Expense Ratio
See what share of income each expense category consumes.
About Expense Ratio
Each expense ratio is that category's spending as a share of income, letting you spot categories that are out of proportion. Benchmarks like the 30 percent housing rule provide a quick sanity check, though local costs vary widely.
Formula
Expense Ratio
Ratio = category spend / income x 100
- housing ratio
- A common guideline is housing under roughly 30 percent of income
Worked example
With the default values below, Expense Ratio returns Housing Ratio of 32.00%. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Monthly income
- 5,000
- Housing spend
- 1,600
- Food spend
- 700
- Transport spend
- 450
- Other spend
- 900
Results
- Housing Ratio
- 32.00%
- Food Ratio
- 14.00%
- Transport Ratio
- 9.00%
- Other Ratio
- 18.00%
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2Expense Ratio
- 3Housing Ratio= 32.00
- 4Food Ratio= 14.00
- 5Transport Ratio= 9.00
- 6Other Ratio= 18.00
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 5 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is Expense Ratio calculated?
Ratio = category spend / income x 100 Each expense ratio is that category's spending as a share of income, letting you spot categories that are out of proportion.
Why does Expense Ratio matter?
Benchmarks like the 30 percent housing rule provide a quick sanity check, though local costs vary widely.
What values do I need to enter?
This calculator takes 5 inputs: Monthly income, Housing spend, Food spend, Transport spend, Other spend. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.