Kansas City, MO
Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Kansas City ranks 51st for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 81st for income. A household earns $83,785 a year while median rent runs $1,315/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 7% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is job market (43rd of 300), while air quality is the soft spot (255th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 168th and home prices 159th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Kansas City, your take-home is worth about $63,435 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 81st of 300↑19.3%$83,785
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 98th of 30093 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $90,536
- Per-capita income
- $45,790
- Full-time pay
- $50,021
Housing
- Median rent
- 168th of 300↑33%$1,315/mo
- Home value
- 159th of 300↑50.3%$314,300
- Property tax
- $3,379/yr · 1.1%
- Sales tax
- 8.41%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 43rd of 3003.2%
- Bachelor's+
- 68th of 30040.7%
- Avg commute
- 133rd of 30023.7 min
People
- Population
- 2,254,288
- Population change
- +4.6%
- Median age
- 38.6 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 8%
- Broadband
- 93.8%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 255th of 30053
- Natural-hazard loss
- 88th of 300$10/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 108th of 30017.3%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 9.1%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Affordability
- + Cost of living
- + Household income
- + Job market
- + Education
- + Hazard safety
Watch-outs
- – Air quality
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — lees summit muni ap.
What jobs pay in Kansas City
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $213,950
- IT managers
- $168,050
- Financial managers
- $162,490
- Pharmacists
- $139,460
- Lawyers
- $134,640
- Software developers
- $124,990
- Civil engineers
- $98,860
- General & operations managers
- $90,490
- Web developers
- $89,420
- Registered nurses
- $83,040
- Accountants & auditors
- $80,040
- Electricians
- $76,860
- Plumbers
- $76,150
- Police officers
- $62,960
- Carpenters
- $61,810
- Secondary school teachers
- $61,200
- Elementary school teachers
- $61,060
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $60,170
- Construction laborers
- $50,500
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $48,860
- Customer service reps
- $44,350
- Janitors
- $36,350
- Waiters & waitresses
- $36,080
- Retail salespersons
- $34,320
- Cashiers
- $30,700
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Kansas City metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Missouri are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- California3,877
- Texas3,748
- Colorado3,710
- Florida2,541
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Kansas City
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Kansas City metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Kansas City metro?
- Median gross rent across the Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area is $1,315 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Kansas City.
- What is the median household income in the Kansas City metro?
- A typical household in the Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area earns $83,785 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Kansas City expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area runs about 7% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Kansas City metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $90,536 (versus its face value of $83,785). CityLedger rates the Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Kansas City metro?
- The median home value across the Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area is $314,300 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Kansas City metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area is 3.2% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).