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Income vs Expense Calculator
See where your money goes each month. Enter your take-home income and your main spending categories, then press Calculate to find your surplus, savings rate and yearly outlook.
Written by TopicDrill Editorial Team·Updated June 2026
Where the money goes
- Housing$1,500 (43%)
- Transport$500 (14%)
- Food$600 (17%)
- Other$900 (26%)
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How the income vs expense calculator works
The tool adds up your four spending categories and subtracts the total from your monthly take-home income. A positive result is a surplus you can save or invest, and a negative one is a deficit that eats into your reserves. It also divides the surplus by income to give you a savings rate you can track over time.
The donut chart shows the share of spending each category takes, so an oversized slice is easy to spot. The yearly figure simply multiplies your monthly surplus by twelve to show the impact over a full year.
A quick example
Imagine 5,000 dollars of take-home pay against 1,500 for housing, 500 for transport, 600 for food and 900 for everything else. Expenses total 3,500 dollars, leaving a 1,500 dollar surplus. That is a 30 percent savings rate and 18,000 dollars set aside over a year, assuming the pattern holds.
Things to keep in mind
Irregular costs like annual insurance or holidays can quietly turn a surplus into a deficit, so divide them into a monthly figure before entering them. For a framework on splitting income, the popular 50/30/20 rule is explained well at ConsumerFinance.gov. Once you know your monthly surplus, see how far it grows with our investment goal calculator.
Frequently asked questions
What does income vs expense tell me?
It shows whether you are living within your means. When monthly income is larger than total expenses you have a surplus to save or invest. When expenses are larger you have a deficit, meaning you are drawing down savings or adding debt each month.
What is a good savings rate?
Many planners suggest saving at least 20 percent of take-home pay, though the right figure depends on your goals and cost of living. This tool shows your savings rate as the surplus divided by income, so you can see how close you are to that target.
Should I use gross or take-home income?
Use take-home pay, the amount that actually lands in your account after taxes and deductions. Budgeting against gross pay overstates what you can spend, because a meaningful slice never reaches you to begin with.
What counts as the other category?
Other is a catch-all for spending that is not housing, transport or food. That includes things like insurance, subscriptions, entertainment, debt payments and shopping. Grouping them keeps the picture simple while still capturing your full monthly outflow.
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