A $400,000 mortgage at today’s rates costs about $2,500 a month before taxes and insurance. That is more than $900,000 over 30 years. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is 6.48%, according to Freddie Mac's latest weekly survey released June 4. That's down from 6.53% a week earlier and well below the 6.85% you would have paid a year ago.
Daily trackers put rates a touch higher or lower depending on where you look. Bankrate had the 30-year at 6.53% on June 8, while Zillow showed it closer to 6.62%. Survey averages and daily quotes move on slightly different schedules, so the figure your lender shows you may not match either one exactly.
Here's where the major rates stand right now:
- 30-year fixed: 6.48% (last week: 6.53%; a year ago: 6.85%)
- 15-year fixed: 5.79% (last week: 5.87%; a year ago: 5.99%)
- Bankrate daily 30-year: 6.53%
- Zillow daily 30-year: 6.62%
Sam Khater, Freddie Mac's chief economist, sees the current range as a small win for buyers. "With mortgage rates in the mid-6% range and income growth outpacing home price growth, housing affordability is marginally improving," Khater said in the June 4 release.
Rates have climbed back up after dipping near 6% in February
Back in February, the 30-year briefly touched the low 6s. Bankrate's daily tracker bottomed near 6.09% on February 18, the cheapest borrowing has been all year. Since March, rates have added roughly 40 basis points and pushed back toward the mid-6% zone. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percent, so 40 of them means a move of about 0.40 percentage points.
That climb has a lot to do with the bond market. Mortgage rates don't follow the Federal Reserve's benchmark rate directly. They track the 10-year Treasury yield, which sits around 4.55%, close to its highest point of the year. Michael Highfield, a finance professor, made the same point in a June 6 analysis for The Conversation, saying mortgage rates "tend to track the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note much more closely than they track the federal funds rate."
The Fed has held its benchmark steady at a target range of 3.50% to 3.75% since its April 29 meeting, where the vote split 8-4. Officials meet again June 16-17 and are widely expected to hold once more. But the bigger story for borrowers played out in the bond market in early June. A hotter-than-expected May jobs report sent the 10-year yield higher and put a possible rate hike back on the table for later this year. Traders now put the odds of a Fed hike by year-end near 70%. The economy added 172,000 jobs in May, far more than the roughly 80,000 forecasters expected. For mortgage shoppers, that removes the easy hope that a Fed pivot will quickly pull rates lower. The 10-year has stayed elevated on that jobs data, layered on top of the inflation worries and heavy government borrowing that were already keeping it high.
What 6.5% actually costs you on a $400,000 loan
On a $400,000 loan, your principal and interest come to $2,528.27 a month. Stick with that 30-year loan for the full term and you'll pay roughly $910,178 in total. Of that, about $510,178 is interest alone. You end up paying more in interest than you originally borrowed.
One assumption matters before you take that figure to the bank: it's principal and interest only. It does not include property taxes, homeowners insurance, or private mortgage insurance if you put down less than 20%. Your real monthly bill will run higher, sometimes by several hundred dollars, depending on where you live.
Use Freddie Mac's exact 6.48% average and the same loan runs $2,523.01 a month. The difference between the round number and the real average is small here, but on a loan this size even a few hundredths of a percent shifts your payment.
Now compare that with a year ago. At last June's 6.85%, the same $400,000 loan cost $2,621.04 a month. Today's rate saves you about $98 a month. Over a year that's roughly $1,176 staying in your pocket.
The picture flips when you look back to February. At the 6.09% low, the monthly payment was $2,421.40. Climbing back to 6.5% adds about $100 a month. That's around $1,200 a year, and more than $36,000 over the full 30 years. A move that looks tiny on paper compounds into real money across three decades.
And if your reference point is the pandemic, brace yourself. At the 2.65% lows of late 2020 and 2021, that same loan cost just $1,611.86 a month. Today's payment runs roughly $900 a month more. Anyone who locked in back then is sitting on a payment most current buyers can only envy, which is part of why so few existing owners want to sell and trade up to a new rate.
If rates push to 7.00%, the monthly figure climbs to $2,661.21. Worth keeping in mind as you shop, since quoted rates can drift in either direction week to week.
30-year versus 15-year: lower rate, much bigger payment
The 15-year fixed carries a lower rate, 5.79% right now versus 6.48% on the 30-year. Lenders charge less because they get their money back faster and take on less risk over time.
That lower rate comes with a much heavier monthly bill, though. On the same $400,000 loan, a 15-year at 5.79% runs $3,330.21 a month. That's about $807 more every month than the 30-year payment.
Where the 15-year wins is total interest. Over its life you'd pay roughly $199,439 in interest, compared with the half-million-plus on the 30-year. The shorter loan saves you more than $300,000 in interest. The tradeoff is liquidity: you commit far more cash each month, which leaves less room in your budget for emergencies or investing.
Try the numbers yourself
Before you commit to any of this, run your own scenario through a mortgage payment calculator. Plug in your loan amount, rate, and term, and it returns your monthly principal and interest, your total interest over the life of the loan, and an amortization schedule showing how each payment splits between principal and interest. It's the fastest way to see how a quarter-point move changes what you'll pay.
Frequently asked questions
What is today's 30-year mortgage rate?
Freddie Mac's weekly survey puts the 30-year fixed at 6.48% as of June 4, 2026, down from 6.53% the week before. Daily trackers on June 8 ranged from about 6.62% at Zillow to 6.53% at Bankrate. Your own quote depends on your credit score, down payment, and lender.
Will mortgage rates go down in 2026?
Bankrate's 2026 forecast, published January 6, called for the 30-year to average around 6.1% and "bounce around 6%," with a range of roughly 5.7% to 6.5%. Rates have spent most of the year near the top of that range, around 6.5%. The cheaper end of that forecast hasn't shown up, and a strong May jobs report has since pushed market expectations toward higher-for-longer.
Is a 15-year mortgage worth it?
It can be if your budget handles the bigger payment. A 15-year at 5.79% costs about $807 more per month than a 30-year on a $400,000 loan, but it saves more than $300,000 in interest over the loan's life. The question is whether you'd rather lock that money into faster payoff or keep it free for other goals.
