Wichita, KS
Modelled metroCost of living in Wichita: $2,606 leftover
Cost of living in Wichita, as leftover, is $2,606 a month for one adult, renting a 1-bedroom on local pay — take-home after tax minus rent of $857 and the rest of the modelled month. A price index would say non-housing costs run 12% below the US average. Kansas taxes wage income on a bracket schedule. Wichita is a modelled metro: rent, wages and prices come from Zillow, Census and BEA, not a hand-written city essay.
These figures start from one adult in a one-bedroom, on local pay of about $98,500. Change the job, the pay, or how many bedrooms you need, and leftover changes. This is a monthly budget, not a cost-of-living index.
The month, in dollars
Take-home is $5,285 after tax. These lines are the modelled bills, then what is left. The monthly costs page is the same household inside the city hub.
| Rent | $857 |
|---|---|
| Groceries | $353 |
| Transport | $543 |
| Healthcare | $397 |
| Utilities | $221 |
| Childcare | $0 |
| Everything else | $309 |
| Total costs | $2,679 |
| Leftover | $2,606 |
Sales tax is about 8.6%. Property tax is modelled at 1.28% of a $188,200 median home. Non-housing lines scale a national baseline by this metro's cost index (0.88).
Asking rent by bedroom
Turnover asking rent in Wichita, not the Census median of occupied stock. Rent versus buying.
Studio
$734
1 bedroom
$857
2 bedrooms
$1,020
3 bedrooms
$1,336
4 bedrooms
$1,581
Leftover in other metros nearby
Same household. Each leftover is take-home after that metro's tax minus its rent.
- Cost of living in Topeka$2,612 leftover
Wichita vs Topeka · $1,022 rent
- Cost of living in Manhattan$2,175 leftover
Wichita vs Manhattan · $855 rent
- Cost of living in Lawrence$2,072 leftover
Wichita vs Lawrence · $986 rent
Leftover is take-home after federal, state and city wage tax, minus asking rent at the bedroom count you set, minus a modelled month of groceries, utilities, healthcare, transport and childcare. It is not a cost-of-living index and not a moving quote. Change the job, remote versus local pay, or bedrooms and the ranking is a different city. How the math works · Leftover vs a COL index · Why a cheaper COL% can still lose leftover.
Cost of living in Wichita
What is the cost of living in Wichita?
On the default one-adult, one-bedroom household, leftover in Wichita, KS is about $2,606 a month after tax and rent. Asking rent is about $857 for a one-bedroom and $1,020 for a two-bedroom. That is a budget, not a cost-of-living index.
How does Wichita compare with a cost-of-living index?
A price index would say non-housing costs run 12% below the US average. Leftover still depends on your tax bill and bedroom count, which an index does not. Wichita is a modelled metro: rent, wages and prices come from Zillow, Census and BEA, not a hand-written city essay.
Where is take-home pay in Wichita calculated?
The take-home page for Wichita splits federal, payroll, state and local wage tax, then subtracts rent. The city paycheck page is the same leftover math with the map.
Other Kansas metros
Other metros in Kansas, with leftover, rent, and day-to-day pages.