Should You Rent or Buy a Home in 2026?
Answer 5 simple questions and see which option costs less over your planned stay — with a plain-English explanation, no signup, and no finance jargon.
Transparent assumptions · Updated weekly with live mortgage rates
Tell us your numbers
Enter your home price, rent, and how long you plan to stay. Takes about 60 seconds.
We do the math
Our calculator runs the full financial comparison including mortgage, taxes, PMI, and opportunity cost.
Get your answer
See clearly whether renting or buying saves you money, with a plain English explanation of why.
Your Renting Costs
We compare the true cost of renting versus buying over your planned stay using transparent financial formulas. Here is exactly what goes into the result:
- We add up total costs over your planned stay — mortgage payments, taxes, maintenance, and selling costs for buying; rent growth and opportunity cost of your down payment for renting.
- We include all the costs most calculators miss — PMI, insurance, HOA, moving costs, closing costs, and the investment return your down payment could earn in the stock market instead.
- We show why one option wins, not just which one does — with a plain-English explanation of the main driver behind your specific result.
The old rule — buying is always better — is no longer true
In 2026, high interest rates mean homeownership is not always cheaper than renting. Many US cities still have lower monthly costs for renters, so the best choice depends on your exact numbers instead of an old rule of thumb.
How long you plan to stay matters more than anything else
Buying has upfront costs that take time to recover. If you move after 3 or 5 years, you may leave before those fees and closing costs are paid back. That is why the break-even year is the most important part of the comparison.
Your down payment has a hidden cost most people forget
Money in a down payment is not free — it could grow in the stock market instead. This calculator counts that opportunity cost so your rent versus buy comparison is fair and easier to understand.
Every rent vs buy calculator makes assumptions. Ours are transparent — here is exactly what we use and why, so you can trust the result or adjust the inputs to match your situation.
Mortgage rate: live from Freddie Mac via FRED
We pull the current 30-year fixed mortgage rate automatically each week from the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) API. As of 2026 this sits around 6.5–7%. Your actual rate depends on your credit score and lender — use the slider to adjust it to your personal rate quote.
Home price appreciation: 3.5% per year default
US homes have appreciated an average of 3–4% per year since 1990. We default to 3.5% as a conservative middle estimate. High-demand cities like Austin or Miami have seen higher; slower markets like Cleveland or Detroit have seen lower. Adjust this in the detailed settings to match your target city.
Opportunity cost of the down payment: 7% investment return
This is the assumption most calculators skip entirely. Money used as a down payment cannot be invested elsewhere. We assume a 7% annual return — the historical S&P 500 average after inflation — on the down payment if you rented instead of bought. This makes the rent vs buy comparison genuinely fair rather than artificially favouring buying.
Rent growth: 3% per year default
US rents have increased an average of 3% per year historically. In high-demand cities this can reach 5–6%. We apply this growth rate year over year to your starting rent figure, so the comparison accounts for the fact that renting gets more expensive over time too.
Selling costs: 6% of home value
When you sell a home, real estate agent commissions and closing fees typically total 5–6% of the sale price. This is one of the most commonly forgotten costs in rent vs buy comparisons. We include it by default because ignoring it makes buying look artificially cheaper than it is.
Property tax: 1.2% national average default
The US national average effective property tax rate is approximately 1.1–1.2% of home value per year. This varies significantly by state — New Jersey averages over 2%, Hawaii under 0.3%. Use your county assessor website to find your exact rate and enter it in the detailed settings for a more accurate result.