Rent affordability calculator
Enter an income and see what rent it can carry, or check what a tenant's income supports before you sign them.
- 20% of income
- 30% of income (selected)
- 40% of income
- Money left after rent
- Landlord screening lineApplicant income ÷ 3
Enter a monthly income and the three bands fill in as you type.
The percentage bands and the 3x screening rule are widely used conventions, not Ugandan law. No statute sets a rent-to-income limit here.
Everything is worked out inside your browser. What you type is never sent to us, never stored, and never logged.
Two different questions, one number
A tenant asks how much rent a salary can carry. A landlord asks whether an applicant's income supports the rent already on offer. Those read as the same question and they are not: one is a budget, the other is a screen. That is why this tool answers both instead of picking a side.
Where the percentages come from
No Ugandan statute sets a rent-to-income limit. The 20/30/40% bands here are a widely used household-budgeting convention, imported rather than local, and the 3x-income screening rule that Kampala agents and landlords quote is the same kind of convention on the letting side. Both are useful defaults. Neither is a rule you can cite against a landlord or a bank.
Three times rent works out to roughly 33% of income, between the 30% and 40% bands. An applicant who clears a landlord's screen can still be tight on their own budget once transport, school fees and a loan repayment are added in. That is the gap this calculator is built to show, not to hide.
What "money left after rent" is doing
This figure only appears once you have entered a debt or another expense. With nothing else in the budget it would just restate the rent band back at you, and a number that adds nothing is worse than no number. Fill in what you actually owe each month and it becomes the figure that matters: what is left once rent, debts and the rest have gone out.
Common questions
How much rent can I afford in Uganda?
A common starting point is 30% of gross monthly income, with 20% conservative and 40% a stretch. On a UGX 2,000,000 salary that is UGX 400,000 to 800,000. It is a budgeting convention, not a Ugandan law.
What percentage of salary should go to rent?
20 to 40% depending on how tight the rest of the budget already is. Debts and other fixed costs matter more than the headline percentage, so this calculator subtracts them to show what is actually left over.
What income should a landlord require from a tenant?
A common screening rule is that gross income should be at least three times the monthly rent. A UGX 900,000 rent screens for roughly UGX 2,700,000 or more in income. Like the rent-to-income bands, this is convention, not statute.
Why do the tenant band and the landlord rule disagree?
Three times rent is about 33% of income, which sits between the 30% and 40% bands. They are two different rules for two different questions (one is a budgeting guideline, the other a screening threshold), and there is no reason they should land on the same number.
What people search for
- how much rent can i afford uganda
- what percentage of salary should go to rent
- rent to income ratio uganda
- tenant screening income uganda