Kansas City, MO → Denver, CO
You'd keep $59 more a month in Denver
+$708 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
In 2022-2023, 566 households moved Kansas City → Denver (avg AGI $86,104). 501 went the other way. The whole move →
| Per month | Kansas City | Denver | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $7,583 | $8,287 | +$704 |
| Income and payroll tax | $1,905 | $2,069 | +$165 |
| Take-home pay | $5,679 | $6,218 | +$539 |
| Rent | $1,184 | $1,490 | +$306 |
| Getting around | $551 | $551 | $0 |
| Groceries | $372 | $420 | +$48 |
| Healthcare | $419 | $473 | +$54 |
| Utilities | $233 | $263 | +$30 |
| Everything else | $326 | $368 | +$42 |
| Left over | $2,596 | $2,655 | +$59 |
To break even in Denver, you'd need to earn
$98,500
Household gross, versus $91,000 today. That's the salary that leaves you exactly as much at the end of the month as Kansas City does now.
The tax difference alone
+$527
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 25.1% in Kansas City, 25.0% in Denver.
More about Denver
Kansas City, MO in full
Genuinely low cost of living for a metro with real amenities.
Denver, CO in full
Mountains in an hour, 245 sunny days, and a flat 4.4% state tax.
The reverse move
Same two cities, but starting from Denver on Denver wages.
Denver → Kansas City →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.