Wichita, KS
Wichita, KS Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Wichita, KS Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Wichita ranks 146th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 186th for income. A household earns $71,810 a year while median rent runs $1,010/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 11% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is commute (10th of 300), while household income is the soft spot (186th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 48th and home prices 59th 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 Wichita, your take-home is worth about $64,553 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
- 186th of 300↑20.1%$71,810
- 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.
- 40th of 30089 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $80,734
- Per-capita income
- $38,799
- Full-time pay
- $43,783
Housing
- Median rent
- 48th of 300↑20.5%$1,010/mo
- Home value
- 59th of 300↑46.6%$223,700
- Property tax
- $2,652/yr · 1.2%
- Sales tax
- 8.77%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 176th of 3004.7%
- Bachelor's+
- 156th of 30032.9%
- Avg commute
- 10th of 30019.3 min
People
- Population
- 661,217
- Population change
- +3.3%
- Median age
- 37.1 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 8.5%
- Broadband
- 92.9%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 162nd of 30047
- Natural-hazard loss
- 162nd of 300$13/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 164th of 30018.9%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 11.1%
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
- + Cost of living
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Commute
Watch-outs
- —
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — wichita colonel james jabara a.
What jobs pay in Wichita
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- IT managers
- $156,130
- Financial managers
- $155,060
- Pharmacists
- $142,400
- Lawyers
- $121,510
- Software developers
- $105,980
- General & operations managers
- $85,230
- Civil engineers
- $84,310
- Accountants & auditors
- $79,270
- Registered nurses
- $76,540
- Electricians
- $65,670
- Web developers
- $62,690
- Secondary school teachers
- $61,840
- Plumbers
- $60,940
- Police officers
- $60,840
- Elementary school teachers
- $58,640
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $57,930
- Carpenters
- $50,930
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $47,150
- Construction laborers
- $41,360
- Customer service reps
- $39,330
- Waiters & waitresses
- $37,300
- Janitors
- $32,510
- Retail salespersons
- $30,760
- Cashiers
- $28,430
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 Wichita metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Kansas are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Oklahoma2,061
- Texas1,982
- California1,150
- Missouri1,127
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Wichita
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Wichita metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Wichita metro?
- Median gross rent across the Wichita, KS Metro Area is $1,010 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Wichita.
- What is the median household income in the Wichita metro?
- A typical household in the Wichita, KS Metro Area earns $71,810 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Wichita expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Wichita, KS Metro Area runs about 11% 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 Wichita metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $80,734 (versus its face value of $71,810). CityLedger rates the Wichita, KS Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Wichita metro?
- The median home value across the Wichita, KS Metro Area is $223,700 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Wichita metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Wichita, KS Metro Area is 4.7% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).