FinanceRateCalc is committed to transparency. Every number on this site comes from a verifiable source. Below is a complete breakdown of what we use, why, and how we calculate affordability.
PITI = Principal + Interest + Taxes + Insurance. This is the standard lender calculation for total monthly housing cost.
We do not scrape, fabricate, or interpolate data without disclosure. All figures are either directly sourced from the agencies listed above or clearly labeled as estimates. When data is unavailable for a specific geography, we note it as an approximation.
Mortgage rate assumptions are reviewed monthly. Home price data is updated quarterly using Zillow ZHVI. Salary data reflects the most recent BLS OEWS annual release. City-specific market trend data is updated as significant changes occur.
Important Disclaimer: All calculations are estimates for educational purposes only. Actual mortgage qualification depends on your specific credit score, debt load, lender overlays, and current market rates. FinanceRateCalc is not a lender and does not provide financial advice. Always consult a licensed mortgage professional for your specific situation.
🔍 Also explore: All FRC Tools · Lender Comparison · FHA by State · Lender Stress Index
FRC data is published as open datasets on Hugging Face under CC BY 4.0: FHA Denial Rates — Top 100 (2025) and The Denial-AI Benchmark v1, and FHA Denial Rates by Metro (320 MSAs), and FHA Denial Reason Fingerprints (100 lenders), FHA Denial Rates by State with loan-size splits, the 2018–2025 time series, and peer-adjusted denial rates. The benchmark's companion working paper is on SSRN (abstract 7156938). Researchers may reuse both with attribution.
We publish derived FHA statistics; these public tools are complementary and, for some questions, better:
• FFIEC/CFPB HMDA Data Browser — the raw filings, filterable by institution and geography.
• Home Mortgage Explorer (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia) — interactive HMDA analysis, 2010–2024, with demographic and geographic breakdowns.
• HMDA Lender File (Philadelphia Fed, the “Avery file”) — lender characteristics and parent-organization links, 1990–2024, essential for time-series work.
• National Mortgage Database (FHFA) — representative loan-performance statistics.
• Urban Institute Housing Finance Policy Center and Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis — peer-reviewed and staff research on denial measurement and determinants.
For who-gets-denied questions by race and neighborhood, fair-housing research (e.g., The Markup's reporting, local fair-housing centers) measures a different and equally important axis than our door-level work.
All seven open datasets in one place: the data catalog →