Rent vs Buy Calculator
Free · no sign-up · reviewed September 2026
"Should I rent or buy?" has a real answer, and it depends on far more than comparing rent to a mortgage payment. This calculator weighs both paths honestly: it credits the equity and appreciation you build as an owner, but it also counts the money a renter earns by investing the down payment instead of sinking it into a house.
Start in Simple mode with just the essentials, the years you'll stay, the price, the rent, your down payment and rate, and we'll estimate taxes, upkeep, insurance and closing costs for you. Switch to Detailed anytime to fine-tune every assumption. The single biggest factor is usually how long you stay: buying carries big upfront and selling costs, and it takes years of appreciation and equity to earn them back.
Drag to adjust
Your numbers
Years before you'd sell or move out
Rent for a comparable place
% of the home price
Sets the upkeep estimate — a new build costs far less to maintain
Estimated for you
- Loan term
- 30 yr
- Home appreciation
- 4% / yr
- Rent increase
- 3% / yr
- Investment return
- 7% / yr
- Property tax
- 0.89% / yr · $3,560
- Maintenance
- 1% / yr · $4,000
- Home insurance
- 0.48% / yr · $1,900
- Buying / selling costs
- 2% / 6%
Property tax is the 0.89% national average effective rate and home insurance the measured US average for a home at this price, both from the 2024 American Community Survey. Maintenance starts from the 1% rule of thumb and follows the home's age across the years you'd stay: routine upkeep on a US home climbs steeply for about 25 years and is flat after that (2023 American Housing Survey). Switch to Detailed to fine-tune any of these.
Your numbers save automatically on this device. The link opens this calculator with these exact numbers filled in, so you can bookmark a scenario or send it to someone. Printing gives you a clean sheet of just your numbers and the answer.
Buying comes out ahead by
$32,751
over 7 years, vs renting the same home
💡 Buying starts to pay off around year 4. Because you plan to stay 7 years, owning is the stronger money move here, leaving you about $32,751 ahead of renting. The longer you stay past the breakeven, the more buying wins: the big upfront costs are behind you and you keep building equity.
Year 4
Buying breaks even
then owning pulls ahead
$205,458
Net worth if you buy
home equity + investments
$172,707
Net worth if you rent
invested savings
- If you buy$205,458
- If you rent$172,707
- Down payment (upfront)
- $80,000
- Buying + selling costs
- $39,582
- Mortgage interest over 7 yr
- $139,232
- Property tax & insurance
- $42,023
- Maintenance & repairs over 7 yr
- $32,274
- Home value when you sell
- $526,373
- Total rent over 7 yr
- $220,679
Rent vs Buy Calculator · Far Better Off
https://farbetteroff.com/calculators/rent-vs-buy-calculator
Open that link to get this calculator back with these exact numbers. Estimates for education only — Far Better Off is not a lender or a financial advisor, and these results are not financial advice.
The 2-minute guide
It's not rent vs. mortgage, it's everything vs. everything
A mortgage payment looks like rent, but owning also means property tax, insurance, maintenance, and thousands in closing and selling costs. Renting looks simpler, but the renter can invest the down payment and pocket the growth. A fair comparison counts all of it on both sides, which is exactly what this calculator does.
The breakeven year is the whole game
Buying almost always loses in year one; the agent commission alone runs 5-6% of the sale price. It wins later, once appreciation and paid-down principal outrun those costs. If you'll move before the breakeven year shown above, renting is usually the smarter money move.
The down payment has an opportunity cost
Money tied up in a house isn't invested in the market. This tool assumes the renter invests the down payment, the closing costs, and any month where renting is cheaper, at the return you set. So buying has to beat that growth, not just build equity. Lower the investment return and buying looks better; raise it and renting does.
Money isn't the only reason
Owning brings stability, control, and the freedom to renovate; renting brings flexibility and no surprise repair bills. When the two paths land close in dollars, let the lifestyle fit break the tie. This calculator is here to tell you when the money clearly favors one side, and when it doesn't.
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to rent or buy a home?
It depends mostly on how long you stay and your local prices. Buying carries large upfront and selling costs, so short stays favor renting, while longer stays favor buying as equity and appreciation build. Enter your own numbers above to find your personal breakeven year.
What is the 5-year rule for buying a house?
A common guideline is to buy only if you'll stay at least five years, because it usually takes about that long for appreciation and equity to cover the costs of buying and later selling. This calculator shows your actual breakeven year instead of relying on a rule of thumb.
How much should I budget for home maintenance?
The 1% of value a year rule of thumb is the starting point, and this calculator spreads it across the home's age rather than charging every house the same. The 2023 American Housing Survey asks owners what they spent on routine maintenance — repairs and upkeep only, not remodelling — and pairs it with the year the home was built: upkeep runs about a quarter of the eventual rate on a home a few years old, climbs steeply for roughly 25 years, and is then flat for the rest of the house's life. A 1925 house and a 1975 house cost about the same share of their value to maintain; a 2022 build does not. So a new build here starts near 0.5% and rises as you own it, while anything built before about 1990 sits at 1% or a little over. Measured routine upkeep is lower than all of these — $2,996 per homeowner in 2024, about 0.63% of home value (BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey against Census Bureau ACS home values) — because it leaves out the replacement roof, furnace and windows those surveys count as improvements rather than upkeep, which is why the 1% anchor sits above it. Detailed mode lets you set your own figure.
Does this calculator include PMI if I put down less than 20%?
Yes. A conventional loan above 80% loan-to-value pays private mortgage insurance, and this calculator charges it from the first payment until it comes off — which matters here more than on any other page, because the premium falls entirely in the early years, and the early years are where the rent-vs-buy break-even lives. The default is 0.5% of the loan a year; Freddie Mac puts typical premiums at $30 to $70 a month per $100,000 borrowed, so 0.5% is mid-range, and Detailed mode lets you enter the rate you were actually quoted. It stops on the CFPB's automatic termination date: the month your scheduled balance reaches 78% of the home's original value, with the midpoint of the loan as a backstop. On a $400,000 home at 5% down and 6.5%, that is $158 a month for 11 years and 3 months — $13,300 across a 7-year stay, as much as the home insurance over the same years, and enough on its own to push the break-even from year 4 to year 5.
Does this calculator include the down payment's lost investment growth?
Yes. It assumes a renter invests the down payment and closing costs, plus the surplus in any month where renting is cheaper, at the investment return you choose. That opportunity cost is the piece most simple rent-vs-buy comparisons leave out.
What's the difference between Simple and Detailed mode?
Simple mode asks only for the five essentials and estimates the rest, property tax, maintenance, insurance, appreciation, rent growth, investment return, and closing costs, using typical values scaled to your home price. Detailed mode exposes every one of those so you can match your exact situation.
Should I rent or buy right now?
If your breakeven year is beyond how long you plan to stay, renting and investing the difference likely comes out ahead. If you'll stay well past breakeven and value stability, buying tends to win on both money and lifestyle. Adjust the sliders to match your own situation and see which side the dollars land on.
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