Most rent vs. own calculators are sales tools in disguise. This one charges both sides for everything. The owner pays the down payment, closing costs, the full mortgage payment, taxes, insurance, mortgage insurance, and maintenance, and is scored as if selling, with selling costs off the top. The renter pays rent and renter's insurance, invests the same starting cash the owner put in, and every month one side spends less than the other, that side banks the difference into the market. Then we compare what each would actually walk away with.
Your rent
$
$/mo
Charged to the renter so both sides pay for everything.
10 yrsThe verdict is read at this year. This is the question that decides most rent vs. own math.
If you own
Loan program
Estimated at 740+ FICO, under 43% DTI
$
%
$
Base Loan Amount$337,750
$/mo
Property Tax
$
6.750%Defaults to today's average for the selected loan program when it loads.
Advanced assumptions
4.1%4.1% is the 56-year national average (1970 to 2026). Rent has never had a down year.
5.0%5.0% is the 51-year national average (1975 to 2026): the compound annual growth of the FHFA House Price Index, a repeat-sales index that tracks the same homes over time (FRED: USSTHPI). This is the home's appreciation before costs.
10.0%10% is the long-run S&P 500 total-return average. Both side funds compound at this rate.
1.00%1% of the home's value per year is the standard planning figure. It covers repairs and upkeep, not HOA dues. Charged on the current value, so it grows as the home appreciates.
3.0%Property tax, homeowners insurance, and renter's insurance all step up by this much each year. Roughly inflation.
Closing costs are what you pay going in, when you buy the home ($10,500 here), and the renter invests that same cash on day one instead. Selling costs are what comes off the top coming out, when you sell, and the owner is charged them in every year of the chart.
Mortgage insurance is automatic and follows the loan program: PMI (0.52%). Estimated at 740+ FICO, under 43% DTI. Property taxes and insurance are set with the mortgage inputs above and grow each year at the rate you set here.
The verdict at your horizon
At year 10, owning is ahead by $25,495
Owning pulls ahead of renting in year 7 and stays ahead through year 30 in this scenario. Slide your horizon to see how the answer changes with how long you stay.
Breakeven year
7
5 to beyond 30 years under nearby assumptions
Owning, month one
$2,716/mo
Renting, month one
$2,000/mo
Rent in your final year
$2,871/mo
Owner walks away with
$242,101
Renter walks away with
$216,606
Owner: sell that year, pay off the loan, keep the side fundRenter: the invested portfolioYour horizon
How the verdict is built · Year 10(hover the chart to change the year)
Sale, net of costs
$530,205
−
Loan balance
$288,104
+
Owner side fund
$0
=
Owner wealth
$242,101
vs
Renter portfolio
$216,606
=
Advantage
$25,495
The renter's portfolio starts with the owner's down payment plus closing costs invested on day one. Each month, whichever side pays less for housing invests the difference at the selected return. The owner is always scored as if selling that year, with selling costs deducted, the strictest honest test.
At these inputs, owning starts at about $2,716 a month against $2,000 rent, so the renter banks the difference early and starts ahead: on day one the renter holds the invested down payment and closing costs while an immediate sale would cost the owner both sets of transaction costs. Rent compounds at 4.1% a year while the mortgage payment stays fixed. Rent passes the full cost of owning around year 13, and from there the flow reverses and the owner banks the surplus. The owner first catches the renter in year 7. Read at your year-10 horizon, owning walks away ahead by $25,495. Hover any year to watch the calculation strip rebuild the number in front of you.
Rent vs. own comparison at the default assumptions ($350,000 home, 3.5% down, $2,000 rent, 6.75% rate, 4.1% rent growth, 10% investment return): owner walk-away wealth versus renter portfolio by year. Owner wealth is the home value net of selling costs, minus the loan balance, plus the owner's side fund.
Year
Owner walk-away wealth
Renter portfolio
Advantage
0
-$12,250
$22,750
-$35,000
5
$98,364
$105,711
-$7,347
10
$242,101
$216,606
$25,495
15
$433,255
$366,034
$67,221
20
$717,578
$602,240
$115,339
25
$1,148,781
$990,870
$157,911
30
$1,807,019
$1,630,288
$176,732
Rent's losing streak
0 down years
in 56 years of national rent data, 1970 to 2026
Rent's worst year ever
+0.24%
2010, the bottom of the housing crash. It still went up.
The two growth rates
4.1% vs 5.0%
rent vs. home prices, annual average, 1975 to 2026
What 4.1% compounds to
3.2x
your rent, 30 years from now, at the average
What this means for you
A calculator is only honest if it can tell you not to buy. This one can, and sometimes does.
The flow flips, and only one way
Owning costs more than renting on day one, and the gap is real money. But the mortgage payment is fixed while rent compounds, and national rent has never had a down year in 56 years. At the defaults, rent catches the full cost of owning in year 13, mortgage insurance drops off in year 13, and eventually the loan retires entirely. Renting starts cheaper. Owning ends cheaper. The whole question is what happens in between, and that is what the chart shows.
Your horizon is the answer
Transaction costs are why short stays favor renting: closing costs going in and selling costs coming out are a fixed toll that a few years of appreciation may not cover. Slide the horizon to five years and watch the verdict tighten or flip. If you are confident you will stay put for five or more years, the math usually starts working for you. If you might move in two, it usually does not, and this tool will say so.
When renting wins, believe it
Drop the rent low enough, push the rate high enough, or shorten the stay, and the blue line finishes on top. That is not a bug. A cheap-enough rental with the savings genuinely invested every month is a legitimate wealth strategy. The honest catch is the word genuinely: the model assumes the renter invests every surplus dollar with perfect discipline for decades, and rent keeps compounding underneath the whole plan.
Read it honestly. This model leans against the owner in some places and for the owner in others, and both lists matter. Against the owner: they are charged closing costs going in, full selling costs every single year as if liquidating, every dollar of payment, taxes, insurance, and mortgage insurance, and maintenance at 1% of the home's value each year. For the owner: HOA dues are not charged, and where they exist they are real, and taxes and insurance are assumed to grow at a steady 3% rather than in the jumps reassessments and renewals actually deliver. For the renter: the model assumes every surplus dollar is invested immediately with perfect discipline, compounds untaxed, and rent rises smoothly at the average rather than in the lumps real leases deliver. Steady average growth every year, on homes, rent, and investments alike, is a simplification no real decade will match. Every figure is a national average and a historical one; past performance does not predict future results. Education, not investment advice.
Sources and model: rent growth default of 4.1% per year is the compound annual growth of the CPI Rent of Primary Residence index, 1970 to 2026 (FRED: CUUR0000SEHA), a series with zero annual declines in 56 years; its worst year was +0.24% in 2010. Home value compounds at the selected real estate return, defaulting to 5.0% a year, the compound annual growth of the FHFA All-Transactions House Price Index (FRED: USSTHPI), 1975 to 2026. That is a repeat-sales index, so it measures the same homes over time rather than the average price of whatever sold; the average-sale-price series (FRED: ASPUS) runs higher because homes have grown larger and better equipped since 1970. The 10% investment return default is the long-run S&P 500 total-return average; both the renter's portfolio and the owner's side fund compound at the selected rate, applied monthly. The mortgage payment, mortgage insurance, and financed fees come from the same shared calculation the payment calculator uses, over a 30-year amortization; each program's rate defaults to the site's live quote for that program when available (Mortgage News Daily via the calculator's source, rounded to 0.125 and bumped 0.125 as the conservative case), and is adjustable. Carrying costs charged to the owner: property taxes set from the selected state and county using the same tables as the payment calculator, homeowner's insurance defaulting to 0.35%, enterable as either a percentage or a dollar amount, and maintenance defaulting to 1% of the home's current value per year. Property tax, homeowners insurance, and the renter's insurance (defaulting to $20 a month) each grow at the selected cost growth rate, defaulting to 3% a year, stepped once per year. Mortgage insurance follows the selected loan program, using the same terms as the payment calculator: Conventional PMI by down payment tier (0.52%, 0.37%, or 0.27% of the original loan per year), charged until the balance amortizes to 78% of the original purchase price, the automatic termination standard; FHA at 1.75% upfront financed into the loan plus an annual 0.55% or 0.50%, which runs for the life of the loan under 10% down and 11 years at or above it; VA at a funding fee of 1.25% to 3.30% financed by usage type and down payment, with no monthly mortgage insurance and no fee when exempt; USDA at a 1.00% guarantee fee financed plus a 0.35% annual fee for the life of the loan. Borrower-requested earlier PMI removal exists in practice; the model uses the automatic rule as the conservative case. The renter's portfolio begins with the owner's down payment plus closing costs (defaulting to 3% of price) invested on day one. Each month the model compares the full cost of owning against that month's rent plus renter's insurance, and whichever side pays less invests the difference at the selected return; rent steps up once per year at the selected growth rate. Owner wealth in any year equals the home's value net of selling costs (defaulting to 7%), minus the loan balance, plus the owner's side fund; renter wealth equals the portfolio. The breakeven year is the first year owner wealth reaches renter wealth; the verdict is read at the selected horizon, and the two can differ when the lines cross more than once. The band shown under the breakeven year reruns the model with appreciation and maintenance each moved half a point in either direction; near the crossing the two lines run almost parallel, so small input changes move the year by more than they move the dollars. HOA dues, tax effects, and rent deposits are excluded on both sides. Both growth rates are long-run historical averages applied smoothly and are not predictions.
Why this differs from Zillow. Zillow's June 2026 rent vs. buy analysis puts the national breakeven near six years with either 5% or 20% down. Their model charges the owner for maintenance and projects appreciation market by market, and it does not publish the return it credits on the renter's invested cash. Back-solving their published 30-year figures suggests that return sits well below the 10% used here. Those choices push in opposite directions. With maintenance and a constant-quality appreciation rate now charged to the owner, and 10% still credited to the renter, this tool's national defaults land in the same neighborhood as Zillow's, reached from the stricter side. Nashville is a longer game in both models: Zillow's August 2026 update puts the metro at 8.4 years for a typical single-family home and 5.3 for a starter home.
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