Closing Cost Calculator

Closing costs are the third-party fees a buyer owes at the settlement table on top of the down payment. Lenders, title companies, appraisers, surveyors, county recorders, state revenue offices, and (in 21 states) attorneys all charge for their slice of the transaction, and most of those charges scale with the home price rather than the loan size. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau requires lenders to disclose every line on the Loan Estimate within 3 business days of application and again on the Closing Disclosure 3 business days before closing, so you can compare the lender's actual numbers against this estimate.

The flat fees (appraisal, inspection, survey, recording, attorney) hold steady around $1,500 to $2,000 regardless of price, while the percentage-based fees (origination at about 0.75%, owner's title at 0.5%, transfer tax from 0% to 2%) scale with the home. Add prepaid interest and two months of escrow reserves on top, and the bundle usually lands between 2% and 5% of price. Cheaper homes skew toward the high end because the flat fees become a bigger share; luxury homes in high-transfer-tax states can push above 5% once the New York City mansion tax or New Jersey realty transfer fees kick in.

Twenty-one US jurisdictions either require a licensed real-estate attorney or have a bar-association ruling that makes attorney involvement standard practice: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. The calculator defaults the $700 attorney fee on for any of those states and lets you toggle it off (or on for non-required states where you want representation anyway).

Mortgage interest is paid in arrears, meaning your first regular monthly payment covers the previous month. The lender bridges the gap between closing day and the start of that first full month by charging per-diem interest from closing day through the last day of the closing month. Closing on the 1st maxes out prepaid interest (about 30 days), closing on the 30th minimizes it (1 day or less). Many buyers schedule closings late in the month to reduce the cash needed at the table; the trade-off is a slightly later first-payment due date.

The percentage assumptions match 2025 national averages from the ALTA Settlement Statement archives and the CFPB's Loan Estimate Explainer. Real numbers vary because lenders price origination as either a flat fee, points, or a percentage; title insurance is regulated state by state and can drop with a re-issue rate when refinancing or buying within a few years of the seller's purchase; transfer taxes change at the local level (NYC adds a 1% to 3.9% mansion tax above $1M, Cook County IL stacks city and county on top of the state rate). Treat the result as a planning estimate and verify against your lender's Loan Estimate before closing.