Back to Resources

Rent vs. Buy Calculator

See whether renting or buying saves you more money. Pick how many years you plan to stay, and this tool walks through the numbers in plain language — including what your down payment could grow into if you invested it instead of using it to buy a home.

If You Rent
If You Buy
This is the yearly property tax bill, shown as a percent of the home's price. In the Chicago area it's usually between 1.5% and 2.5%, but it can vary a lot by town — check the real number for the area you're looking at.
A monthly fee that some condos, townhomes, or neighborhoods charge for shared upkeep, like landscaping or building maintenance. Enter $0 if your home won't have one.
A common estimate for what owning a home costs each year in repairs and replacements, like a new water heater or roof, shown as a percent of the home's price.
One-time fees you pay when you first buy, like loan fees, title insurance, and inspections.
The real estate agent's fee, government fees, and legal costs you'll pay whenever you eventually sell. The Net Sheet Calculator can give you an exact number for a real closing date.
Ready to run real numbers on an actual property? Open the Net Sheet Calculator →
Assumptions
Chicago-area homes have gained a little under 4% a year on average since 2000 (S&P Case-Shiller Chicago index), and forecasts call for roughly 2–4% a year in the near term. Chicago tends to rise more slowly and steadily than many other big cities, so this is a reasonable starting point — but any single year can be higher, lower, or negative.
If you rent, you don't need cash for a down payment. This is how much that same money might grow each year if you put it in the stock market or another investment instead.
7 years
The table below shows several different lengths of time, so you can see when (if ever) buying starts to beat renting.
Your Result
Based on the number of years you picked above
Enter your numbers above to see your estimate.

How The Costs Compare Over Time
YearsYour Cost to RentYour Cost to BuyWhich Saves You More

ⓘ These costs already include what you'd have left over at the end: for renting, it's how much your savings would have grown; for buying, it's what you'd walk away with if you sold the home at that point, after paying to sell it.

A Closer Look, For Your Selected Number of Years

💡 The big difference between renting and buying: when you rent, every dollar you pay is gone for good, it's paying down your landlord's mortgage, not yours. When you buy, three things come back to you later: your down payment, the part of every mortgage payment that wasn't interest (called "principal," it builds your ownership share instead of being spent), and any rise in the home's value. That last one matters because you own the whole home, not just your down-payment slice of it, so a home price increase grows your down payment faster than it would sitting in a bank account. All three are broken out below.

ⓘ This is just an estimate to help you compare your options, not a prediction of the future. Real interest rates, home prices, rent, and investment growth will almost certainly turn out differently than whatever you enter above.

ⓘ This tool gives you a planning estimate, not financial or tax advice. Here's exactly what it does: it adds up all the money you'd pay out under renting, and separately under buying, then subtracts what you'd have left over at the end of the time period you chose (your invested savings if renting, or your home equity after selling costs if buying). A few things it assumes to keep things simple: your mortgage rate never changes, and your homeowners insurance and HOA fee stay the same dollar amount every year (in real life, these usually creep up). It does not include the tax break some homeowners get for mortgage interest, renter's insurance, security deposits, or the cost of the move itself. Property tax and yearly upkeep costs are estimated as a percent of your home's value each year, so they rise as your home's value rises. Change any of the numbers above to match your own situation.

© 2026 Brian Elmore. All rights reserved. This tool may not be reproduced or redistributed without permission.