About DPA Estimator
A state-by-state record of down payment assistance: which program your state runs, how it is structured, roughly what it is worth, and the agency page where you can check it yourself.
The question this site answers
Most buyers researching assistance hit the same wall. National directories list thousands of programs with no way to tell which one applies to them. Affordability calculators size a mortgage but behave as though assistance does not exist. Neither answers the question that actually blocks a purchase: in my state, what is available, who runs it, and does it close my cash gap?
DPA Estimator is built around that question and nothing wider. It is a directory first and an estimator second.
What is actually here
- Fifty state pages — one for each US state. Each names a single assistance program, states whether it is a grant, a deferred second mortgage or a forgivable loan, gives the typical amount in the terms the agency itself uses, and links straight to that agency's own program page. Each page also carries the three questions buyers in that state ask most, answered plainly.
- An eligibility estimator on the home page. You give income, monthly debt payments, savings, credit band and state; it returns the purchase price your income supports, the cash you would still be short, and whether that state's program plausibly covers the shortfall. The estimator's own state list is narrower than the directory — it currently carries matched program data for eleven states (California, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Oklahoma, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina) and is being extended.
- Six buyer answers covering repayment obligations, FHA pairing, credit-score floors, income requirements, and whether saving beats applying.
- A 2026 data study on the state of down payment assistance, and an embeddable version of the estimator for other sites.
How a program is chosen for a state
One program per state, chosen by a fixed rule rather than by editorial preference:
- Preference goes to the program administered by that state's own housing finance agency, because it is the one available to buyers anywhere in the state.
- Where no statewide program is the practical default, the listed program is the one reaching the largest number of buyers in that state. New York is the clearest example: the page lists New York City's HPD HomeFirst assistance, which is a city program, because it is what most New York buyers can actually use.
- A program is only listed once its name, structure and amount have been read off the administering agency's own page. Third-party aggregators are not accepted as a source for a listing.
- Where the amount varies by county, tier or funding round, the page says so instead of publishing a single figure that would be wrong for most readers.
How it is kept current
Assistance programs pause, reopen and change income limits without notice, so nothing here is presented as authoritative. Each listing is re-read against the agency page and the calculator publishes the date of the last review — currently July 2026. Every state page links out to the agency so the live terms are always one click away, and a correction sent to us is checked against the agency page before anything is changed.
What the estimate is built from
- Borrowing capacity — total housing payment capped at 31% of gross monthly income, and that payment plus other debts capped at 43%. These are the standard FHA front-end and back-end debt-to-income limits; the lower of the two governs.
- Price — the standard 30-year amortisation formula solved for the loan that budget supports, at the interest rate you set on the slider.
- Carrying costs — property tax at 1.1% and insurance at 0.35% of price per year, US national averages used as placeholders. Your county will differ, sometimes sharply.
- Rate benchmark — Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
- Program counts — Down Payment Resource's quarterly count (2,679 programs nationwide, 77% active and funded, Q1 2026).
What this site is not
Not a lender, mortgage broker, real-estate agent, or government agency. No loans are originated here, no applications are taken, and there is no affiliation with any state housing finance agency, with HUD, or with any program named on these pages. Agency names and program names appear because they are the subject being documented.
Editorial rules
- Every statistic carries a named, linked source. An unsourceable number is not published.
- No invented reviews, testimonials, endorsements or press badges.
- Errors are corrected on discovery, and the correction is noted rather than quietly overwritten.
How the site pays for itself
The directory and the estimator are free, need no account, and are not gated behind an email address. Costs are covered by two things, both disclosed:
- Display advertising in clearly marked slots, served through Google AdSense.
- Two optional paid guides for buyers who want a deeper walkthrough, sold through Gumroad.
There is provision in the code for a lender-comparison affiliate link, but no affiliate link is live on the site today. If one is added it will be marked, and no lender will ever be ranked or ordered by what it pays.
The limit of an estimate
Nothing here is a loan offer, a pre-approval, or an eligibility decision. A match shown by the estimator means a program exists that fits the shape of your situation — not that you qualify for it. Income limits, credit floors, purchase-price caps, occupancy conditions and funding availability are set solely by the administering agency and change often. Confirm with that agency and with a licensed loan officer or a HUD-approved housing counsellor before you rely on any number on this site.
Found something out of date? Tell us — corrections are the most useful message we receive.