Price-to-Rent Ratio Calculator

It is the price of a home divided by the annual rent for an equivalent home. A $300,000 home renting for $18,000 a year has a ratio of about 16.67. A lower number means homes are cheap relative to rents; a higher number means they are expensive.

The calculator uses a common rule of thumb: 15 or below favors buying, 16 to 20 is mixed, and above 20 favors renting. It is a fast first screen, not a full buy-versus-rent decision on its own.

Either works. Use the Rent is monthly and Rent is annual buttons to tell the calculator which you have entered. When the toggle is set to monthly, your figure is multiplied by 12 before the ratio is computed.

Almost every real cost. It leaves out mortgage interest, property taxes, insurance, HOA fees, maintenance, closing costs, home price appreciation, and how long you plan to stay. Treat it as a market signal, not a budget.

They are a widely repeated rule of thumb from real estate researchers and personal finance writers, not an official standard. Different markets and eras have used slightly different bands, so use them as a rough guide.

Yes. Use a purchase price and a rent for homes of similar size, condition, and location. Comparing a small apartment's rent to a large house's price will distort the ratio and the conclusion.

Yes. In expensive coastal cities the ratio can climb past 30, while lower-cost areas can sit in single digits. A very small rent relative to price pushes the ratio up sharply, which is why comparable properties matter.

Yes. The calculation runs entirely in your browser. The price and rent you enter are never uploaded or stored on a server.

Pair the ratio with a full rent-versus-buy calculation, a cap rate estimate if you are investing, and a mortgage calculator to size the real monthly cost. The ratio narrows the question; those tools answer it.