Rent vs buy calculator
Find out whether renting or buying leaves you better off where you are moving, and the year buying starts to pay off. Pick a town to start from its typical home price and rent.
Start from a town (optional)
Results are estimates for planning, not financial advice or a loan offer. Starting figures marked as examples are placeholders: replace them with your own quotes. See the disclaimer and terms.
How the comparison works
Both paths spend the same money each month. Whoever has the cheaper housing cost invests the difference, and the renter also invests the down payment and buying costs the owner puts into the home. After each year the tool compares two numbers: the owner's wealth (home value, minus selling costs, minus the loan left) and the renter's wealth (the invested pile). The break-even year is the first year the owner's number is higher.
Owning costs include the loan payment, property tax, insurance, HOA fees and upkeep. Property tax and upkeep grow with the home's value. The loan payment, insurance and HOA fees stay as you entered them.
Use a like-for-like rent
The typical rent and home price filled in from a town are not for the same kind of home. Rent is the median across all rentals, including small apartments, while the price is the median for homes people own. Look up what a home like the one you would buy rents for, and enter that, or the comparison will lean towards renting.
What it leaves out
Income tax effects (such as deducting mortgage interest), moving costs, and the value of owning for its own sake: stability, freedom to change the home, no landlord. The result depends heavily on how fast prices and rents grow, so try different assumptions before relying on it.