How do I use the Rent vs Buy Calculator?

Enter your current or expected monthly rent and the annual rent increase rate. The US average is about 3% per year. Enter the home purchase price, your down payment percentage, mortgage interest rate, and loan term. Add ongoing homeownership costs: property tax rate, home insurance, and annual maintenance as a percentage of the home price. Set the home appreciation rate (historically 3-4% nationally) and the investment return you could earn if you invested the down payment instead of buying. Click Compare to see the total cost of each option over your chosen time horizon, including equity buildup and investment returns.

Is the Rent vs Buy Calculator free?

Yes, the Rent vs Buy Calculator is completely free. It runs entirely in your browser with no signup, no download, and no data sent to any server.

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Rent vs Buy Calculator

Compare the total cost of renting versus buying a home over time, including taxes, appreciation, and opportunity cost.

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Rent vs buy calculator

Should you rent or buy a home?

Compare the total cost of renting versus buying over time, including taxes, appreciation, and opportunity cost.

Renting Monthly rent ($) Annual rent increase (%) Renter's insurance ($/mo)

Buying Home price ($) Down payment (%) Mortgage rate (%) Loan term (years) Property tax (%/yr) Home insurance ($/mo) Maintenance (%/yr of price) Home appreciation (%/yr)

Time horizon (years) Investment return if renting (%/yr) Return on the down payment you would invest instead

How to use

How to compare renting versus buying a home

1 Enter your current or expected monthly rent and the annual rent increase rate. The US average is about 3% per year.
2 Enter the home purchase price, your down payment percentage, mortgage interest rate, and loan term.
3 Add ongoing homeownership costs: property tax rate, home insurance, and annual maintenance as a percentage of the home price.
4 Set the home appreciation rate (historically 3-4% nationally) and the investment return you could earn if you invested the down payment instead of buying.
5 Click Compare to see the total cost of each option over your chosen time horizon, including equity buildup and investment returns.

The rent-versus-buy decision is one of the biggest financial choices most people face, and the answer depends on many variables that are unique to your situation. This calculator models both scenarios over your chosen time horizon, accounting for all the costs that are easy to overlook: property taxes, maintenance, insurance, opportunity cost of the down payment, and the equity you build through mortgage payments and home appreciation.

The opportunity cost of the down payment is a factor many people miss. If you rent instead of buying, the money you would have used for a down payment could be invested in the stock market or other assets. At a 7% average annual return, a $80,000 down payment would grow to about $157,000 in 10 years. The calculator factors this in so you can see the true net cost of renting versus buying.

Generally, buying becomes more favorable the longer you plan to stay in one place, because the large upfront costs (closing costs, down payment) get amortized over more years of building equity. In areas with high home prices relative to rents, renting often wins over shorter time horizons. In areas where buying is relatively affordable, purchasing can be better even over 5-7 years. Try adjusting the time horizon to see how the comparison changes.

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