#30 of 66 for you
Kansas City, MO
Genuinely low cost of living for a metro with real amenities.
Left over monthly
$2,595
Versus Chicago
+$215/mo
+$2,580 a year
Local pay for your job
$90,995
Local wages run -3% vs national
Where the money goes
One earner filing as a household, at 1 bedrooms.
- Taxes$1,904
- Rent$1,184
- Other living costs$1,899
- Left over$2,595
Pay and tax, per year
- Gross household pay
- $90,995
- Federal income tax
- −$11,633
- Social Security and Medicare
- −$6,961
- State income tax (MO)
- −$3,350
- City / county wage tax
- −$910
- Take-home pay
- $68,141
- Effective tax rate
- 25.1%
Living costs, per month
- Rent, 1br
- $1,184
- Groceries
- $372
- Getting around
- $551
- Healthcare
- $419
- Utilities and internet
- $233
- Everything else
- $326
- Total spending
- $3,083
Left over each month
$7,583 gross, minus $1,904 in tax and $3,083 in living costs.
$2,595
What living here is like
- Weather
- 213 sunny days, 89°F in July, 22°F January nights
- Getting around
- Plan on a car per adult
- Average commute
- 24 minutes each way
- Size
- 2.2M people
- Buying instead
- Median home $265,400 — roughly $1,835/mo with 20% down, tax and upkeep
- Taxes
- Missouri income tax, plus a 1.00% city wage tax. Sales tax 8.4%, property tax 1.13%.
How it scores against what you said matters
- Money left over
- 65
- Sun and mild weather
- 66
- Access to the outdoors
- 54
- City life and culture
- 64
- A short commute
- 70
Chicago vs Kansas City, line by line
Same job, same household, both tax codes applied.
Open the comparison →Also worth a look
- Seattle, WA$3,406/mo
No state income tax and high wages, offset by home prices and 150 sunny days.
- Austin, TX$3,176/mo
No income tax, but property taxes are among the steepest anywhere.
- Houston, TX$3,159/mo
The cheapest housing of any top-10 metro, paid for in property tax and humidity.
- Dallas, TX$3,044/mo
No income tax, endless new construction, and a 1.5% property tax bill.