Rental Property Cash Flow Calculator — Monthly & Annual
Calculate monthly and annual cash flow for any rental property. Enter rent, vacancy, mortgage, taxes, insurance, and maintenance — get your net cash flow and NOI instantly. Works for Canadian and US investment properties. Free.
Rental property cash flow is what actually lands in your bank account after every expense and mortgage payment. This calculator walks through the full income statement: gross rent → vacancy allowance → operating expenses (tax, insurance, maintenance, management) → NOI → debt service → net cash flow. It also shows your break-even occupancy rate and operating expense ratio.
Inputs
Property management fee (0 if self-managed)
Results
Monthly Cash Flow
$33
Annual Cash Flow
$400
NOI (before mortgage)
$24,400
Total Monthly Expenses
$2,817
Effective Gross Rent
$2,850
Understanding This Calculator
Walk through a rental property's full income statement — from gross rent down to the cash that actually lands in your account each month.
How the math works
The calculation follows the standard rental income statement, top to bottom:
- Effective gross rent = monthly rent × (1 − vacancy rate)
- Operating expenses = property tax, insurance, maintenance/CapEx, management fees, and other costs (converted to monthly)
- NOI = effective gross rent − operating expenses — the property's earnings before financing
- Cash flow = NOI − mortgage payment
Mortgage principal and interest are a financing cost, not an operating expense — that is why NOI is reported separately. Annual cash flow is simply the monthly figure × 12.
Worked example
Using the defaults: rent $3,000/month, 5% vacancy, mortgage $2,000/month, property tax $5,000/year, insurance $1,800/year, maintenance $3,000/year.
- Effective gross rent = 3,000 × 0.95 = $2,850/month
- Operating expenses = 417 + 150 + 250 = about $817/month
- NOI ≈ 2,850 − 817 = $2,033/month (~$24,400/year)
- Cash flow ≈ 2,033 − 2,000 = roughly $33/month
This property essentially breaks even — common in expensive markets, where the return comes from principal paydown and appreciation rather than monthly cash.
How to read the result
Positive cash flow means the property pays for itself; many investors target $100–$300+ per door per month after everything, including the mortgage. Near-zero or negative cash flow is not automatically a bad deal — but it means you are betting on appreciation and paying to hold the position, so you need reserves to carry vacancies and repairs.
Also check the supporting numbers: operating expenses typically run 35–50% of gross rent over the long run. If your inputs show much less, you are probably underestimating maintenance or vacancy, and the real-world cash flow will be lower than the calculator shows.