About Rent or Buy Today

Our Mission

Renting vs. buying is a big decision, and it’s easy to rely on rules of thumb or headlines. We built Rent or Buy Today so you can test the trade‑offs with real numbers and see how the answer changes when assumptions change.

The calculator includes the obvious costs (mortgage, rent) and the less obvious ones (taxes, maintenance, closing costs, opportunity cost). You can keep the defaults or override everything.

Our Tools

Here’s what’s on the site right now:

Rent vs Buy Calculator

Compare renting vs. buying over your time horizon with adjustable assumptions for taxes, maintenance, appreciation, and the opportunity cost of your down payment.

Mortgage Calculator

See a full monthly breakdown (principal, interest, taxes, insurance, PMI) and an amortization schedule you can actually read.

Home Affordability Calculator

Estimate what’s affordable based on income, debts, and down payment, using standard DTI thresholds as a starting point.

Closing Costs Estimator

Get a state‑level closing cost breakdown so you can plan cash‑to‑close without surprises.

Rent Affordability Calculator

If you’re renting, estimate a comfortable rent range using common budgeting rules and your own debt picture.

Should I Rent or Buy Quiz

A quick quiz to help you figure out whether to dig deeper into buying now or keep renting.

Compare Cities

Side‑by‑side comparisons across 62+ metros so you can see how local numbers shift the outcome.

What Makes Us Different

Transparent Methodology

We show the inputs and assumptions up front. You can adjust any parameter and see how the recommendation changes instead of guessing what the model is doing.

Local Market Data

We've compiled data on 62+ major US metropolitan areas, including:

Median home prices (Zillow ZHVI)
Median rental rates (Zillow ZORI)
Local property tax rates
State-specific closing costs

This lets you start with realistic defaults for your city rather than national averages that may not reflect your local market.

No Hidden Agenda

We’re not a lender or a brokerage. The goal is simple: give you a clear way to compare the two paths and make your own call.

Our publishing standards, sourcing rules, and correction process are documented in our Editorial Policy.

Our Methodology

Our calculator compares the total cost of ownership versus renting over your specified time horizon. Here's what we include:

Buying Costs

Mortgage payments - Principal and interest using standard amortization
Property taxes - Based on local rates
Homeowners insurance - Regional averages
HOA fees - If applicable
Maintenance - Typically 1% of home value annually
Closing costs - Buying (~3%) and selling (~6%)

Renting Costs

Monthly rent - With optional annual increases
Renter's insurance - Typically minimal

What We Account For

Equity buildup - Principal payments and appreciation
Opportunity cost - What your down payment could earn if invested
Transaction costs - The true cost of buying and selling
Time value - How long you need to stay to break even

Limitations

We believe in transparency, including about what our calculator doesn't capture:

Tax implications - Mortgage interest deduction, capital gains exclusion, etc. vary by individual situation
Market timing - We can't predict future appreciation or rent increases
Non-financial factors - Stability, freedom to renovate, community roots
Individual circumstances - Job security, family plans, risk tolerance

This calculator is a starting point for your analysis, not a definitive answer. We always recommend consulting with financial advisors, tax professionals, and real estate experts for major financial decisions.

Data Sources

We believe in transparency about where our data comes from. Our market data is compiled from multiple public sources:

Home Prices

Median home prices reference sources such as the Zillow Home Value Index, the Redfin Data Center, and the U.S. Census American Housing Survey.

Rental Rates

Rent data comes from the Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI), which tracks the typical observed market rent across a region. This provides current market rates rather than subsidized housing benchmarks.

Property Tax Rates

Property tax rates are compiled from local tax assessor databases and the Tax Foundation's annual property tax studies.

Mortgage Rates

Mortgage rate benchmarks reference Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS), a widely used industry source. Updates follow the survey's published schedule.

Closing-Cost Benchmarks

Our closing-cost benchmark layer blends state fee assumptions with public references such as transfer-tax studies, HMDA lender-fee distributions, and FHFA conforming-loan limit guidance to keep range checks realistic across states.

Watchlist & Scenario Context

City watchlist intelligence can incorporate regional context from Census ACS, BLS unemployment series, and HUD rent references, alongside our Zillow home/rent defaults and Freddie Mac mortgage-rate baseline.

Search Demand Signals (Editorial)

We also track query-intent patterns via Google Trends to prioritize which guides and landing pages get refreshed first. This trend layer helps content planning and internal linking, but it does not feed calculator assumptions or outputs.

Update Schedule

Update cadence varies by source. We refresh data as new datasets are published, and each city page includes a data freshness indicator so you can see when it was last updated.

We update our data when source datasets change to keep the defaults aligned with market conditions.