Below are plots of the average monthly rent values and average monthly mortgage payment of each 20-index US city. Red indicates, yes in fact the rent is too damn high in this city and is probably best to buy an averaged price home instead. Green indicates, no the rent is not higher than average monthly mortgage payments (assuming an interest rate of 2.5% over a mortgage period of 30 years) and it would be economically sensible to rent in this city.