Research / Rent vs. buy / Texas / Brownsville

Rent or buy in Brownsville?
Renting is $165 a month cheaper.

Renting the typical home in Brownsville costs $165 less a month than owning it. Counting equity, price growth and what a renter could earn by investing the difference, buying comes out ahead in year 5.

Updated September 26, 2026 · Zillow data for August 2026 · 7.03% mortgage rate (Freddie Mac, September 24, 2026) · Rank 17 of 340 (1 = owning closest to renting) · Part of our 2026 rent vs. buy study

Monthly cost to own$1,748typical home, 20% down
Typical monthly rent$1,583Zillow, August 2026
Buying breaks evenYear 53.5% price growth
Cash needed to buy$45,845$199,327 home · 20% down + 3% closing
Income needed to own$69,912vs. $63,320 to rent · 30% rule

Where the monthly money goes.

The first-month cost of owning the typical Brownsville home, split into its parts, against the typical rent. About $130 of the first mortgage payment is principal, which you keep as equity.

The median household income in Brownsville is $52,130 (Census ACS 2020–2024). Owning the typical home would take 40% of it; renting would take 36%.

As a check with a larger rental, HUD's FY2027 Fair Market Rent for a three-bedroom home in the Brownsville-Harlingen, TX MSA area is $1,393 a month, still $355 below the cost of owning.

  • Mortgage principal & interest $1,064
  • Property tax $279
  • Home insurance $239
  • Maintenance $166

How long you would need to stay.

Net worth of a buyer compared with a renter who invests the down payment, closing costs and any monthly savings at 6% a year. Home values and rents grow 3.5% a year; selling costs 6%.

Change the assumptions

Buying vs. renting in Brownsville, by years in the home
StayResult
3 yearsRenting ahead by $6,687
5 yearsBuying ahead by $3,321
7 yearsBuying ahead by $15,721
10 yearsBuying ahead by $39,668
15 yearsBuying ahead by $97,863
20 yearsBuying ahead by $187,337
30 yearsBuying ahead by $517,628

Rent or buy elsewhere in Texas.

Other large Texas cities in the study.

All cities
HoustonRenting $642/mo cheaperSan AntonioRenting $741/mo cheaperDallasRenting $938/mo cheaperAustinRenting $2,322/mo cheaperFort WorthRenting $872/mo cheaperEl PasoRenting $597/mo cheaperArlingtonRenting $1,089/mo cheaperCorpus ChristiRenting $491/mo cheaper

More on Brownsville

See the full Brownsville rental market profile with Census medians, or check how a typical rental performs for an investor in our cash-flow ranking.

How we calculated this

Price is the Zillow Home Value Index and rent the Zillow Observed Rent Index for Brownsville. The cost of owning includes principal and interest at 7.03% with 20% down, property tax at the city's 1.68% effective rate (Census ACS), the Texas average homeowners premium (NAIC 2023) and 1% yearly maintenance. It leaves out income-tax effects, HOA dues and utilities. The typical rental may be smaller than the typical home for sale. Full methodology. This is a citywide estimate, not advice about a specific home.