The Full Cost

Buy vs Rent: The Full Cost Compared

The honest question isn't whether your mortgage beats your rent — it's what your total wealth looks like on each path over the years you'd actually stay, once you count what the down payment could have earned, what selling really costs, and what a home really costs to keep up. Enter your numbers for the net position on each path, the year buying overtakes renting, and what's driving it.

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The big three

These move the result more than anything else — how long you stay most of all.

The single biggest factor. Selling and closing costs are spread over your stay — short stays favor renting heavily.
1 yr30 yrs
The all-in price of the home you'd buy.
$100k$1.5M
What renting a comparable place would cost — be honest about "equivalent."
$500$8,000
If you buy
The costs of owning

Pre-filled with realistic values — they default to reality, not to whatever makes buying look best.

Percent paid up front. Below 20% triggers PMI until you reach 20% equity.
3%50%
Your 30-year fixed rate. Small changes move the answer, so this is fine-grained.
3%10%
Of home value per year. US median ~1.2%; TX/NJ ~2–2.5%; CA/HI ~0.7%.
0.3%3%
Of home value per year — roofs, HVAC, plumbing, the surprises. Most calculators understate this badly.
0.5%3%
Combined homeowner's insurance and any HOA dues.
$50$800
Of purchase price — origination, title, inspection, prepaids. Paid on day one, on top of the down payment.
1%5%
Of sale price — commission, title, transfer taxes, prep. A real hit the day you sell; most calculators omit it.
3%10%
Long-run US nominal average. Recent decades ran hotter; the next may not.
0%8%
If you rent + invest
The rent path

Renting has fewer cost levers — the comparison assumes you invest the difference each month.

Roughly inflation in most markets. Adjust up for hot rental cities.
0%8%
What the down payment and monthly savings could earn instead. ~7% is the long-run US market average; try 5% for a conservative read.
3%10%
Your tax picture
What sets the buy-side tax benefit

These decide whether buying gives you any tax benefit at all — for most middle-class buyers in 2026, it's essentially zero.

Used only for the tax picture — how state income tax interacts with the SALT cap and standard deduction.
$40k$400k
Your top state rate. CA/HI/NJ high; TX/FL/WA zero. Interacts with the SALT cap.
0%13%
1 = single, 2 = married filing jointly. Sets the standard deduction ($16,100 vs $32,200 for 2026).
Your top federal bracket — roughly the rate on your last dollar of income.

The 30-year picture

Total wealth on each path at the end of every year — home equity net of selling costs plus any invested surplus (buy), versus the down payment and monthly surplus invested (rent). The higher number is ahead; the highlighted row is where buying overtakes renting.

YearIf you buyIf you rent + investDifferenceAhead

What's driving it

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    How this is calculated: each figure is total wealth on that path over your stay — for buying, home equity net of selling costs plus any invested surplus (after capital-gains tax); for renting, the down payment, closing costs, and monthly surplus invested (after tax). Whichever path is cheaper in a given year invests the difference, so the comparison is symmetric. Resale is taken net of selling costs at the home's appreciated value, and maintenance, property tax, insurance/HOA, and PMI (when down payment is under 20%) are all counted. The horizon and mortgage run 30 years; appreciation, rent growth, and investment returns use long-run averages — real outcomes vary. Tax picture (2026): the standard deduction is $16,100 (single) / $32,200 (married filing jointly), per the IRS. The SALT deduction cap follows current law — $40,400 through 2029, reverting to $10,000 in 2030 as written (Congress could extend it) — so the modeled buy-side tax benefit steps down in the projection's fifth year. The high-earner SALT phaseout begins above ~$505,000 of income, above this calculator's range, so it isn't modeled. Default figures current as of June 2026. These are transparent assumptions, not forecasts — adjust them to your situation. Not financial, tax, or real-estate advice.

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