Hidden Cost of Owning a Home Calculator
The typical homeowner pays $16,566 a year on top of the mortgage. That works out to about $1,380 a month for maintenance, property taxes and homeowners insurance. The figures come from the Zillow and Thumbtack release of October 22, 2026. Maintenance makes up about two-thirds of that total. The hidden cost of owning a home calculator below starts with those national typical amounts. Replace them with your own tax bill, insurance quote and maintenance reserve to see what owning costs you each month, each year and over five years.
In our internal cost modeling, we ran a newer home that needs $3,000 a year of maintenance through the calculator. It keeps the typical $3,129 property tax bill and $2,266 insurance premium. Its hidden cost comes to $8,395 a year, or $699.58 a month. That is $8,171 a year below the national typical. Over five years at 3% yearly growth, the total is $44,570.
How it works
The calculator adds three yearly costs and one monthly cost: maintenance and repairs, property taxes, homeowners insurance and homeowners association (HOA) dues. Its starting values are the national typical amounts from the Zillow and Thumbtack study: $11,171 for maintenance, $3,129 for property taxes and $2,266 for insurance. Those add to $16,566 a year, or $1,380.50 a month on top of the mortgage. These starting values are typical amounts reported for the whole country. They are not a quote for any house. In our internal cost modeling, we ran the calculator's arithmetic over seven homeowner scenarios, including a low-maintenance home, a condo with HOA dues and a high-insurance market. We chose those scenarios ourselves to see how far one household's cost can sit from the national typical. None of them was measured on a real house or drawn from a client case, and you can enter the same numbers in the calculator above to check them. With the national inputs, maintenance alone is $930.92 a month. Maintenance takes 67% of the total, property taxes 19% and insurance 14%. With nothing entered, the calculator returns $0 and asks for the three yearly figures.
Maintenance, property taxes and insurance sit on separate lines because you find each number in a different place. Your property tax figure is the yearly amount on your tax bill. The calculator leaves out the income-tax effects of owning, and our tax deductions for homeowners guide covers that side of property taxes. Your insurance figure is the yearly premium on a homeowners insurance quote. Maintenance has no bill, so you enter a yearly reserve for upkeep and repairs. In the study, Thumbtack built the maintenance figure from home projects requested on Thumbtack, and Zillow estimated property taxes and insurance for a typical U.S. homeowner. If your home has HOA dues, enter the monthly amount and the calculator multiplies it by 12.
The calculator projects your costs forward with a simple growth rule. Year one is your yearly total. Each later year is the previous year times one plus the growth rate, and the projection total is the sum of the years. The default growth rate is 3%. In the study, overall costs rose 2.8% over the last year, which rounds to about 3%. At the national inputs, five years at 3% growth total $87,951. The fifth year alone comes to $18,645. With no growth over ten years, the total is $165,660. Maintenance growth slowed to 1% in 2026. It had been 9% in 2022.
The national typical can sit far from one household's real cost, and three of our modeled cases show how far. A low-maintenance home with $3,000 of yearly upkeep and the typical tax and insurance figures costs $8,395 a year. That is $699.58 a month, or $8,171 below the national typical. Our condo case uses $3,000 for maintenance, $3,129 for property taxes and $800 for insurance. Those three lines add to $6,929, which is $9,637 below the national typical. Add $400 a month of HOA dues, or $4,800 a year, and the household total is $11,729. That is $977.42 a month, and HOA dues make up 41% of it. The comparison line in the calculator leaves HOA out, so it shows the $9,637 gap. Compare the full $11,729 total against the national $16,566 as a separate step. A high-insurance market moves the cost the other way, and the release puts Miami insurance at nearly $5,000 a year. Put $5,000 of insurance into the national inputs and the total becomes $19,300 a year. That is $1,608.33 a month and $2,734 above the national typical. Its five-year total is $102,466.
Over five years, the national total in the study is up 31.7%. Insurance rose fastest, up 54%. Maintenance is up 32% and property taxes are up 19% over the same period. Those changes describe what already happened. They do not predict the next five years, so the growth rate stays an input you can edit. If your own insurance quotes have climbed faster than your other costs, raise the growth rate to see a more cautious projection.
The mortgage line is optional. Enter your monthly principal and interest to see mortgage plus these costs per month, and enter a home value to see the yearly cost as a percent of that value. With the national inputs, a $2,200 payment and a $400,000 home, the all-in cost is $3,580.50 a month. The yearly cost on top of the mortgage is 4.1% of that home value. The $2,200 payment and $400,000 value are illustrative inputs we picked. To size the mortgage itself, use our home affordability calculator. If you are deciding between renting and buying, the rent vs buy calculator shows the break-even year.
The calculator leaves out utilities, furnishings, remodeling you choose to do, mortgage insurance and the income-tax effects of owning. The study covers the typical U.S. homeowner and 30 metro areas, and costs vary by market. The release does not define a typical home or state the home value behind the typical figures. Across the metros, the total ranges from $14,187 in Phoenix to $25,111 in New York. Six metros top $3,000 a year for insurance. The low-maintenance, condo, high-insurance and mortgage cases above are our own illustrative inputs. They describe no real house.
Treat $1,380 a month as the national typical starting point. Then replace it with your own insurance quote, property tax bill and maintenance reserve, and budget the sum. In our internal cost modeling, a newer home or a condo whose association pays for exteriors ran well below the typical, as the $3,000-maintenance case at $8,395 a year shows. A high-premium market can run well above it, as the $5,000-insurance case at $19,300 a year shows. Your own quotes change the answer. If you already have a full year of your own bills, use those totals directly. If you are weighing renting against buying, the rent vs buy calculator fits that decision better. This calculator gives educational estimates and is not financial advice. If you are shopping for a home, add your three quotes to our home buying checklist so the hidden cost of owning a home is in your budget from the first month.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to own a home each year beyond the mortgage?
The typical homeowner pays $16,566 a year beyond the mortgage, which is $1,380.50 a month. That figure covers maintenance, property taxes and homeowners insurance in the Zillow and Thumbtack study. Your own number depends on your insurance quote, tax bill and maintenance reserve, which you can enter in the calculator above.
What are the hidden costs of owning a home?
The study names maintenance at $11,171 a year, property taxes at $3,129 and homeowners insurance at $2,266. Maintenance is the largest, at about two-thirds of the total. Some homes also carry HOA dues, which the calculator takes as a monthly amount.
How much should I budget for home maintenance each month?
The national typical maintenance figure works out to $930.92 a month. In our low-maintenance case, with $3,000 a year of upkeep, the set-aside drops to $250 a month. Enter your own yearly reserve, and the calculator shows the monthly set-aside.
Which hidden cost of homeownership has risen fastest?
Homeowners insurance has risen fastest, up 54% over five years. Maintenance is up 32% and property taxes are up 19% over the same period. Miami has the highest insurance cost in the study, at nearly $5,000 a year.
Does this calculator include the mortgage payment?
No, the headline figure is the cost on top of the mortgage. If you enter your monthly principal and interest, the calculator adds a line showing mortgage plus these costs per month. With a home value entered, it also shows the yearly cost as a percent of that value.
Why might my cost be lower than the national typical?
Your cost sits below the typical when your upkeep or insurance runs lower. A home with $3,000 of yearly maintenance comes to $8,395 a year, which is $8,171 below the national typical. Our condo case, with $3,000 maintenance and $800 insurance, totals $6,929 on the three lines. Its $4,800 of yearly HOA dues lift the household total to $11,729.
How much will these costs grow over five years?
At the default 3% yearly growth, the national typical reaches $18,645 in the fifth year. The five-year total is $87,951. The 3% matches the reported one-year change of 2.8%, rounded, and works as a planning default. Change the growth rate to test a faster or slower rise.
What does this calculator leave out?
It leaves out utilities, furnishings, remodeling you choose to do, mortgage insurance and the income-tax effects of owning. It also leaves out the mortgage payment unless you enter it. Budget those costs separately from the calculator's total.
Sources
We prioritize primary sources for rules, formulas, rates, limits, and definitions. See our calculator methodology and editorial policy.