Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) Calculator
Estimate your monthly ICR payment. ICR is the only income-driven plan that charges the lesser of two formulas — 20% of discretionary income, or a 12-year fixed payment multiplied by an income percentage factor the Department publishes each year. That second formula is why your balance and interest rate matter here when they would not on IBR or RAP. This is an estimate, not a servicer quote and not an eligibility decision.
Estimate an Income-Contingent Repayment payment as the lesser of 20% of discretionary income or the 12-year fixed amount times the Department's published income percentage factor. Optional branches explain what may gate eligibility and check progress toward the 300-payment forgiveness threshold.
Your numbers appear here
Answer the questions on the left and your estimated monthly ICR payment shows up in this panel — no scrolling required.
You will also see which of the two ICR formulas produced it, because that is what determines whether your income or your balance is driving the payment.
How the ICR Payment Is Calculated
34 C.F.R. § 685.209(f)(4)(i) sets the ICR payment as the lesser of two figures, and the calculator shows you which one won:
1. Twenty percent of discretionary income, divided by 12. Discretionary income for ICR is your AGI minus 100% of the HHS Poverty Guideline for your family size and state. IBR and PAYE subtract 150%. That is the single most consequential difference between ICR and IBR: at the same income, ICR treats roughly half a poverty guideline more of your money as available to pay.
2. The 12-year fixed amount, multiplied by an income percentage factor. The Department amortizes your balance over 144 months, then multiplies by a factor drawn from a table it republishes each year. The 2026 table runs from 50.52% at the bottom to 200% at the top and applies from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. If your AGI sits between two printed rows, the factor is interpolated between them.
There is no cap tied to the 10-year Standard payment — the kind of cap IBR carries. The lesser-of test is the only ceiling ICR has.
Why Your Balance Matters on ICR
On IBR, PAYE, and RAP, your loan balance does not set your payment — income does. ICR is different. Because half the formula is a 12-year amortization, a borrower with a small balance can find that the 12-year figure is the lesser amount, and their payment falls well below 20% of discretionary income. A borrower with a large balance at the same income lands on the 20% side instead.
One caution on the number to enter: the Department amortizes the balance as of the date your loans entered repayment, including interest capitalized at that point — not today's balance. If you have been paying for years, the correct figure is higher than what your servicer shows now, and using today's balance will understate the 12-year side of the formula.
Before You Rely on This Estimate
Enrollment is disputed, not closed. The printed regulation limits ICR to borrowers who were repaying under it on July 1, 2024, but the Department administers the plan as open and no court has ruled. If ICR fits, apply rather than ruling yourself out, keep every notice, and do not leave ICR casually if you are already on it. Who can still enroll in ICR walks through the dispute.
Parent PLUS: only a consolidation that already exists. A Parent PLUS loan reaches ICR only through a Direct Consolidation Loan disbursed before July 1, 2026. Any Direct Loan received on or after that date, including a new consolidation loan, switches that route off. Consolidation cannot be undone, so do not consolidate to reach ICR. Read why a consolidated Parent PLUS loan has to start on ICR and the Parent PLUS repayment guide, and talk to an attorney first.
ICR ends after June 30, 2028. Forgiveness takes 300 qualifying payments, so nobody enrolling now reaches it on ICR, and ICR counts for PSLF only through June 30, 2028. Plan for the plan you will be on after that date. See what you have to do before July 1, 2028.
ICR Compared With the Other Plans
ICR is usually the most expensive income-driven plan available to a borrower who has a choice, because of the 100% poverty deduction. If you have a choice, run the numbers side by side: use the IBR calculator and the RAP calculator, or read IBR vs. ICR for the structural comparison.
For the wider picture of which plans still exist and which are closing, read income-driven repayment in 2026. For the deduction itself, see how to calculate discretionary income.
Sources and Limitations
The payment formula is 34 C.F.R. § 685.209. The income percentage factors, the 12-year amortization formula, the joint-repayment proration, and the interpolation method come from Annual Updates to the Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) Plan Formula for 2026, 91 Fed. Reg. 34815 (June 9, 2026), which applies through June 30, 2027. Poverty guidelines are the 2026 HHS figures at 91 Fed. Reg. 1797.
This calculator is tested against the Department's own worked examples and reproduces them to the cent. It does not retrieve tax or loan data, determine eligibility, verify official payment credit, predict future income, or replace an official servicer calculation. Confirm any result with the Federal Student Aid Loan Simulator and your servicer.
ICR Calculator FAQs
ICR charges the lesser of two amounts. The first is 20% of your discretionary income divided by 12. The second is what you would pay on a fixed 12-year repayment schedule, multiplied by an income percentage factor that the Department of Education publishes every year. Whichever comes out lower is your payment. Unlike IBR, there is no cap tied to the 10-year Standard amount.
For ICR it is your AGI minus 100% of the HHS Poverty Guideline for your family size and state. IBR and PAYE subtract 150%, so at the same income ICR counts roughly half a poverty guideline more of your money as available. RAP works differently: it takes a percentage of your whole AGI rather than of discretionary income.
It is a multiplier the Department publishes annually in the Federal Register, indexed to your AGI and whether you file as single or as married/head of household. The 2026 factors run from 50.52% at the bottom of the table to 200% at the top, and they apply from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. If your AGI falls between two rows of the table, the factor is interpolated between them.
Because one half of the formula is a 12-year amortization of your balance. In IBR, PAYE, or RAP your balance does not set the payment. In ICR a smaller balance can make the 12-year figure the lesser of the two amounts, which means two borrowers with identical incomes can owe very different ICR payments.
After 300 qualifying monthly payments, which is 25 years. But note the tension: the ICR plan itself sunsets on June 30, 2028. A borrower entering ICR today will not reach 300 payments before the plan ends, so ICR forgiveness should not be the reason you choose it. Talk to an attorney about what happens to your count.
It is unsettled. The printed regulation requires that you were repaying under ICR on July 1, 2024, but the Department administers ICR as open, its current income-driven repayment application does not apply that condition, and the National Consumer Law Center treats the provision as vacated. No court has ruled. Our practice is to apply rather than self-deny, keep every document, and preserve any denial. Nobody can promise you approval.
Only if the consolidation already happened. A Direct Parent PLUS loan cannot be repaid under ICR by itself, and ICR reaches Parent PLUS debt only through a Direct Consolidation Loan disbursed before July 1, 2026, under 34 CFR 685.209(c)(5)(ii)(A) or (c)(5)(iii)(A). Those carve-outs are governed separately from the disputed general enrollment gate — but each one is switched off by its own following paragraph for any borrower who receives a Direct Loan on or after July 1, 2026, and a new consolidation loan is itself a Direct Loan. So consolidating now does not open this door; it closes it. If you already hold a qualifying consolidation, protect it and get advice before taking on any further federal debt.
Yes, but only through June 30, 2028. The regulation applies that cutoff to the income-contingent plans at 34 CFR 685.219(b)(28)(iv)-(v). If you are working toward PSLF, work out what plan you would need after that date before you commit to ICR.
The most common reason is the balance. The Department amortizes the balance as of the date your loans entered repayment, which for a borrower already in repayment is higher than what is showing today. Income records, family size, the timing of your recertification, and servicer rounding also move the result. This calculator does not retrieve federal records or make an eligibility decision.
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