A closing cost calculator estimates selected transaction fees and cash requirements from the amounts you enter. This tool can model buyer costs and cash to close, seller costs and net proceeds, or selected refinance costs. It does not retrieve local fees or determine whether a purchase or refinance is financially worthwhile.
Use the result as a planning estimate, not as a lender quote or settlement statement. Fees, taxes, credits, and who pays them depend on the property, location, lender, service providers, contract, and transaction. Compare the entered figures with your lender's Loan Estimate and closing documents; the CFPB explains how to review costs on its Loan Estimate guide.
How to Use the Closing Cost Calculator
- Enter price and loan: Type the Home Price and Loan Amount; percentage-based fees are charged on the loan, while title insurance uses the price.
- Set the transaction details: Pick the Loan Type (Conventional, FHA, VA, or USDA), answer the First-Time Buyer question, and choose Buying (purchase) or Refinancing, since a refinance has no ownership transfer or agent commission.
- Choose the state and side: Select your State, enter the local Transfer Tax Rate (%), and pick Whose Side, Buyer or Seller; the seller side reveals fields for the Existing Mortgage Payoff and Agent Commission (% of price).
- Adjust the fee assumptions: The form pre-fills typical US figures such as the Origination Fee (%), Appraisal, Title Search, and prepaid tax months; edit any of them to match your Loan Estimate.
- Add the cash items: Buyers can enter the Down Payment and any Seller Credits, which are counted in cash to close rather than in the fees.
- Calculate and read the totals: Click Calculate for the Estimated Closing Costs figure and the grouped fee lists, plus Cash To Close for a buyer or Net Proceeds for a seller.
The estimate is only as accurate as the entered assumptions, so replace the pre-filled sample fees with quoted figures whenever you have them.
Before you calculate: the form hides the down-payment field in refinance mode and the seller-credit field in seller mode, but a value entered in another mode can remain in the calculation. Start from a clean form whenever you switch transaction type or side.
The three modes compute different things. The buyer mode prices selected fees and folds the down payment, the buyer's transfer-tax share, and any seller credit into cash to close. The seller mode prices the commission and the seller's transfer-tax share, then subtracts them, the seller credit, and the mortgage payoff from the price for net proceeds. The refinance mode reuses the buyer-side fee assumptions with no ownership transfer, no agent commission, and no down payment, producing a shorter fee list for a new loan on the same house.
What the calculator estimates
The buyer-side estimate combines editable lender and third-party fee assumptions with prepaid property tax, prepaid home insurance, and any upfront program premium entered. The form starts with sample fee values, including percentage-based fees and flat amounts. Replace them with figures from your lender, title company, insurance provider, or other source whenever you have a quote.
Fee assumptions and their calculation bases
The calculator uses different bases for some fees: origination and lender fees are percentages of the loan amount, while title insurance is calculated as a percentage of the home price. Its prepaid tax estimate uses the entered tax rate and months but applies the rate to the loan amount. Actual tax bills and escrow requirements may use different bases and timing.
Buyer closing costs and cash to close
Estimated costs versus cash to close
Estimated closing costs are the tool's selected fee total. Cash to close is a separate result that adds the entered down payment and buyer's modeled share of transfer tax, then subtracts the entered seller credit:
Cash to close = down payment + estimated costs + buyer transfer-tax share - seller credit
For example, with a $400,000 home, a $320,000 loan, an $80,000 down payment, no transfer tax or seller credit, and the form's default fee assumptions, the calculator estimates $7,216.67 in closing costs and $87,216.67 in cash to close. The result does not deduct earnest money or account for other credits, prorations, or settlement adjustments, so it may not match the final amount due.
The itemized default-fee example
That total is built from twelve lines, and seeing which ones are percentages and which are flat explains why a quote for a different loan or a different price will not scale evenly:
| Cost line | How the default is set | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Origination fee | 0.50% of the $320,000 loan | $1,600.00 |
| Lender fees | 0.25% of the loan | $800.00 |
| Discount points | Points entered | $0.00 |
| Appraisal | Flat | $400.00 |
| Title insurance | 0.50% of the $400,000 price | $2,000.00 |
| Title search | Flat | $350.00 |
| Survey | Flat | $450.00 |
| Attorney | Flat | $600.00 |
| Recording | Flat | $150.00 |
| Prepaid property tax | 1.25% a year for 2 months, applied to the loan | $666.67 |
| Prepaid home insurance | $100 a month for 2 months | $200.00 |
| Prepaid interest | Reported as zero | $0.00 |
| Estimated closing costs | Sum of the selected lines | $7,216.67 |
The two percentage-based lender charges and the title premium account for $4,400 of the $7,216.67, or 61%. The five flat third-party lines add $1,950 and the two prepaids add $866.67. That mix is why a smaller loan does not cut the total proportionally: the flat lines do not move at all. The prepaid property tax line is also tied to the loan rather than to an assessed value, which produces $666.67 here where the full $400,000 price would produce $833.33 at the same rate and month count.
How to read the 2% to 5% reference band
The displayed estimated-cost total does not include the buyer's transfer-tax share; that amount is added separately to cash to close. The calculator also reports a generic 2% to 5% loan-amount reference range. This is a comparison aid in the tool, not a location-specific quote or guarantee that your fees will fall within that range.
On the example above, the modeled total is $7,216.67, or 2.26% of the $320,000 loan, which sits just above the bottom of the $6,400 to $16,000 band the tool displays. The top of that band is $8,783.33 above the modeled total, and that gap is the room that state transfer taxes, local title pricing, and attorney requirements occupy. A quote above the band is not automatically padded, and a quote inside it is not automatically fair; the band is a sanity check on arithmetic, not a market survey.
Transfer tax is the cost most likely to live outside the itemized total. Illustratively, at a 0.5% rate on a $400,000 sale the tax is $2,000, which this calculator splits equally into $1,000 for the buyer (added to cash to close) and $1,000 for the seller (deducted from net proceeds). A jurisdiction or contract can assign the whole $2,000 to either side instead, so enter the rate and check the allocation your deal actually uses.
Who customarily pays which closing cost
Allocation is agreed in the purchase contract, and custom varies by state and locality ? some areas customarily split transfer taxes while others assign them to one side, and custom is not law. Broadly, buyer-side customary costs include lender and loan-related fees, the appraisal, title search and lender's title insurance, recording, and prepaids; seller-side customary costs include the agent commission, the seller's share of transfer taxes, and, in some regions, an owner's title policy. Each item is negotiable in the contract, which is why this tool prices the two sides separately.
Seller costs and estimated net proceeds
For a sale, the tool estimates seller costs from the entered commission percentage and the seller's modeled share of transfer tax. It then subtracts those costs, the seller credit entered, and the mortgage payoff supplied:
Estimated net proceeds = home price - seller costs - seller credit - mortgage payoff
For instance, a $400,000 sale with a 6% commission assumption, no transfer tax or seller credit, and a $200,000 payoff produces $24,000 in modeled seller costs and $176,000 in estimated net proceeds. The commission percentage is an editable assumption, not a required or universal rate: listing-side commission rates are negotiated between seller and agent for each listing, so enter whatever the listing agreement actually says.
This is a limited estimate, not a complete seller settlement worksheet. It does not itemize all possible title charges, liens, prorations, taxes, repairs, or other transaction costs. The mortgage payoff must be entered by you; the calculator does not obtain a payoff statement or estimate accrued interest.
Refinance estimate
The refinance option reuses the buyer-side fee assumptions to estimate selected costs. Because a refinance has no purchase price, no ownership transfer, and no agent commission, its modeled fee list is shorter than a purchase closing's. It does not model a new loan's full terms, calculate monthly payment or interest savings, determine a break-even date, or add fees to the new principal. Compare the estimate with a lender's Loan Estimate and confirm whether each cost will be paid in cash or financed.
Assumptions and limitations
- Location: The state selector labels the estimate; it does not look up state or county fees. Enter the applicable transfer-tax rate yourself. On a purchase, this calculator splits the entered amount equally between buyer and seller, which may not match local law or the purchase agreement.
- Loan and down payment: The tool does not check that the loan amount plus down payment matches the home price.
- Program premiums: The loan-type selection does not establish eligibility or verify current program fees. The entered upfront premium is added to estimated costs but is not added to the modeled principal. An entered annual fee is shown separately and is not included in the closing-cost total.
- First-time buyer status: This does not calculate assistance, grants, or fee reductions. Ask a lender or local housing agency about programs for which you may qualify.
- Settlement documents: The calculator does not reproduce the official Loan Estimate or Closing Disclosure format. Compare its inputs with current lender and closing-agent documents.
For a monthly principal-and-interest estimate, use the Mortgage Calculator. To explore a budget-based home price, use the Home Affordability Calculator. For the cost of discount points, see the Mortgage Points Calculator.
Provenance: the worked figures in this article were computed by replicating the calculator's model (apps/tools/closing-cost-calculator/logic.php) from the stated inputs, and verified in October 2026.
Last verified: October 2026. Calculator figures are outputs for the inputs entered; they are not live quotes, current rates, or an offer.