RealtyTrac, a real-estate research firm, compiled data from 504 counties in large housing markets across the US. They found that in these markets the cost to rent, as a percentage of median wages, was lower than a monthly home payment about 42% of the time.
We've taken RealtyTrac's data and found the top 15 places you can save big by renting instead of buying.
To broaden the scope a bit, we excluded the giant New York and California markets that dominate the top of RealtyTrac's list (though we've included that data later on as well).
Texas is the most represented state on the list with one-third of the counties. There is only one county on the list, however, in the Midwest.
Find out below which counties have the biggest savings for renters over buyers.
(Note: We've included counties with populations over 300,000 and where savings on buying instead of renting is more than 10% of wages. Additionally, average monthly house cost was computed using an insurance-payment rate of 0.35% of median home value and a property-tax rate of 1.04% of median home value.)
15. Montgomery County, TX
Homes in Montgomery County, TX.
Metro Area: Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX
Population: 472,162
Median Weekly Income: $982
Average Monthly Rent: $1,386
Estimated Monthly Mortgage Payment: $1,821
Difference in median income needed to rent instead of buy:10.23%
14. Collier County, FL
Metro Area: Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, FL
Population: 328,209
Median Weekly Income: $846
Average Monthly Rent: $1,479
Estimated Monthly Mortgage Payment: $1,869
Difference in median income needed to rent instead of buy:10.65%
13. Multnomah County, OR
Metro Area: Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA
Population: 747,641
Median Weekly Income: $983
Average Monthly Rent: $1,576
Estimated Monthly Mortgage Payment: $2,052
Difference in median income needed to rent instead of buy:11.17%
12. Denton County, TX
Metro Area: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
Population: 687,857
Median Weekly Income: $867
Average Monthly Rent: $1,337
Estimated Monthly Mortgage Payment: $1,790
Difference in median income needed to rent instead of buy:12.06%
11. Charleston County, SC
Apartments in Charleston, SC.
Metro Area:Charleston-North Charleston, SC
Population: 358,736
Median Weekly Income: $1,108
Average Monthly Rent: $1,301
Estimated Monthly Mortgage Payment: $837
Difference in median income needed to rent instead of buy:13.52%
10. Chester County, PA
Metro Area: Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
Population: 503,075
Median Weekly Income: $1,108
Average Monthly Rent: $1,502
Estimated Monthly Mortgage Payment: $1,295
Difference in median income needed to rent instead of buy:13.91%
9. Loudon County, VA
Homes in a neighborhood in Leesburg, VA.
Metro Area: Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
Population: 326,477
Median Weekly Income: $1,108
Average Monthly Rent: $2,144
Estimated Monthly Mortgage Payment: $2,813
Difference in median income needed to rent instead of buy:13.93%
8. Travis County, TX
The 21st Street co-op apartment building in Austin, TX.
Metro Area: Austin-Round Rock, TX
Population: 1,603,248
Median Weekly Income: $1,090
Average Monthly Rent: $1,629
Estimated Monthly Mortgage Payment: $2,301
Difference in median income needed to rent instead of buy:14.22%
7. Fort Bend County, TX
A home in Katy, TX.
Metro Area: Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX
Population: 608,939
Median Weekly Income: $945
Average Monthly Rent: $1,386
Estimated Monthly Mortgage Payment: $1,971
Difference in median income needed to rent instead of buy:14.28%
6. Bucks County, PA
Homes along a street in Langhorne Manor, PA.
Metro Area: Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
Population: 625,977
Median Weekly Income: $925
Average Monthly Rent: $1,502
Estimated Monthly Mortgage Payment:
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Difference in median income needed to rent instead of buy:14.54%
5. Clackamas County, OR
The historic Caroline Bremer House on West Linn, OR.
Metro Area: Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA
Population: 380,532
Median Weekly Income: $922
Average Monthly Rent: $1,576
Estimated Monthly Mortgage Payment: $2,159
Difference in median income needed to rent instead of buy:14.60%
4. Waukesha County, WI
Houses in the McCall Street Historic District in Waukesha, WI.
Metro Area: Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI
Population: 391,200
Median Weekly Income: $1,517
Average Monthly Rent: $1,146
Estimated Monthly Mortgage Payment: $1,751
Difference in median income needed to rent instead of buy:14.72%
3. Collin County, TX
The SB Wyatt House in Plano, TX.
Metro Area: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
Population: 811,308
Median Weekly Income: $1,145
Average Monthly Rent: $1,337
Estimated Monthly Mortgage Payment: $2,078
Difference in median income needed to rent instead of buy:14.92%
2. The District of Columbia
Homes on Logan Circle in Washington, D.C.
Metro Area: Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
Population: 619,371
Median Weekly Income: $1,599
Average Monthly Rent: $2,144
Estimated Monthly Mortgage Payment: $3,207
Difference in median income needed to rent instead of buy:15.33%
1. Fairfax County, VA
A home in Fairfax, VA.
Metro Area: Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
Population:1,101,071
Median Weekly Income: $1,517
Average Monthly Rent: $2,144
Estimated Monthly Mortgage Payment: $3,194
Difference in median income needed to rent instead of buy:15.98%
California and New York
A row of homes in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.
The top of RealtyTrac's list is monopolized by counties surrounding New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and some other Southern California counties (21 of the top 25 overall to be exact).
In order to broaden the geography a bit we removed them from consideration, but here's a rundown of those counties with over 25% rent-to-buy savings. (Counties listed from most to least savings from renting.) And as always you can check out the full data over at RealtyTrac.
New York County, NY: 75.43% less to rent than buy
Rochester County, NY: 68.89% less to rent than buy
Kings County, NY: 58.87% less to rent than buy
Westchester County, NY: 56.95% less to rent than buy
San Francisco County, CA: 46.61% less to rent than buy
San Mateo, CA: 36.94% less to rent than buy
Alameda, CA: 32.21% less to rent than buy
Orange County, CA: 29.66% less to rent than buy
Bergen County, NJ: 29.11% less to rent than buy
Queens County, NY: 26.18% less to rent than buy
Santa Clara County, CA: 26.03% less to rent than buy
Rockland County, NY: 25.01% less to rent than buy
