Denver, CO → Kansas City, MO
Moving to Kansas City costs you $56 a month
−$672 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
In 2022-2023, 501 households moved Denver → Kansas City (avg AGI $91,116). 566 went the other way. The whole move →
| Per month | Denver | Kansas City | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $8,250 | $7,550 | −$700 |
| Income and payroll tax | $2,057 | $1,893 | −$164 |
| Take-home pay | $6,193 | $5,657 | −$536 |
| Rent | $1,490 | $1,184 | −$306 |
| Getting around | $551 | $551 | $0 |
| Groceries | $420 | $372 | −$48 |
| Healthcare | $473 | $419 | −$54 |
| Utilities | $263 | $233 | −$30 |
| Everything else | $368 | $326 | −$42 |
| Left over | $2,630 | $2,574 | −$56 |
To break even in Kansas City, you'd need to earn
$91,500
Household gross, versus $99,000 today. That's the salary that leaves you exactly as much at the end of the month as Denver does now.
The tax difference alone
−$523
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 24.9% in Denver, 25.1% in Kansas City.
More about Kansas City
Denver, CO in full
Mountains in an hour, 245 sunny days, and a flat 4.4% state tax.
Kansas City, MO in full
Genuinely low cost of living for a metro with real amenities.
The reverse move
Same two cities, but starting from Kansas City on Kansas City wages.
Kansas City → Denver →Rent is Zillow's asking rent for each metro; taxes and living costs are modelled. An estimate, not a quote or tax advice. How this is calculated.