Top 10 Big Cities Where Renters Rule

Sending in that rent check every month can feel like you’re flushing money down the drain. You’re paying for a roof over your head, but it’s hard to compete with buying a home and building equity.

As it turns out, though, renting for a few years may make perfect financial sense.

Zillow’s breakeven horizon metric measures the number of years after which buying a home is more financially advantageous than renting. This period of time is calculated by comparing the net costs of buying a house with the costs of renting the same home. From here, average and median breakeven horizons are computed at the city and metro levels.

Based on Zillow’s breakeven horizon data and average home values across the U.S., here’s a look at the top 10 big cities where renters have the edge: