Mortgage calculator with taxes and insurance: your real payment

A payment quote that leaves out taxes or mortgage insurance isn’t your payment. It’s a teaser. This mortgage payment calculator builds the whole number the way I quote it at a kitchen table: your locality’s tax rate, the mortgage insurance your loan program charges, and every line written out on the pad so you can check my math.

What’s in a mortgage payment

Five pieces, and only one of them is fixed.

• Principal and interest. The loan itself, paid back over the term. On a fixed-rate loan this line never changes.
• Property taxes. Your locality’s rate times the home’s value, divided by 12 and paid through escrow.
• Homeowners insurance. Your yearly premium divided by 12, also through escrow.
• Mortgage insurance. PMI on a conventional loan with less than 20% down, FHA’s annual premium, or USDA’s annual fee. VA has none.
• HOA dues, if any. You pay the association directly, but the lender counts them.

Fixed is principal and interest. Taxes and insurance move with your county and your insurer, which is why a “fixed” payment can still rise. Here’s how property taxes and escrow work around Richmond.

How to use the mortgage payment calculator

• Home price and down payment. The down payment is a percent. The loan is the price minus the down payment, plus any upfront fee your program finances.
• Example interest rate and term. Use a rate from a real quote if you have one. The 6.5% default is an example, not an offer, and rates move every day.
• Loan program. Conventional, FHA, VA or USDA. This sets the mortgage insurance and any financed fee. Torn? Here’s FHA vs conventional side by side.
• Credit score. Prices PMI on a conventional loan only. FHA charges the same premium at any score.
• City or county. Sets the property tax rate per $100 of value.
• Insurance and HOA dues. $1,500 a year is my planning number until you have a real quote. HOA dues go in monthly.
• The two VA boxes. First use or used before, and the exemption box. They only matter with VA selected.

Where the numbers come from

• Property taxes: each locality’s posted rate. Seven are 2026 rates, including Chesterfield ($0.89 per $100), Henrico ($0.83) and Richmond city ($1.20). Powhatan, Goochland and Prince George post a current rate without naming the year, and New Kent, Hopewell and Charles City use their 2025 rates, the latest posted. Petersburg uses $1.27, the higher of the two rates the city’s own pages show ($1.22 and $1.27), so check with the treasurer. Goochland’s Tuckahoe Creek Service District adds $0.32 per $100 that isn’t included, and “Somewhere else” is a $1.00 placeholder.
• PMI: the published rate cards of two national mortgage insurers (the newer one effective February 2026), standard coverage, base rates by loan-to-value and score. A real quote adjusts for more: a debt-to-income ratio over 45% costs extra, two borrowers a little less. The calculator’s table stops at the 95% loan-to-value band and the 680 score band, so at 3% down or under 680 the PMI line reads light.
• FHA: HUD’s 1.75% upfront premium, financed, plus an annual premium on the base loan. On terms over 15 years it’s 0.55% with less than 5% down and 0.50% with 5% or more; on a 15-year it’s 0.40% with less than 10% down and 0.15% with 10% or more. Those are HUD’s rates for base loans up to $726,200, which covers every one-unit FHA loan around Richmond, and the table has stood since March 20, 2023.
• VA: the funding fee from VA’s table, financed, and no monthly mortgage insurance. The full chart is on my VA funding fee page.
• USDA: a 1% upfront guarantee fee, financed, and 0.35% a year, USDA’s fees for fiscal year 2027.

When mortgage insurance ends, and how to get rid of PMI, is all on my page about how mortgage insurance works.

How to read your payment

Here’s the default house with the county switched to Henrico, so you can follow along line by line.

A $350,000 home in Henrico County, 5% down

	Principal and interest ($332,500 at an example 6.5%, 30 years)	$2,102
+	Property taxes ($0.83 per $100)	$242
+	Homeowners insurance ($1,500 a year)	$125
+	PMI (740 score, 95% loan-to-value)	$147
=	Estimated monthly payment	$2,616

The same house runs about $2,633 in Chesterfield and about $2,723 in Richmond city.

Hypothetical example, rounded. Not a quote.

The lines quick quotes skip are the ones that move most. Drop the score to 680 and PMI goes from $147 to $266 a month. Put 20% down and PMI disappears, taking the Chesterfield payment to about $2,154. And at an example 6.5%, every $1,000 you borrow adds about $6 a month.

Once the payment looks right, check the two numbers that decide a purchase with it: how much house you can afford on your income, and what you’ll bring to the table in the cash to close calculator.

Questions people ask me about this

What is the payment on a $300,000 mortgage?

At an example rate of 6.5% on a 30-year fixed, principal and interest on a $300,000 loan is about $1,896 a month. Add $3,000 a year of property taxes and a $1,500 insurance policy and you’re near $2,271, before any mortgage insurance or HOA dues. Put your own price and down payment in the calculator to see the PMI line too.

Why did my payment go up if I have a fixed-rate mortgage?

Because only the principal and interest are fixed. Your property taxes and homeowners insurance are paid through escrow, so when your county reassesses or your policy renews, the payment moves with them. In my lifetime I’ve never seen my own property taxes go down.

When does PMI come off a conventional loan?

Under federal law you can ask your servicer to cancel it once your balance reaches 80% of the original value with a good payment history, and it ends on its own at 78% if you’re current. If your home has gone up in value, Fannie Mae loans allow removal at 75% of today’s value after two years, or 80% after five, with a new valuation. FHA mortgage insurance has its own rules, covered in how mortgage insurance works.

Why does the calculator figure taxes on the price instead of the county’s assessment?

Because that’s how I qualify buyers, and it’s the safer number. An assessment that sits below the price can catch up when the county reassesses, and a payment built on the old number can jump after closing. I’d rather show you the higher number first.

Does the VA payment include the funding fee?

Yes. The calculator adds VA’s funding fee to the loan, the way most buyers pay it, so it shows up inside principal and interest instead of as its own line. If you receive VA compensation for a service-connected disability, check the exemption box and it comes out. VA loans carry no monthly mortgage insurance.

Sources

• HUD Handbook 4000.1 (Update 18), FHA mortgage insurance premiums
• VA, VA funding fee and loan closing costs
• USDA Rural Development, Fiscal Year 2027 conditional commitment notice (guarantee fees)
• CFPB Compliance Bulletin 2015-03, private mortgage insurance cancellation and termination
• Fannie Mae Servicing Guide B-8.1-04, termination of conventional mortgage insurance
• Chesterfield County, real estate tax rate (FY27 adopted budget)