Patio vs. Deck: Cost, Lifespan, Permits and Which Fits Your Yard

You want an outdoor space off the back of the house, and it has come down to a paver patio on the ground or a wood or composite deck. Most comparisons stop at the price per square foot. In our experience, the patio vs deck choice is usually settled by the ground itself and how far it drops from your back door.

Patio vs. Deck Cost per Square Foot

The cost guides put a ground-level patio well below a deck per square foot. HomeGuide prices a deck at $25 to $50 a square foot, against $10 to $17 for a concrete or brick paver patio and $5 to $15 for poured concrete. Its natural stone patio, at $16 to $35 a square foot, only reaches the low end of that deck range.

Angi puts deck construction at $30 to $60 a square foot, with a 2026 national average of $8,321 per deck. Fixr gives the widest range, $21 to $71 a square foot, with an average around $33.

Composite costs more than wood for the same deck. In the 2025 Cost vs. Value report, a 16-by-20-foot deck with railings, a built-in bench and planter and three steps to the yard costs $18,263 in pressure-treated wood and $25,096 in composite, about 37 percent more.

Treat all of these as national figures. Our own fixed prices for standard paver patios in central Pennsylvania are on our patio cost page, which always shows current prices. Local prices can sit well above the national paver range, so get local quotes for both before cost decides it. If a patio wins, our paver patio vs. concrete patio comparison covers the next choice.

Your Yard’s Grade Usually Decides It

A patio sits on the ground, so it fits best where the ground is close to flat and close to the height of your door. Fixr says patios are best on relatively flat, even ground, and that a deck can be built on land that isn’t level. On a sloped lot, that difference can outweigh the price per square foot.

Start at the back door. Measure from the top of the threshold down to the ground, then measure how much the yard falls across the space you want to cover. A patio also needs its own pitch, about 1/4 inch per foot away from the house, as our patio slope guide explains.

If the ground sits about one step below the threshold and stays fairly level, a patio is the simple choice. We set ours one step, 6 to 7 inches, below the door and pitch it away from the house. A second step works if the ground sits a little lower, though York Township, Pennsylvania, for one, requires a 36-by-36-inch landing once there are two or more risers from the house.

If the door sits 3 feet above the yard, or the yard falls away from the house, a patio at door level has to be built up with a retaining wall on the low side, compacted fill behind it and steps down to the yard. The other route keeps the patio at yard level, with a landing and a run of steps down from the door. A deck spans the same drop on posts and footings. On a steep drop off the back door, our sloped backyard ideas article finds a deck is often simpler than walls and fill.

Height brings more rules for both. Unincorporated Jefferson County, Colorado, for example, requires a miscellaneous permit for a deck more than 12 inches above grade and a building permit at 30 inches or more, and the deck plans we draw add a railing wherever a deck sits more than 30 inches up. For a raised patio, retaining walls over 4 feet are engineered and quoted separately on our jobs. A shorter wall that carries extra load can need an engineer too, so ask your building department.

How Long Each Lasts

A patio outlasts a wood deck by a wide margin. Fixr says a standard deck lasts 10 to 15 years and a properly installed patio at least 25. HomeGuide gives patios made of concrete materials 25 to 50 years on average, and up to 100 for high-quality brick pavers or natural stone.

Composite narrows the gap. Trex cites an InterNACHI average of about 25 years for composite boards and warranties its own lines for 25 to 50 years, depending on the line. Trex also warns that the joists and beams underneath can rot if they are not treated or ventilated properly, so ask what the frame is built from.

A paver patio’s life depends mostly on the base under it. We go deeper on that in how long pavers last.

Maintenance

A wood deck needs a finish to last. Fixr says to power wash it every year and stain and seal it at least every two years, and Trex says to seal and stain once a year. Angi puts a yearly professional wash and reseal at $700 to $1,600.

Composite skips the sanding, staining and sealing, though Trex still says to clean it periodically. On any deck, check for loose boards, popped fasteners and wobbly railing posts each spring.

A paver patio asks for less. Sweep it, rinse it, top up the joint sand now and then and reset any paver that settles. Sealing is optional.

Permits

A deck is a structure, and building departments treat it as one. Blaine, Minnesota, requires a permit for every deck except a freestanding one no more than 30 inches above grade with no door opening onto it. Angi says some places waive the permit for a small deck under 200 square feet that is low and not attached to the house, and puts deck permits at $230 to $500 in most areas. A deck attached outside your back door passes neither test. Footing, framing and railing rules come from whichever IRC edition your state adopted; our building codes by state guide shows yours.

Ground-level patios get lighter treatment. Blaine’s page says a concrete or paver patio on grade needs no building permit, Jefferson County requires no permit for an at-grade patio, and Fixr says a patio typically doesn’t need one.

Some towns review patios anyway. York Township, Pennsylvania, requires a patio permit with a stormwater assessment, and HomeGuide says most cities require a permit for a new patio. Call your building and zoning office with the size, height and location before you sign for either one.

Resale Value

Two reports give resale estimates, and they price different projects. In the 2025 Cost vs. Value report, the wood deck described above returns an estimated $17,323 of its $18,263 cost at sale, or 95 percent. The composite deck returns $22,199 of $25,096, or 89 percent.

The same report’s backyard patio returns only 46 percent, $23,672 of $51,454. That project goes far beyond a patio, though. It pairs a 20-by-20 flagstone patio with a cedar pergola, an outdoor kitchen, a gas fire pit and a new lift-and-slide glass door.

A plain paver patio scores higher in other data. In the National Association of Realtors’ 2023 Remodeling Impact Report, an 18-by-16-foot concrete paver patio cost $10,500, and Realtors estimated that $10,000 of it, or 95 percent, would come back at sale. By these estimates, a plain deck and a plain patio both return most of their cost, so resale rarely settles the choice.

When a Deck Is the Better Choice

• Your back door sits well above the yard, and you want to step straight out onto the space.
• The yard falls away from the house steeply enough that a level patio would need tall walls and a lot of fill.
• You are fine with a stain-and-seal routine, or the budget covers composite.

When a Patio Is the Better Choice

• The ground outside the door is within a step or two of the threshold and close to flat.
• You want the lower cost per square foot and the longer life.
• You want a fire pit or a grill station on a surface that can’t burn or rot.
• You would rather sweep and rinse than stain and seal.

Whichever you pick, size it for the furniture before you price it. Our patio size guide works out the space for a table for 4, 6 or 8, a grill or a fire pit with chair clearances, and the same clearances apply on a deck.

Measure Before You Price Either One

Before you collect bids, write down the drop from your door threshold to the ground and the fall across the space, and take photos from the door. Those two numbers go a long way toward showing which option fits, and they keep the bids comparable.

If you are still torn, a scaled plan shows how either one meets the door and the yard. We draw patio plans and deck plans from photos and measurements sent from anywhere in the U.S., and Single Space plans start at $349.