Rent vs Buy Calculator
Whether renting or buying wins comes down to one question: how long will you stay. This rent vs buy calculator finds your breakeven year by comparing where you actually end up on both paths, not by comparing a mortgage payment to rent. This page is for anyone deciding whether to buy a first home or keep renting. Nothing is saved, and there is no email wall.
Over 7 years, renting and investing the down payment leaves you with more. Staying longer usually flips this.
Buying does not catch up inside your horizon at these numbers. Try a longer stay.
Mortgage, tax, insurance, HOA, and maintenance.
Down payment plus closing costs.
Home value after selling costs, minus what is left on the loan.
The invested down payment plus every month renting cost less than owning.
Estimates only, for education. This compares net worth on both paths, so the renter is credited with investing the down payment and any monthly savings. It does not model income taxes, the mortgage interest deduction, or rent control. Confirm every figure with a lender before you decide.
Is it better to rent or buy a house?
It depends almost entirely on how long you stay. Buying wins once appreciation and principal paydown cover the cost of buying and later selling, which takes about six years nationally. Stay less than roughly five years and renting is usually the cheaper, lower-risk choice.
Key takeaways
- The national breakeven point was about 6 years as of June 2026, down from a peak of 8.4 years in October 2023.
- Your metro matters more than any other input. Columbus breaks even in 4.1 years; San Diego takes 23.3 years.
- Comparing rent to a mortgage payment is the wrong comparison. It ignores equity on one side and investment returns on the other.
- Buying starts in a hole roughly the size of your closing costs plus a future 7% to 8% cost to sell.
How this calculator works
Both paths start with exactly the same pile of cash. The buyer spends it on the down payment and closing costs. The renter invests it. From there, every month, whichever path costs less frees up money that the renter also invests. At the end of your horizon the buyer sells, pays the agent, and clears the loan, and the two positions are compared side by side.
That structure is the point. Most rent vs buy calculators compare a mortgage payment to rent, which quietly assumes the renter sets fire to the down payment. Give the renter a realistic return and the comparison becomes a fair fight rather than a sales pitch for buying.
The output that matters is the breakeven year: the first year your position as an owner passes what you would have had as a renter who invested the difference. Sell before it and you would have been better off renting.
How long until buying beats renting
Zillow research published on June 4, 2026 put the typical national breakeven at about six years, improved from a peak of 8.4 years in October 2023. The national figure is close to useless on its own, though, because the spread between metros is enormous.
| Metro | Years to break even |
|---|---|
| Columbus, OH | 4.1 |
| Memphis, TN | 4.2 |
| Buffalo, NY | 4.2 |
| United States | ~6.0 |
| Seattle, WA | 19.7 |
| San Diego, CA | 23.3 |
| San Francisco, San Jose, New Orleans | Never within 30 yrs |
Read that last row carefully. In three major metros, renting beat buying across an entire 30-year horizon. Buying is not automatically the wealth-building move, and a calculator that never lets renting win is not telling you the truth.
Use those figures as a sanity check on your own result, not a substitute for it. Your rent, your price, and your rate decide your answer.
The assumptions that decide the answer
Three fields move the breakeven year more than everything else combined:
- Years you stay. The whole question. Buying carries large one-time costs at both ends, and only time absorbs them.
- Home appreciation. Drop it from 5% to 2% and the breakeven year can move by half a decade.
- Investment return. The renter's side of the ledger. It is the field most calculators quietly omit.
Run the calculator two or three times with conservative numbers rather than trusting one optimistic pass. If buying only wins under your best-case appreciation, that is your answer.
One thing the model deliberately leaves out is the mortgage interest deduction. For tax year 2026 the standard deduction is $32,200 for married couples filing jointly and $16,100 for single filers, so most buyers never itemize and see no tax benefit at all. Building it in by default would overstate the case for buying for the majority of people.
If a tenant covering part of your payment would change the maths, model it with the house hacking calculator, and read house hacking for beginners for how the strategy works.
Frequently asked questions
Is it better to rent or buy?
It depends almost entirely on how long you stay. Zillow put the national breakeven at about six years in June 2026. Below roughly five years, renting usually wins, because closing costs and agent commission consume any equity gained. Past seven or eight years, buying usually wins.
How long do you have to stay in a house to break even?
About six years nationally, but the spread is enormous. Zillow found Columbus breaks even in 4.1 years while San Diego takes 23.3 years, and in San Francisco, San Jose, and New Orleans renting beats buying across a full 30 years. Your metro matters more than any other input.
Why compare net worth instead of monthly payments?
Comparing a mortgage payment to rent is the most common mistake in this decision. It ignores the equity a buyer builds and what the renter's down payment would earn if invested. This calculator gives both paths the same starting cash and compares where each one actually lands.
Does this account for the mortgage interest deduction?
No, deliberately. The 2026 standard deduction is $32,200 for married couples filing jointly and $16,100 for single filers, so most buyers never itemize and get no tax benefit from mortgage interest. If you know you itemize, treat the buying side as slightly better than shown.
What investment return should I assume for the renter?
Use your realistic long-run expectation for wherever the down payment would actually sit. Setting it to zero assumes the renter stuffs the cash under a mattress, which guarantees buying looks better than it is. This single field swings the breakeven year more than almost any other.
Related calculators
- Strategy FinderIf buying wins, nine questions on which investing path your situation actually supports.
- Home Affordability CalculatorWork out your maximum purchase price from the two ratios a lender actually tests.
- Closing Costs CalculatorThe upfront cost that puts buying in a hole, itemized line by line.
- House Hacking CalculatorWhat happens to the comparison when a tenant covers part of your payment.
- Rental Cashflow CalculatorIf you keep the place and rent it out later, this is the maths that matters.
Sources
- Zillow, Rent or buy: how long it takes for buying a home to pay off in each metro (June 4, 2026) · National breakeven horizon and metro-level breakeven years
- Internal Revenue Service, tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026 · Standard deduction figures used in the mortgage interest question
What if your first home also paid you?
The 28-day course walks through buying a property where a tenant covers part of the payment, in order, with daily lessons and daily tasks. Or grab the free strategy guide to find the path that fits you.