Owning Versus Renting In 6 Arizona Cities — Which Is Cheapest?

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Arizona is one of the fastest growing states in the country, having seen its population swell by 44% between July 2020 and July 2023, according to a recent analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. That places it fourth behind only Nevada, Utah and Idaho. All these extra people reflect Arizona’s status as a desired location, but they have also driven housing prices higher in the Grand Canyon State.

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Research from ATTOM found the median house price in Arizona was $432,084 as of November 22, 2024. That’s well above the national median of $370,000 as of September 2024. On the plus side, the average rent in Arizona was $1,575 a month as of November 2024, according to RentCafe — well below the national average of $1,748.

Those numbers align with a GOBankingRates look into typical home and rent prices in some of Arizona’s biggest cities. In each of these cities, it’s much cheaper on average to rent a home than to buy one. In fact, monthly rent payments were around $1,000 lower than monthly mortgage payments in most of the cities analyzed — and in one case, rent was more than $2,000 cheaper.

One obvious conclusion is that a lot more people want to own a home than rent one in Arizona. That’s the case in much of the United States.

Below is a look at owning vs. renting in six Arizona cities based on the following criteria:

Median sold home prices are based on Realtor.com data as of November 2024.
Monthly mortgage payments were calculated using Zillow’s mortgage calculator. The final numbers were based on a 30-year fixed mortgage, each city’s median sales price, a 15% down payment, and a mortgage rate of 6.46%, which was the average in Arizona as of December 16, 2024.
Median rents are based on Zillow Rentals data as of December 13, and cover all bedrooms and property types.

Cities are listed in alphabetical order.