Franklin city, VA
Rent vs Own in Franklin city, Virginia
HUD prices a 2-bedroom in Franklin city at $1,051/mo while the ownership stack lands near $1,524/mo. That mid-sized gap is large enough that rate or down-payment tweaks usually cannot close it alone. Owner-occupied homes: 1,861.
A 2-bedroom rental here runs $1,051/mo, meaningfully below the $1,524/mo ownership stack on the default assumptions. That is a $473/mo difference.
Based on 20% down, 6.5% rate, 30-year mortgage. Adjust below.
What This Data Tells Us About Renting vs Owning in Franklin city
Primary driver
Renting wins by a mid-sized monthly gap
Franklin city lists a $256,600 median home with $1,821/yr property tax (0.71%). HUD's $1,051/mo 2-bedroom rent undercuts the ~$1,524/mo ownership stack by a mid-range margin of about $473/mo. Closing that gap usually takes more than a cosmetic rate tweak, price, tax load, or both.
Decision signal 2
HUD moved the rent benchmark down
HUD cut its 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent for Franklin city from $1,167/mo in FY2025 to $1,051/mo in FY2026: it decreased by $116/mo (-9.9%). A falling benchmark narrows the case for buying here, and it usually reflects HUD re-estimating the local market rather than existing rents being cut.
Decision signal 3
Renting compares well inside the state
Using the assumptions above, Franklin city ranks 104 of 133 Virginia counties for buy-vs-rent value (rank 1 = the best relative deal for buying). It sits ahead of 29 other Virginia counties on this measure.
Decision signal 4
Price and income sit in the middle band
Median household income is $63,245, for a 4.1x home-price-to-income ratio in the middle of the national distribution; property tax takes 2.9% of that income. Small changes in down payment or rate move this county across the rent-vs-own line more than they would in a high-ratio market.
Methodology & disclaimer
This calculator is for informational purposes only and is not tax, legal, or financial advice. Property tax figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates and rent figures come from HUD Fair Market Rents; both describe area medians, not individual transactions. Insurance is estimated at 0.35% of home value annually and closing costs, maintenance, HOA, and PMI are not included. Consult a licensed mortgage, tax, or real-estate professional before making a buy-or-rent decision based on these numbers.
Monthly Cost Breakdown
Adjust Your Scenario
Affordability Context
Who actually pays it here
Most Franklin city households that own outright land between $800 and $1,499 a year, at the national middle, so the tax neither argues for renting nor against it and the decision turns on price and mobility instead.
Franklin city matches the national pattern: six-figure earners between $100,000 and $200,000 account for more of these write-offs than any other local group.
With ownership already mid-range more expensive than rent month-to-month, that annual bill reinforces why cash-flow renters stay put unless they are deliberately buying for tenure rather than monthly savings.
Bill bands are Census ACS counts of owner-occupied homes without a mortgage. Income brackets are IRS Statistics of Income county data for tax year 2022, counted over FILERS reporting real-estate taxes on Schedule A, which is a smaller group than homeowners: most filers take the standard deduction.
Nearby Counties
Frequently Asked Questions
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Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Government Finances State and local property tax revenue by jurisdiction · 2025