, the bank charges you interest for fewer years, which can save you tens of thousands of dollars. The trade-off is a higher monthly payment. This calculator shows you a side-by-side comparison of both loan terms so you can see the exact difference in monthly cost and total interest paid. This helps you decide which option fits your budget best. Make sure your total housing costs fit within a healthy debt-to-income ratio before choosing the shorter term.
Understanding Your Amortization Schedule
In the early years of your mortgage, most of your monthly payment goes toward interest. As time goes on, more of your payment goes toward paying down the principal. The amortization schedule in this calculator shows this shift month by month. It also tracks your remaining balance and cumulative interest so you always know where you stand on your loan.