Phoenix, AZ → Kansas City, MO
You'd keep $19 more a month in Kansas City
+$228 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
In 2022-2023, 495 households moved Phoenix → Kansas City (avg AGI $80,283). 554 went the other way. The whole move →
| Per month | Phoenix | Kansas City | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $7,583 | $7,583 | $0 |
| Income and payroll tax | $1,709 | $1,905 | +$196 |
| Take-home pay | $5,875 | $5,679 | −$196 |
| Rent | $1,276 | $1,184 | −$92 |
| Getting around | $586 | $551 | −$35 |
| Groceries | $396 | $372 | −$24 |
| Healthcare | $446 | $419 | −$27 |
| Utilities | $248 | $233 | −$15 |
| Everything else | $347 | $326 | −$21 |
| Left over | $2,577 | $2,596 | +$19 |
To break even in Kansas City, you'd need to earn
$90,500
Household gross, versus $91,000 today. That's the salary that leaves you exactly as much at the end of the month as Phoenix does now.
The tax difference alone
−$2,350
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 22.5% in Phoenix, 25.1% in Kansas City.
More about Kansas City
Phoenix, AZ in full
A 2.5% flat income tax, cheap housing for a big metro, and a genuinely dangerous July.
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 → Phoenix →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.