Maximum housing costs for the housing allowance
Kela only counts rent up to a cap set by municipality and household size; the rest is on you.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Calculation method
For Kela’s general housing allowance (yleinen asumistuki) in 2026, a single person’s housing costs are accepted up to €563 a month in Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa, €447 in the 24 group II municipalities such as Tampere, Turku, Oulu and Jyväskylä, and €394 everywhere else on the mainland. Åland has its own scale, starting at €470. A family of four is capped at €1,188, €981 or €875. The allowance is 70% of accepted costs minus an income-based deductible, so every euro of rent above the cap comes entirely out of your own pocket. If water and heating are billed separately, Kela adds fixed amounts rather than your actual bills: €20 of water per person and €46 of heating for the first person plus €16 for each additional one, a little more in eastern and northern Finland. Electricity, parking, sauna, laundry and internet are never accepted. For many newcomers renting in Helsinki, the cap rather than income is what limits the allowance.
Accepted housing costs in your municipality
Maximum accepted
€652/mo
| Municipality group | II |
| Rent not counted | €148 |
| Allowance at most (70%, no deductible) | €456 |
The 2026 caps
The Housing Allowance Act says support is calculated from accepted housing costs, but only up to a maximum set in the law. That maximum depends on the municipality group and the number of people in the household.
| People | Group I | Group II | Group III | Åland |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €563 | €447 | €394 | €470 |
| 2 | €808 | €652 | €574 | €687 |
| 3 | €1,019 | €828 | €734 | €871 |
| 4 | €1,188 | €981 | €875 | €1,032 |
| 5 | €1,336 | €1,115 | €1,004 | €1,173 |
| 6 | €1,484 | €1,249 | €1,133 | €1,314 |
Beyond four people, each extra person adds €148 in group I, €134 in group II, €129 in group III and €141 in Åland. The five and six person rows apply that rule.
Which group your town is in
Older guides and forum posts describe four groups with Helsinki on its own. The act in force today has three. Group I is Espoo, Helsinki, Kauniainen, Vantaa. Group II is a named list: Hyvinkää, Hämeenlinna, Joensuu, Jyväskylä, Järvenpää, Kerava, Kirkkonummi, Kuopio, Lahti, Lohja, Nokia, Nurmijärvi, Oulu, Porvoo, Raisio, Riihimäki, Rovaniemi, Seinäjoki, Sipoo, Siuntio, Tampere, Turku, Tuusula, Vihti. Group III covers every other mainland municipality, including Pori, Vaasa, Kotka and Mikkeli.
The group can matter more than your salary. The same €800 studio and the same €1,300 gross income produce €205.45 of allowance in Helsinki, €124.25 in Tampere and €87.15 in Pori. Income is treated identically in all three, with a deductible of €269.50; the gap comes entirely from how much rent is accepted: €563, €447 and €394.
Families: caps rise, but slowly
A larger household gets a higher cap, though not one that keeps pace with family-sized rents. Two adults and two children with €2,800 of gross income and €1,300 rent receive €358.05 a month in Vantaa, €213.15 in Jyväskylä and €138.95 in Kajaani. The deductible is €676.50 in all three; what differs is the cap: €1,188, €981 and €875.
Water and heating at flat rates
When water or heating is billed on top of rent, Kela ignores your actual bill and uses a fixed rate. Water is €20 per person per month. Heating depends on the region: a little higher in Etelä-Savo, Pohjois-Savo and Pohjois-Karjala, and highest in Pohjois-Pohjanmaa, Kainuu and Lapland.
| People | Water | Heating, most of Finland | East | North |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €20 | €46 | €48 | €50 |
| 2 | €40 | €62 | €65 | €67 |
| 3 | €60 | €78 | €82 | €84 |
| 4 | €80 | €94 | €99 | €101 |
These amounts are added to the rent before the cap is applied; they do not raise the cap. A couple in Oulu paying €520 rent with water and heating billed separately reaches €627 of costs against a cap of €652. With €1,900 of combined gross income, they receive €73.15 a month.
Costs Kela never accepts
- Electricity, including the share built into an all-inclusive rent.
- Sauna, laundry room and parking space fees.
- Internet connection fees.
- Usage or furniture fees for a furnished flat.
- Loan interest on a right-of-occupancy (asumisoikeus) or part-ownership (osaomistus) flat; for these, Kela accepts the maintenance charge or rent plus water and heating at the flat rates.
An owner-occupied home gets no general housing allowance at all, whatever its costs.
Kela’s own worked example
Kela’s plain-language guide follows Jaakko, who lives alone in Turku and pays €700 in rent. The group II cap for one person is €447. His income of €800 a month gives a deductible of €19.50, so the allowance is 70% of €447 minus €19.50: €299.25 a month. Our engine reproduces that to the cent. How income shapes the deductible is explained under housing allowance and income.
How the caps are updated
The act states the caps at the October 2017 price level and adjusts them every January by the cost-of-living index; the 2026 euro amounts are those published by Kela. If your landlord raises the rent faster than the index and you are already at the cap, the whole increase is yours to pay. Test your own town with the mini calculator above, or run the full housing allowance calculator. Local salary pages such as Helsinki and Tampere show what take-home pay looks like next to these caps.
Sources: Kela, how income and costs affect the allowance and Housing Allowance Act 938/2014.