Renting more affordable than buying in most markets

​​IRVINE, Calif. – Renting a three-bedroom property is affordable in 442 of the 755 U.S. counties analyzed in ATTOM Data Solution's 2019 Rental Affordability Report. 

The report calculated rental affordability as a percentage of wages to rent. Rental affordability was compared with housing affordability, calculated as a percentage of wages and the monthly cost of owning a median-priced home (based on a 3 percent down payment and including mortgage, property tax, homeowner's insurance, and private mortgage insurance). 

According to the report, it is more affordable to rent than buy in 71.1 percent of the 45 Texas counties that were analyzed. ​Those counties are (in alphabetical order):

• Bell
  
• Bexar
  
• Brazoria
  
• Brazos
  
• Collin
  
• Comal​
  
• Dallas
  
• Denton
  
• Ellis
  
• Fort Bend
  
• Galveston
  
• Grayson
  
• Gregg
  
• Guadalupe
  
• Harris
  
• Hays
  
• Henderson
  
• Hidalgo
  
• Hood
  
• Johnson
  
• Kendall
  
• McLennan
  
• Midland
  
• Montgomery
  
• Parker
  
• Randall
  
• Rockwall
  
• Smith
  
• Tarrant
  
• Taylor
  
• Travis
  
• Williamson​
  

The counties in which it is more affordable to buy are:

• Cameron
  
• Ector
  
• El Paso
  
• Hunt
  
• Jefferson
  
• Kaufman
  
• Lubbock
  
• Nueces
  
• Orange
  
• Potter
  
• Tom Green
  
• Webb
  
• Wichita​
  

​The analysis used 2019 rent data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and public record sales deed data from ATTOM. ​​