The quickest way to compare buying and renting in a city is one number: the price-to-rent ratio. Divide the typical home price by a year of typical rent. The answer is how many years of rent it would take to pay for a home outright.
A low ratio means homes are cheap relative to rent. A high one means renting is the relative bargain.
The 30 cities, side by side
Using RentCast market data for each city's most populous ZIP codes, typical list prices and typical asking rents give these ratios. The median across all 30 is 20.0.
Lowest ratios (buying is relatively cheap):
| City | Typical list price | Typical rent | Ratio | |---|---|---|---| | Detroit, MI | $116,000 | $1,245/mo | 7.8 | | Memphis, TN | $176,000 | $1,370/mo | 10.7 | | Philadelphia, PA | $189,000 | $1,475/mo | 10.7 | | Baltimore, MD | $254,000 | $1,640/mo | 12.9 | | Indianapolis, IN | $231,000 | $1,430/mo | 13.5 |
Highest ratios (renting is relatively cheap):
| City | Typical list price | Typical rent | Ratio | |---|---|---|---| | Seattle, WA | $820,000 | $1,895/mo | 36.1 | | Los Angeles, CA | $973,000 | $2,505/mo | 32.4 | | Denver, CO | $639,000 | $1,895/mo | 28.1 | | Portland, OR | $495,000 | $1,585/mo | 26.0 | | Austin, TX | $489,000 | $1,705/mo | 23.9 |
How to read it
The ratio is a comparison tool, not a verdict. A ratio of 36 in Seattle doesn't mean nobody should buy there. It means that, at today's prices, a typical home costs a lot of rent-years, so the case for buying depends more heavily on how long you'll stay and whether prices rise.
In a low-ratio city like Detroit or Memphis, monthly ownership costs can come in close to rent quickly, which shortens the time it takes for buying to pay off.
What the ratio leaves out
List prices are what sellers ask, not what homes sell for. And the ratio ignores everything that makes ownership expensive or cheap for you specifically:
- Your mortgage rate and down payment
- Property taxes and insurance, which vary widely by state
- HOA fees and maintenance
- How long you'll stay, since buying and selling both carry transaction costs
Those can easily outweigh a few points of ratio. Use it to compare places, then run your own numbers.
Check your city
Every city above has its own page with the ratio, typical rent by bedroom count, list prices ZIP by ZIP, and where both are heading: start with rent or buy by city. For a specific ZIP code, Predictye Property projects home values to the year you choose, and Predictye Rent does the same for rent.
Don't guess. Just Predictye.