Loan limits by county

Why the number matters

The limit is not a cap on what you may borrow. It decides whose rules apply.

Conforming. At or under the limit, the loan can be sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. That means published underwriting rules and published pricing — the same score and deposit adjustments every lender works from.

High balance. In expensive counties the limit is raised above the national baseline. A loan in that band is still agency-backed, but carries an extra price adjustment on top of the usual ones.

Jumbo. Above the county limit, the agencies are out. Each lender sets its own requirements — typically a larger deposit, a higher score and more reserves — and its own price. Jumbo is not automatically more expensive, but it is individually priced, which makes shopping matter more.

The threshold is worth engineering around

Because the categories are steps rather than a slope, being slightly over a limit is expensive in a way that being slightly under is not. Borrowing $5,000 above the county limit can move the whole loan into jumbo underwriting.

If you are close, the options are the obvious ones: a larger deposit, a smaller purchase, or splitting the financing. It is the same logic as the score and LTV bands — the money is in crossing the line, not in getting near it.

FHA is a separate ladder

FHA sets its own limits: a national floor, a ceiling equal to the conforming ceiling, and county figures based on local house prices in between. In expensive counties FHA and conforming limits converge; in ordinary ones the FHA limit is far lower, which is often what pushes a borrower towards a conventional loan even when FHA underwriting would suit them better.

FHA also charges mortgage insurance that usually never cancels, which matters more than the limit for most borrowers who qualify for both.

Where these numbers come from

Both sets are the agencies’ own county files, reproduced in full: conforming limits from the FHFA, FHA limits from HUD’s published county file. Neither is estimated.

Worth knowing: the two ladders are set independently. FHA limits are based on local median house prices with their own floor and ceiling, so a county can sit at the conforming baseline while its FHA limit is well above the national floor — and in a few expensive counties the FHA limit is actually higher than the conforming one.