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🏘️ Rent vs Buy Calculator
Should you rent or buy? Enter home price, down payment, mortgage rate, expected home appreciation, monthly rent, and time horizon. See which one wins at 5/10/30 years.
Examples
$500k home, 20% down @ 7% vs $2,500/mo rent, 3 yr horizonRenting saves ~$30k (transaction costs dominate at short horizons)Same scenario, 15 yr horizon, 3% appreciationBuying ahead by ~$200k once mortgage is paid down and home appreciatesFrequently asked questions
What is the break-even horizon?
Usually 5-7 years for buying to beat renting in most US markets, but it depends heavily on local rent and home prices. Sometimes never in expensive coastal cities.
What about the opportunity cost of the down payment?
This calculator includes it — money in a down payment is not in the stock market earning 7%. Adjust the "investment return" field to your expected market return.
Is buying always better in the long run?
No. In very expensive markets (SF, NYC), even 30-year horizons can favor renting + investing the difference. Run your specific numbers.
About this tool
Rent vs Buy Calculator runs entirely in your browser using standard Web APIs. No data is sent to any server. The source for this tool is in our public GitHub repository.
Related tools
- 🏠 Mortgage Calculator — Monthly mortgage payment with amortization breakdown. Principal, interest, taxes, insurance.
- 🔄 Mortgage Refinance Calculator — Should you refinance? Break-even months from rate drop + closing costs.
- 🎯 Savings Goal Calculator — How long to reach a target? Or how much to save monthly?
Why this tool
vs typical free web-tool sites
| 1vw | Typical free site | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Signup required | No | Often (for premium features) |
| Ads inside the tool | No | Yes (banner + video) |
| Data sent to server | No (browser-only) | Yes (inputs analyzed for ads) |
| Total tools | 96 | Often <20 or scattered across sites |
| Bookmarkable URL per tool | Yes | Mixed |
| Loads in under 1s | Yes (static) | Often slow (ad tracking) |
| Multilingual | EN / ES / PT / FR / DE | Usually EN only |
| Open source | Yes | No |