Is it worth buying a house?

People want one answer to "is it worth buying a house," but the math differs across the 813 US cities we track. With a 7-year stay, buying leads in 176 cities, renting in 580, and 57 cities are toss-ups. In 71% of those markets, renting comes out ahead. The result depends on home prices in your city and how many years you stay put.

Is buying a house worth it?

Buying pays off when rents are high compared with local home prices, as long as you stay put long enough. The break-even year is when owning costs less in total than renting. If you leave before then, renting leaves you with more money.

That finish line shifts by a decade or more depending on location, according to your city's price divided by rent. Break-even arrives in year 7 in Chicago, so a 7-year stay is a toss-up. Move to Boston and the two options draw even in year 8, so renting wins over a 7-year stay. Our model puts the crossover in year 13 for San Francisco. A Zillow buy-vs-rent study finds that renting stays ahead in San Francisco, San Jose, as well as New Orleans across a full 30-year horizon.

How many years before owning beats renting

In the US cities where owning eventually wins, the median break-even year is 10. Among the 813 cities we track, 134 never see owning catch up within 30 years. Even so, owners in the markets that work typically stay long enough. Before selling, sellers lived in their home for a median of 11 years, the National Association of Realtors reports. In a median city, staying 11 years clears the year 10 hurdle.

According to Zillow's national estimate, break-even for a typical US home arrives in 6.0 years when you put 20% down. It takes 17 to 25 years in its slowest metros. One main reason pushes our median out to year 10. We treat the renter's cash as growing at 8.3% a year, just as if you were to rent and invest. For a typical US home, upfront cash of $78,185 grows to $137,000 over 7 years. According to Zillow, a higher investment return strengthens the case for renting.

The cities where buying pays off fastest

Buyers get the fastest returns in Midwestern cities with low prices and in parts of South Florida. There, home prices are low enough compared with rent that owning wins within a few years. Monthly interest stays modest because the loan balances are small, even though the 30-year mortgage rate is 7.24% per Freddie Mac.

Detroit reaches break-even in year 1, with Cleveland right behind it. Philadelphia gets there in year 3, and Miami in year 6. Look over all 813 markets on our city rent vs buy page.

Sources: the Zillow Home Value and Observed Rent indexes and the verdicts our rent vs buy method produces at 20% down over 7 years.

Is it worth buying a house right now?

Short stays suffer today from high borrowing costs and modest price gains. Fixed mortgage rates for 30 years average 7.24% now, Freddie Mac reports, against 6.17% a year earlier. Meanwhile, the median sales price for existing homes hit $417,500 in September 2026, the National Association of Realtors reports.

Fast appreciation isn't saving buyers either. US home prices rose 2.4% between August 2025 and August 2026, the Federal Housing Finance Agency notes. Buying today works only when you stay past your city's break-even year, as we show in is this a good time to buy a house.

What income and age make buying a home worth it?

The loan, tax and insurance must be covered by your paycheck, without draining your reserves. Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies found that a first-time buyer with 3.5% down and a 30-year loan needed income of $126,700 for the median-priced home. You'll also need cash to cover closing costs. Lender, title and legal fees paid during a home purchase or sale make up closing costs. Afterward, keep three to six months of expenses as an emergency cushion, which the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suggests.

Still renting in your thirties? There's no need to worry. According to the National Association of Realtors, first-time buyers now have a median age of 40. How long you'll stay put matters far more than your age.

The assumptions behind each answer

Every league table depends on a baseline group of numbers. Our methodology sets a buyer and a renter side by side, each starting with the same money in one city:

• The buyer makes a 20% down payment and takes out a 30-year loan at 7.24%, matching the newest Freddie Mac average.
• Buying fees upfront come to 3.5% of the price, while selling fees take 6% when you leave.
• Yearly maintenance costs equal 1% of the home's value, and you also pay local property tax and insurance.
• Rent rises 3.5% a year, while home values grow at the long-run pace for their state, as measured by the FHFA house price index.
• Any monthly savings, the down payment and buying fees are invested by the renter at 8.3% a year.

Try a different stay or down payment by entering your own numbers in the rent vs buy calculator.