Payday Loan Cost Calculator by State
What a payday loan costs is set by your state. In 17 states the law caps the fee, in nine it does not, seven cap the APR at 36% or 50%, five replaced it with short installment loans, and in twelve it is not legal at all. Pick yours, and the calculator shows the most a licensed lender may charge, the APR, and what rolling it over adds.
Price a payday loan in your state
Pick your state, the cash you need and when it is due. The rule is the one on our page for that state, linked below.
- You repay on day
- As an APR
- Largest loan the state allows
- Term the state allows
- Rollovers
How a payday loan's APR is worked out
A payday loan is one payment: the cash plus a fee, due on your next payday. Its annual percentage rate is the fee as a share of the cash, scaled up to a year: the fee divided by the amount, times 365, divided by the days until it is due. Federal Truth in Lending rules require the lender to state it before you sign, alongside the fee in dollars.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's example is $300 at $15 per $100, which costs $345 to repay. Over two weeks that is 45 ÷ 300 × 365 ÷ 14 = 391%, the "almost 400 percent" the CFPB quotes. The same $45 over 31 days is 176.6%: the fee did not change, the time did. The CFPB puts state fee caps at $10 to $30 for every $100.
$300 for two weeks, state by state
The most a licensed lender may charge on $300 cash due in 14 days, in the states where the law sets a fee the calculator can price.
| State | The rule | Fee on $300 | APR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 17.5% of the advance | $52.50 | 456% |
| Alaska | $15 per $100 | $45.00 | 391% |
| California | 15% of the check, a $300 check at most | $45.00 on $255, the most you can get | 460% |
| Florida | 10% plus a $5 verification fee | $35.00 | 304% |
| Indiana | 15% to $250, 13% to $400, 10% to $825 | $44.00 | 382% |
| Iowa | $15 on the first $100 of the check, $10 a $100 after | $38.89 | 338% |
| Kentucky | $15 per $100 plus a $3 database fee | $48.00 | 417% |
| Michigan | 15% of the first $100, falling to 11% | $42.00 | 365% |
| North Dakota | 20% of the advance | $60.00 | 521% |
| Rhode Island | 10% of the advance, until 2027 | $30.00 | 261% |
| South Carolina | 15% of the principal | $45.00 | 391% |
| Washington | 15% on the first $500 | $45.00 | 391% |
| Wyoming | $30 or 20% a month, whichever is more | $60.00 | 521% |
Where the cap is on the check rather than the cash (California, Iowa, Tennessee), the fee comes out of the check's face, so the cash in hand is less than the check: California's $300 check with its $45 fee hands over $255. The calculator works back from the cash you need.
Where there is no cap, or no payday loan
No fee cap: Delaware, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin license payday lending without a per-loan fee limit (Missouri caps the total at 75% of the loan across every renewal; Mississippi's fee is set per $100 of the check). Type the fee from the lender's disclosure. The Texas regulator put the average at about 488% APR; Wisconsin's 2025 average was 599.51%.
An APR cap: Colorado, Illinois, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire and South Dakota cap these loans at 36% APR, and Minnesota at 50%, fees included. At 36%, $300 for two weeks can cost no more than $4.14.
Short installment loans instead: Hawaii, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma and Virginia replaced the two-week loan with small loans repaid over months. The calculator hands these to the installment loan calculator with the state's rate and fees filled in.
Not legal: Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Vermont and West Virginia. A loan from an unlicensed or online lender above the state's cap may be void there; each state's page says where.
What rollovers do
A rollover pays the fee and pushes the due date back another term, without touching the amount owed. The CFPB found in 2014 that four out of five payday loans are rolled over or renewed within 14 days. The CFPB's $300 loan rolled over four times costs five $45 fees, $225 over ten weeks, and the $300 is still owed. That is why many states ban rollovers outright or allow one; the calculator says which, and flags a count above the state's limit.
The cheaper loan most people can get
Federal credit unions offer payday alternative loans under 12 CFR 701.21(c)(7). A PAL I is $200 to $1,000 over one to six months, after a month of membership; a PAL II is up to $2,000 over one to twelve months. Both are repaid in installments, with no rollovers, and the application fee cannot exceed $20. The rate can be 1,000 basis points over the NCUA Board's ceiling, which is 18% through September 10, 2027 (Letter 26-FCU-02), so 28% at most.
$300 as a PAL over a month costs at most $20 plus $6.90 interest, $26.90, against $45 at the CFPB's typical fee for half the time. The calculator puts a PAL and a 36% APR loan beside every payday figure.
If you are buying a home
A payday loan is repaid by a check or an automatic debit, so it shows on the bank statements your mortgage lender reads, and an open loan can be asked about. If the loan is repaid over months, its payment can count in your debt-to-income ratio. The DTI checker shows what it does to yours, program by program. Will an installment loan hurt your mortgage approval and what not to do before closing go further.
Sources: each state's rule is from Rapid Loan's page on that state (payday loan laws by state), which cites the statute and regulator; CFPB, costs and fees for a payday loan; CFPB, March 25, 2014; 12 CFR 701.21; NCUA Letter 26-FCU-02; Iowa Code 533D.9. State rules as of September 2026, when the state pages were written. General information, not legal or financial advice: check a lender's license with your state's regulator.