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COLUMBIA – As home prices rise across South Carolina and the country, renting has emerged as a more affordable option in many major cities.
But in Columbia, the data shows the cost of owning a home and renting are more comparable than most other markets. Local officials and experts say that gives Columbia a healthier mix of homeowners versus renters, but the ratio could already be changing as the city grows.
To rent or to own?
A January 2026 study from loan provider LendingTree found the gap between renting and owning in Columbia was the third smallest of the 100 biggest real estate markets in the country.
Renters only save around $271 compared to homeowners each month in Columbia, according to the study. The only two major cities with less of a gap were Phoenix and Orlando, where renters save $184 and $257 a month, respectively.
Renting saves you about $358 a month in Charleston and $324 in Greenville, according to the report. San Francisco, where the median rent is about $1,600 cheaper than the average mortgage cost, topped the list.
Other sources give different numbers.
The average monthly rent in Columbia ranges from $1,200 to $1,500, according to census data and industry sources such as RentCafe. The average monthly mortgage cost hovers between $1,300 and $1,550, according to census data and Realtor.com.
That represents a gap of $270 to $390 in rent being more affordable than owning, though the most expensive rents in the city can be more than $150 more than the average monthly mortgage, according to Rentcafe and Realtor.com.
Nationwide, the gap is closer to $550, according to the LendingTree study.
What’s the sweet spot?
Though the numbers vary somewhat from source to source, the consensus is that renting is not as much of a cost-saver in Columbia as it is in other cities.
The ratio of renters to homeowners in the city is pretty evenly split as well. Owner-occupied units make up about 47 percent of city properties, according to 2024 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Some officials think that number should be higher. Mayor Daniel Rickenmann’s personal goal for the city is to have an even 50/50 split between renters and owners, up from his estimate of 46 percent rentals.
“That 4 percent doesn’t seem like a lot, but it is a lot when you think about an overall picture,” Rickenmann said.
Encouraging more homeownership helps individuals build equity and generational wealth, which ultimately benefits the city, he said.
The city has started building starter homes on various city-owned vacant lots around town, and has made efforts to encourage smaller homes, townhomes and duplexes in the city.
The initiatives serve to introduce individuals to owning a home who may not have considered it a viable option before, he said.
“They don’t understand the value of homeownership, but we’ve also got to give them the supply,” he said.
Columbia has historically hovered around the 50/50 mark, said Karen Yip, Principal Broker at Yip Premier Real Estate.
The city’s main economic drivers of the universities, Fort Jackson, the medical field and government lend well to temporary residents looking for the flexibility of renting, she said. At the same time, homes have been more affordable compared to other cities.
The balance has begun to shift with the amount of new apartment complexes going up in the city, she said. New investment in the city’s core has also made owning close to downtown more expensive.
“Columbia is finally getting its moment in the limelight, and it’s because people are seeing the value in our city and our own city is making huge investments,” she said.
But in more suburban Richland County, more people own their homes – 60 percent compared to Columbia’s 47 percent, according to the Census Bureau. That provides more opportunities to buy for people priced out of downtown, Yip said.
Columbia, and more broadly, Richland County, has held a good balance of renting versus owning, she said.
A community with mostly renters loses neighborhood stability and higher home values, but too few rentals mean less flexibility for potential new residents and indicate an overall lack of growth, she said.
“Its a very good thing that we’re having people want to rent here, because that means that they’re considering making Columbia their permanent home,” she said.
The makeup of Columbia’s rent versus own ecosystem will likely evolve as the city continues to grow in the next decade or so, Yip said.
She imagines the 50/50 split may continue to move toward a 60/40 majority rent makeup, but not to hit 70/30, she said.
“I think that we’re still in the growing phase, so I don’t think that it’s going to get off-kilter that quickly,” she said.
Columbia’s longtime dynamic of a high population of renters while also being in the middle of South Carolina’s population boom will likely continue as the status quo in the next several years, said Joseph Von Nessen, Research Economist at the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business.
“Are we going to see any major swings in the need for housing and rental versus home ownership over the next 10 years in Columbia? I’d say probably not,” Von Nessen said.
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