LivingCostFacts / state

Kansas cost of living

Kansas has an all-items price parity of 90.1 on the U.S. = 100 scale. Compare the statewide picture with county rents and metro price levels.

BEA 2024 · HUD FY2027 · ACS 2020–2024 · CPI through 2026-10

90.1
All-items price level

BEA 2024; U.S. = 100

$74,275
Median household income

ACS 2020–2024

$217,200
Median home value

Owner-occupied homes, ACS 2020–2024

$1,212
Typical 2BR benchmark

Population-weighted county FMR, FY2027

Read the local picture

Regional Price Parities (RPPs) compare prices across places in the same year. An index of 110 means prices are 10% above the U.S. level; 90 means 10% below. RPP measures relative price levels, while CPI measures price change over time.

Kansas: RPP components

BEA 2024 regional context; each category is compared with its own U.S. = 100 benchmark. These are not county price estimates or spending shares.

  1. All items90.1
  2. Goods94.0
  3. Housing rents71.2
  4. Utilities88.4
  5. Other services93.8
0100.0

Black marker: U.S. benchmark = 100 in each row.

Put the benchmark in context

Fair Market Rent (FMR) is HUD’s estimate of the 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality rental homes occupied by recent movers. It includes rent and most tenant-paid utilities. A household’s actual rent can differ substantially by neighborhood, lease and property.

Monthly rent by bedroom

HUD FY2027 gross monthly FMR; includes most tenant-paid utilities. Dollars per month.

  1. Studio$934
  2. 1 bedroom$1,004
  3. 2 bedrooms$1,212
  4. 3 bedrooms$1,593
  5. 4 bedrooms$1,879
0$1,879

Income after benchmark rent is $59,735 a year: ACS median household income minus 12 months of the population-weighted 2BR FMR. This is a comparison between separate datasets and periods, before taxes and all other expenses; it is not disposable income.

The data in view

Price levels relative to the U.S.

BEA RPP, U.S. = 100 each year. This is not an inflation index.

View chart data
Period or categoryValue
200889.9
200991.8
201093.0
201192.8
201293.3
201392.6
201493.1
201592.8
201692.1
201791.6
201892.4
201992.7
202092.3
202191.3
202289.6
202389.9
202490.1

Price levels by category

Each category has its own U.S. benchmark of 100. Components are indexes, not spending shares.

Category2024 RPP
All items90.1
Goods94.0
Housing rents71.2
Utilities88.4
Other services93.8

Monthly Fair Market Rent by bedroom

HUD 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality units; includes tenant-paid utilities except telephone, cable and internet. These are benchmarks, not asking-rent medians.

Home sizeFY2027 monthly gross rent
Studio$934
1 bedroom$1,004
2 bedrooms$1,212
3 bedrooms$1,593
4 bedrooms$1,879

County cost comparison

Income: ACS 2020–2024. Rent: HUD FY2027. Rent / income = 12 × 2BR FMR ÷ median household income; it does not measure actual renter burden.

County or equivalent2BR rent / monthMedian household incomeRent / income
Allen County$961$60,68919.0%
Anderson County$961$70,61416.3%
Atchison County$961$61,11218.9%
Barber County$961$61,92618.6%
Barton County$961$58,85119.6%
Bourbon County$994$59,23820.1%
Brown County$961$62,23318.5%
Butler County$1,043$81,61015.3%
Chase County$961$56,48420.4%
Chautauqua County$961$56,43820.4%
Cherokee County$961$57,66820.0%
Cheyenne County$961$55,42920.8%
Clark County$961$63,04318.3%
Clay County$1,074$66,17619.5%
Cloud County$961$58,77019.6%
Coffey County$992$70,34616.9%
Comanche County$961$54,54521.1%
Cowley County$961$57,87819.9%
Crawford County$988$52,84422.4%
Decatur County$961$53,87021.4%
Dickinson County$1,021$68,41717.9%
Doniphan County$1,101$74,02817.8%
Douglas County$1,272$69,74621.9%
Edwards County$961$52,69221.9%
Elk County$961$64,60917.8%
Ellis County$1,036$63,08419.7%
Ellsworth County$961$65,56017.6%
Finney County$1,153$73,00919.0%
Ford County$1,085$70,78118.4%
Franklin County$1,179$77,20718.3%
Geary County$1,096$59,31722.2%
Gove County$961$66,02917.5%
Graham County$961$50,65022.8%
Grant County$961$66,47617.3%
Gray County$969$79,12214.7%
Greeley County$961$80,56514.3%
Greenwood County$961$60,04219.2%
Hamilton County$1,235$70,25021.1%
Harper County$961$53,48821.6%
Harvey County$1,043$74,36816.8%
Haskell County$961$66,16217.4%
Hodgeman County$963$59,95519.3%
Jackson County$1,172$75,21518.7%
Jefferson County$1,172$81,27817.3%
Jewell County$961$52,63421.9%
Johnson County$1,546$109,20817.0%
Kearny County$1,530$89,13520.6%
Kingman County$961$59,84219.3%
Kiowa County$961$75,53915.3%
Labette County$961$56,32520.5%
Lane County$961$54,52621.1%
Leavenworth County$1,546$89,21820.8%
Lincoln County$961$57,50020.1%
Linn County$1,546$59,06931.4%
Logan County$961$75,66215.2%
Lyon County$961$59,91219.2%
Marion County$961$64,69517.8%
Marshall County$961$68,41916.9%
McPherson County$1,029$78,85115.7%
Meade County$961$71,85216.0%
Miami County$1,546$89,00020.8%
Mitchell County$961$64,24617.9%
Montgomery County$961$55,69720.7%
Morris County$961$58,68619.7%
Morton County$961$66,44717.4%
Nemaha County$961$77,34814.9%
Neosho County$961$56,61820.4%
Ness County$961$68,61616.8%
Norton County$961$54,05021.3%
Osage County$1,172$74,46718.9%
Osborne County$961$63,01118.3%
Ottawa County$987$74,01816.0%
Pawnee County$994$63,51718.8%
Phillips County$961$62,12318.6%
Pottawatomie County$1,107$92,32514.4%
Pratt County$961$66,02217.5%
Rawlins County$1,065$67,74218.9%
Reno County$1,018$60,64520.1%
Republic County$961$56,83320.3%
Rice County$961$63,92518.0%
Riley County$1,107$61,09821.7%
Rooks County$961$62,50018.5%
Rush County$961$59,97019.2%
Russell County$961$62,39218.5%
Saline County$1,097$65,42220.1%
Scott County$961$68,83916.8%
Sedgwick County$1,043$69,36518.0%
Seward County$1,074$63,82720.2%
Shawnee County$1,172$67,10421.0%
Sheridan County$961$73,75015.6%
Sherman County$1,021$61,75019.8%
Smith County$961$59,13519.5%
Stafford County$961$64,22618.0%
Stanton County$961$71,70016.1%
Stevens County$998$64,17818.7%
Sumner County$1,046$63,95119.6%
Thomas County$961$71,32516.2%
Trego County$961$81,52814.1%
Wabaunsee County$1,172$76,90818.3%
Wallace County$961$63,20718.2%
Washington County$961$65,48217.6%
Wichita County$961$79,06314.6%
Wilson County$961$60,67719.0%
Woodson County$961$50,32622.9%
Wyandotte County$1,546$63,63129.2%

Metros with member counties in Kansas

BEA 2024, U.S. = 100. Rent is a population-weighted mean of member-county benchmarks where available.

Metro areaAll-items RPPHousing RPP2BR rent / month
Joplin, MO-KS85.754.0$1,135
Kansas City, MO-KS92.586.6$1,543
Lawrence, KS90.271.6$1,272
Manhattan, KS90.272.0$1,104
St. Joseph, MO-KS86.455.4$1,101
Topeka, KS88.865.0$1,172
Wichita, KS88.966.2$1,043