Calculators › DSCR Calculator
FinancingBy Cedrick Reese, Property Rental Calculator
Free calculator for your rental property's DSCR, net operating income divided by annual debt service, the ratio DSCR loans use to qualify a deal.
Property & loan
Taxes, insurance, maintenance, management. Do not include the loan payment.
Principal and interest at minimum; include taxes and insurance if your lender escrows them.
Enter a rent amount and a loan payment above zero to see your ratio.
DSCR requirements vary by lender and loan program. This estimates your ratio, not loan approval. Not financial advice. Last reviewed September 2026.
Most DSCR lenders set 1.00 as the bare minimum: the property's income needs to at least equal its own debt payment. A ratio of 1.25 or higher is where you typically see the best rates and the smoothest underwriting, since it gives the lender a cushion if rent dips or expenses rise. Some specialty programs still qualify a property with a ratio below 1.00 — a property carrying a monthly loss on paper — but usually only with a larger down payment (often 30–35%) and a noticeably higher rate.
On $2,000 monthly rent with 5% vacancy and $8,000 of annual operating expenses, effective gross income is $22,800 and NOI comes to $14,800. Against a $1,150 monthly loan payment ($13,800 a year), that's a DSCR of 1.07: above the 1.00 floor most lenders require, but below the 1.25 level that unlocks the best pricing.
A 1.00 minimum is the common floor. Many lenders offer their lowest rates and easiest underwriting starting around 1.25.
Some DSCR loan programs allow it, typically with a larger down payment and a higher interest rate to offset the added risk to the lender.
DSCR looks only at the property's own income against its own loan payment. It doesn't consider your personal income, tax returns, or employment, which is the whole appeal of a DSCR loan. See DSCR loans explained.
No. Net operating income is calculated before financing, the same convention used in our Cap Rate Calculator, so the loan payment only enters the picture in the DSCR step itself.
This calculator was built by Cedrick Reese, a web developer, using the standard NOI-over-annual-debt-service formula lenders and commercial underwriters actually use for DSCR analysis. The 1.00 and 1.25 benchmarks referenced here come from current DSCR-loan lending guides, cited below, and we recheck them whenever loan qualification standards move.