≈ $2,000 down
Taxes & fees
Ongoing vehicle costs
Ongoing costs
Estimated total
$763/mo
Want the occasional useful email?
New calculators, updated cost data, and the occasional money-saving guide. No account needed, and you can leave any time.
By Alex Diaz · How we calculate this
A lease payment is generally judged by the same rough guideline as a car loan - no more than about 15-20% of monthly take-home pay. The mechanics behind it are different, though: a lease runs on the vehicle's residual value and a "money factor" instead of a straightforward interest rate, and that money factor is usually written as a tiny decimal like .00125 rather than a percentage. Multiply it by 2,400 if you want a rough APR to compare against a loan. Enter the vehicle's price and real lease terms below, and this works out the actual monthly payment the way a dealer's own worksheet would.
These key factors affect car lease affordability
Income and expenses
A lease payment competes for the same monthly budget as everything else you owe, so it isn't judged against your income by itself. Any existing debt you've logged gets weighed in too.
Mileage limits and fees
Most leases cap you at 10,000, 12,000, or 15,000 miles a year, with an overage fee (often somewhere around 15 to 30 cents a mile) charged at lease-end for every mile past that, plus possible wear-and-tear charges on top. Underestimating how much you actually drive is one of the most common ways a lease ends up costing far more than the quoted payment ever suggested - so be honest about your commute before picking the lowest mileage tier just to shave a few dollars off the monthly number.
Upfront costs
Signing usually means more than just the first payment. Leases typically want a down payment (dealers call it a "cap cost reduction"), that first month's payment, an acquisition fee, and a handful of smaller fees, all due before you drive off - worth budgeting for as a separate lump sum rather than folding it into the monthly number in your head.
Leasing vs. buying
A lease payment usually beats financing the same car, but you walk away owning nothing and are back shopping again in two or three years. Whether that trade is worth it comes down to how often you like changing cars, how many miles you actually drive, and what insurance runs on the specific model you're eyeing - leases typically require full coverage, and often bundle in gap insurance automatically, which is one cost a financed purchase usually leaves you to add separately if you want it at all.
How to use your results
Try a few different scenarios rather than a single number:
- With your actual annual mileage, since going over the limit adds real cost at lease-end.
- Alongside your existing debt, for a realistic sense of what's actually left over.
- Against a comparable purchase payment, to see which fits your budget and habits better.
Ways to afford more lease - or free up more room
- Negotiate the vehicle's price before discussing lease terms, since the price still drives the payment.
- Choose a mileage tier that matches how much you actually drive to avoid overage fees later.
- Pay down high-interest debt first, since it's competing with the lease for the same monthly budget.
- Compare offers across dealers and manufacturers, since lease deals vary more than purchase financing.
More vehicles calculators
Sources
Kelley Blue Book (average new-vehicle price), Edmunds / RateGenius (typical lease money factor), Edmunds / Experian (typical lease residual value), Tax Foundation / Avalara (state vehicle sales tax rates), Policygenius (national average vehicle sales tax), CarEdge (average dealer documentation fee), GeoNames (ZIP code/city lookup)
Starting points to compare against, not real-time quotes.
Peer comparison data
Bureau of Labor Statistics (median income by age), Experian (credit score by age)
Used by the “how you compare” figures in the sidebar, not by the costs on this page.
Every figure on this site, with its source and the date it was last verified
How you compare
Income
Credit score
Nothing added yet - add something to see your risk.