Estimate your monthly federal student loan payment under the Income-Based Repayment plan, based on your income, family size, and state updated with 2026 federal poverty guidelines.
Federal Student Loan Tool
IBR Calculator
Your estimate
- Discretionary income
- $0
- Poverty guideline (150%)
- $0
- Payment rate applied
- —
- Standard 10-year payment
- $0
- Forgiveness after
- —
Your payment is capped at the standard 10-year amount because your discretionary-income payment would otherwise be higher.
Your income falls at or below 150% of the poverty guideline for your family size, so your estimated IBR payment is $0/month.
Estimate only, for U.S. federal Direct and FFEL loans. Actual payments are determined by your loan servicer using your certified income and family size. Uses 2026 HHS poverty guidelines.
Frequently asked questions
How does Income-Based Repayment (IBR) work?
IBR sets your federal student loan payment as a percentage of your discretionary income rather than your loan balance. Discretionary income is your adjusted gross income minus 150% of the federal poverty guideline for your family size and state. Borrowers who took out their first loan on or after July 1, 2014 pay 10% of discretionary income; borrowers with an earlier first loan pay 15%. Your payment is never higher than what you’d pay on the 10-year Standard Repayment Plan.
Who qualifies for IBR?
You generally qualify if your IBR payment would be lower than what you’d pay under the Standard Repayment Plan, based on your income and family size (“partial financial hardship”). Most federal Direct Loans and many FFEL loans are eligible; Parent PLUS loans are not.
When is my remaining balance forgiven under IBR?
Newer borrowers (first loan on or after July 1, 2014) receive forgiveness after 20 years of qualifying payments. Borrowers with an earlier first loan are on the 25-year track. Forgiven amounts may be treated as taxable income under current law, so check the latest IRS guidance.
Does my spouse’s income count toward IBR?
If you file taxes jointly, your spouse’s income is generally included in the calculation and your combined family size is used. If you file separately, in most cases only your own income counts. This calculator assumes a single filer; for joint filers, enter your combined AGI and household size.
Is IBR the same as PAYE, SAVE, or other income-driven plans?
No. IBR is one of several income-driven repayment (IDR) plans alongside Pay As You Earn (PAYE), Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR), and other options that may be available depending on when you borrowed. Each plan uses a different percentage of discretionary income and a different forgiveness timeline, so it’s worth comparing all plans you’re eligible for through your loan servicer or studentaid.gov.
Table of Contents
Income-Based Repayment (IBR) Calculator 2026: Estimate Your Student Loan Payment
Federal student loan payments aren't supposed to be a flat number handed down regardless of what you actually make. That's the whole point of Income-Based Repayment (IBR) — it ties your monthly bill to your income and family size instead of your loan balance. Plug your numbers into the calculator above and you'll get an instant estimate. But if you want to understand where that number actually comes from — and how IBR fits into a repayment system that's changed a lot over the past year — here's the full breakdown.
What Is Income-Based Repayment (IBR)?
IBR is one of the federal government's income-driven repayment (IDR) plans. Instead of charging you a fixed amount based on how much you borrowed, it caps your payment at a percentage of your discretionary income — basically, whatever you earn above a protected living-expense floor.
There are actually two versions of IBR, and which one you land in comes down to a single date: when you took out your first federal student loan.
| New IBR | Old IBR | |
|---|---|---|
| Applies if your first loan was | On or after July 1, 2014 | Before July 1, 2014 |
| Payment | 10% of discretionary income | 15% of discretionary income |
| Forgiveness after | 20 years of qualifying payments | 25 years of qualifying payments |
| Payment cap | Standard 10-year payment amount | Standard 10-year payment amount |
Either way, there's a ceiling: your payment can never climb higher than what you'd owe on the Standard 10-year plan, even if your income jumps later.
Try our personal loan calculator.
How the Calculator Works: The IBR Formula
Nothing mysterious here — the calculator just runs the same math your loan servicer would:
- Look up your poverty guideline. This depends on your family size and where you live (48 contiguous states + D.C., Alaska, or Hawaii — the last two run higher).
- Multiply it by 150%. If your income sits below that line, your payment is $0. That's not a bug — it's how the plan is designed to work for people going through a rough patch.
- Subtract to get discretionary income. Annual Gross Income − (150% × Poverty Guideline) = discretionary income.
- Apply your rate. 10% for new IBR, 15% for old IBR, then divide by 12 to get a monthly number.
- Check the cap. If that number is higher than your Standard 10-year payment, you pay the Standard amount instead — never more.
Here's what that looks like with real numbers: say you're a single borrower in the contiguous U.S. making $45,000 a year, and your first loan went out in 2016 (so you're on new IBR). The 2026 poverty guideline for one person is $15,960. Multiply by 1.5 and you get $23,940 — that's your threshold. Subtract that from your income and you're left with $21,060 in discretionary income. Take 10% of that, divide by 12, and you land around $175.50 a month, assuming your Standard payment would be higher than that.
2026 Federal Poverty Guidelines Used in This Calculator
| Family size | 48 contiguous states + D.C. | Alaska | Hawaii |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,960 | $19,950 | $18,360 |
| 2 | $21,640 | $27,050 | $24,890 |
| 3 | $27,320 | $34,150 | $31,420 |
| 4 | $33,000 | $41,250 | $37,950 |
| 5 | $38,680 | $48,350 | $44,480 |
For households larger than eight, add $5,680 per person in the contiguous states, $7,100 in Alaska, or $6,530 in Hawaii.
What Changed for IBR in 2026–2027
If you last looked into IBR a couple years ago, some of what you knew is out of date. Federal repayment went through its biggest overhaul in more than a decade, and it changes both how IBR works and whether it's even the plan you should be on.
The financial-hardship test is gone. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed in mid-2025, dropped the old "partial financial hardship" requirement that used to keep some borrowers out of IBR. Now, if your loans are eligible, you can enroll no matter what you earn.
The SAVE plan didn't survive. A federal court vacated it in March 2026. If you were sitting in SAVE forbearance waiting this out, that time hasn't been counting toward forgiveness — so it's worth moving to an active plan sooner rather than later.
PAYE and ICR are on their way out, just not immediately. Both stop taking new enrollees and shut down completely by July 1, 2028. If you're currently on one of them, you'll eventually be moved to either IBR or the new plan described below.
That new plan is RAP — the Repayment Assistance Plan — and it launched July 1, 2026. It's now the only income-driven option for loans first disbursed on or after that date, and it works differently: payments are based on your total income rather than discretionary income, and forgiveness takes considerably longer, around 30 years.
Meanwhile, IBR isn't going anywhere. For any loan disbursed before July 1, 2026, it stays open indefinitely, and it's still the only IDR plan that takes FFEL loans directly without requiring you to consolidate first.
One piece of good news in all this: switching plans doesn't wipe out your progress. Qualifying months you've already logged under SAVE, PAYE, or ICR still count if you move into IBR.
Given how much of this is still shaking out, it's worth double-checking the current rules at studentaid.gov or with your servicer before you enroll in anything.
IBR vs. RAP vs. PAYE vs. ICR: Quick Comparison
| Plan | Payment formula | Forgiveness timeline | Still open to new enrollees? |
|---|---|---|---|
| IBR (new) | 10% of discretionary income | 20 years | Yes, for loans before 7/1/2026 |
| IBR (old) | 15% of discretionary income | 25 years | Yes, for loans before 7/1/2014 |
| PAYE | 10% of discretionary income | 20 years | Closes to new enrollees 7/1/2026; plan ends 7/1/2028 |
| ICR | Lesser of 20% of discretionary income or a fixed 12-year payment | 25 years | Closes to new enrollees 7/1/2026; plan ends 7/1/2028 |
| RAP | 1%–10% of total AGI (not discretionary income) | 30 years | Yes — required for loans on/after 7/1/2026 |
Who Should Use IBR?
There's no single "best" plan for everyone, but IBR tends to be a solid fit if:
- Your income is on the lower side relative to what you owe
- You've got FFEL loans and would rather not consolidate them into a Direct Loan
- You're working toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness and want a plan that's been around and isn't going anywhere
- You were in SAVE and need something active now that it's been struck down
The one hard line: if your loans were first disbursed on or after July 1, 2026, IBR simply isn't on the table. RAP is your only income-driven option at that point.
How to Apply for IBR
- Log in to studentaid.gov and fill out the Income-Driven Repayment Plan Request.
- Make sure you actually select IBR — servicers have been known to default people into a different plan.
- Have your income documentation ready (most recent tax return or recent pay stubs both work).
- Married and filing jointly? Include your spouse's income and your combined household size.
- Recertify every 12 months. Skip this and your payment can jump to something based on outdated numbers.
