Start with the payment, not the listing
How much land can I afford?
Start with the cash that reliably comes in each month. Set aside everyday spending, current debt payments, land costs and a buffer for surprises. The calculator uses what's left to work backward from a monthly payment to a land budget and acreage.
Build a payment ceiling from your records
The calculator opens with an editable sample so you can see it work. The figures aren't market assumptions or recommendations. Replace them with your records and the rate your lender quoted.
Runs in your browser. Nothing is submitted or stored.
One payment ceiling, one solved budget
Your affordability breakdown
Optional downside case
Stress-test result
- Stressed payment ceiling
- Not calculated
- Stressed property budget
- Not calculated
- Stressed affordable acres
- Not calculated
Full monthly amortization schedule
| Month | Payment | Principal | Interest | Balance |
|---|
Deterministic worked example
Follow the arithmetic from records to acres
These figures make the arithmetic easy to follow. They aren't typical income, expenses, rates or land prices, and the page doesn't recommend them. The editable sample above uses the same numbers.
With the hypothetical inflow reduced by 10% and the hypothetical rate increased by 2 points, the same engine derives a $1,720.00 payment ceiling, a $305,633.38 property budget and 61.13 acres.
Forward versus reverse
Use the calculator that matches the number you know
Use this calculator before you've settled on a parcel. It starts with your cash flow and works back to a price. The land loan calculator goes the other way, starting with a listing price and finding the payment.
A lender still has the final say. Debt-to-income rules, collateral, the appraisal, credit and loan-to-value limits sit outside this calculation.
Cash-flow equation
payment ceiling = monthly cash inflow − non-debt expenses − existing debt payments − ownership-cost reserve − chosen safety buffer. Put taxes, insurance and upkeep in the ownership reserve. The safety buffer is cash you choose to keep free.
Transparent inverse formula
For a nonzero rate, maximum loan principal is payment × (1 − (1 + r)−n) ÷ r. Here, r = entered annual rate ÷ 12 and n = whole years × 12. At 0%, principal is payment × months.
From principal to acres
Maximum property budget equals supported loan principal plus available cash minus cash closing costs. Affordable acres equal that property budget divided by the price per acre you entered.
Schedule and rounding
The fixed-rate engine builds the monthly schedule from the solved principal. It keeps full precision during the calculation, then shows money to the cent and acres to two decimal places. The last payment clears any rounding residue.
Optional stress case
Income stress cuts only the cash inflow by the percentage you enter. Rate stress adds your chosen percentage points to the APR. Everything else stays put, making the comparison easy to check.
Where the numbers come from
Farm Credit Services of America says to test a possible land payment against cash flow and include local real-estate taxes. Read its land-affordability guide.
Iowa State University Extension counts real-estate taxes, insurance and upkeep of terraces, tile lines, fences and buildings among the cash costs of ownership. Read its farmland purchase analysis.
The U.S. Prime Rate is 7.00% per annum in the Federal Reserve H.15 release as of 2026-10-13. Prime gives context, but the calculator doesn't use it. Enter the APR your lender quoted.
And check the parts no calculator can settle. Ask the lender which income and debts it counts, how much cash it requires, whether it escrows tax and insurance, what you'll pay at closing, and whether the rate can change. Then replace the sample with those figures and pick a buffer that fits the swings in your own budget.