The Costs Of Renting Vs. Buying A Home In Each State, Mapped
Renting an apartment might give you flexibility, but in most states in the US, renting is actually more expensive than owning a home.
According to this map from personal finance site HowMuch, renting a home is, on average, more expensive than owning a home in 40 out of 50 states in the US. The few outlier states where renting is cheaper than buying are concentrated in the west (but Washington DC and Vermont also sneak in there). If the difference between renting and owning is less than $50 a month, then states are classified as "Neutral":
Using data from GoBankingRates, HowMuch also compiled a chart that shows the costs of renting vs. owning a home in each state in the US. Surprisingly, the cost of living is extremely high in Hawaii, with the monthly mortgage for homeowners averaging $2,839 a month. That's more than three times as much as the average mortgage of homeowners in West Virginia, one of the states with the lowest living costs in the country.
[HowMuch]