Buy or rent? 10 major cities

• Buy or rent?: Buy
• After 3 years: Buyers save 33%

Like many old Midwestern towns, Chicago's growth has stagnated over the past decade.

Tepid demand for housing has kept values reasonable, with the median home price in the area at just $170,000.

Rental costs, however, are comparatively high, at nearly $1,600 a month. That means a prospective buyer would need to have a very short time horizon and a bad credit history for it to make more sense to rent.

After only three years, a homeowner would pay 33% less in housing costs than a renter and 50% less after seven years, according to Trulia.

NEXT: Houston