Not surprisingly, the U.S. housing market is far more favorable to buyers than it is to renters, at least when it comes to affordability.

An analysis of the median home values and rents in roughly 13,500 housing markets throughout the country, using a hypothetical buyer’s scenario to determine a monthly mortgage payment for each neighborhood. IN 81 percent of those markets, the cost to purchase was cheaper than it was to rent, based on calculations. Both the rent and home value data were compiled by Zillow Group Inc.

In analyzing 159 ZIP codes in South Florida, buying made more financial sense than renting in most cases. Only 19 neighborhoods offered savings for renting instead of buying. Most of those were relatively expensive neighborhoods in terms of home values, so renting that waterfront mansion might actually be a better deal than buying it.

However, some South Florida neighborhoods offered much better value than others for buying versus renting. There are many areas where buyers could save over $500 per month through ownership, instead of writing a check to a landlord. This could also be beneficial to home investors, as there would be a considerable profit margin between their mortgage payment and the rent they could charge tenants.

Nationally, the median rent among the 13,500 neighborhoods analyzed was $1,393 per month, versus a median mortgage payment of $1,057. The nation’s median home value was $209,500, a price point that would require a minimum annual income of $42,274 per year to afford, according to a hypothetical purchase scenario.