Rent vs Buy Calculator

See the true cost of each path and which one builds more wealth. No agenda. Just your numbers.

Input detail

🏠 Buying

Home Price

Down Payment i Below 20% down, PMI is added
automatically until you reach 20% equity.

Mortgage Rate

Loan Term

Extra Monthly Payment i Extra cash toward the loan principal each month.
Pays the mortgage off faster and drops PMI sooner.

Taxes, insurance & fees

Property Tax i Percent of the home's current value per year.
It rises as the home appreciates.

%/yr

Home Insurance i Per year. Scales with the home's value over time.

HOA Dues

$ /mo

Maintenance i Percent of the home's current value per year.
1% is a common planning rule.

%/yr

Closing Costs i One time cost at purchase,
as a percent of the home price.

PMI Rate i Applied only when the down payment is under 20%.
Drops off once the loan falls below 80% of the price.

%/yr

🔑 Renting

Monthly Rent i For a fair comparison, use the rent for a home like
the one you would buy, not your current place.

Annual Rent Increase

%/yr

In a typical market, a home at this price rents for about $2,000/mo.

Difference You Invest i How much of the monthly savings vs owning actually gets invested.
Drop below 100% to see what happens when it gets spent instead.
The down payment you kept is always assumed invested.

More renting costs

Renter's Insurance

$ /mo

📊 Assumptions

Home Appreciation i How fast the home's value grows per year.
Long run US average is roughly 3 to 4%.

%/yr

Investment Return i What the renter earns on invested savings.
7% is a common long run stock market estimate.

%/yr

Selling Costs i Agent commissions and fees when you eventually sell,
as a percent of the sale price.

Simple mode uses standard assumptions for taxes, insurance, maintenance, closing costs, and growth rates. Switch to to edit them.

Want the thinking behind the math?

Read: Rent vs Buy, the math nobody shows you

How many years? The number of years you're planning for

yrs

True Monthly Cost

Owning

—

All-in cost, month 1

Renting

—

Rent + insurance, month 1

What's inside the owning number

Principal & interest—

Extra payment—

Property tax—

Home insurance—

HOA dues—

Maintenance—

PMI—

Monthly cost over time

Own Rent

Long-Term Outcome

Asset value if you buy

—

Home equity after selling costs + investments

Asset value if you rent and invest

—

Down payment + monthly savings, invested

Net worth over time

Buy Rent + invest

Total Cash Out of Pocket i Every dollar that leaves your pocket. For the buyer this includes the full mortgage payment, even the principal part, because you must come up with that cash each month even though it builds equity. The renter's invested savings are not counted here. That money stays theirs and shows up in the net worth chart instead.

Buyer paid out

—

Down payment, closing, and all monthly costs

Renter paid out

—

Rent and insurance only

Cumulative cash paid out

Buy Rent

What You Get Back i Your ending value, divided by every dollar you paid out. More than $1.00 back means the path made you money. Less than $1.00 means housing cost you money, which is normal. The real question is which path costs you less.

If you buy

—

Back for every $1 you paid out

Ending value —

Paid out—

Net result—

If you rent and invest

—

Back for every $1 you paid out

Ending value —

Paid out—

Net result—

Straight Talk on the Math

Most rent vs buy calculators are built to sell you a mortgage. This one is not. Here is exactly how it works:

The renter invests the difference. We assume the renter invests the down payment, closing costs, and any monthly savings instead of spending them. Skipping this step is the most common way calculators make buying look better than it is. And when owning becomes the cheaper path, the buyer invests the difference too. Use the Difference You Invest input to see what happens when that saving gets spent instead. Spoiler: renting only works if you invest.
Selling costs are real. The buyer's net worth is reduced by the cost of selling the home, because equity you cannot access without paying commissions is not the same as cash.
No mortgage interest deduction. About 9 in 10 filers take the standard deduction, so for most people the deduction is worth $0. Leaving it out keeps the comparison honest for the typical buyer.
Month by month, not rules of thumb. The loan balance, PMI drop-off, rent increases, and investment growth are all simulated one month at a time.

Educational use only · Not financial advice · Assumes steady rates and growth. Real life will vary.