Study: How Much Do Kansas Citians Need to Make to Live Comfortably?

Posted March 18, 2024

A study from SmartAsset shows the required salary to live comfortably in Kansas City is around $90,000 for a single adult.

For a single adult in Kansas City, Missouri, the required salary to live comfortably is $90,272, or $43.40 an hour. The required amount goes up for families. A household of two adults with two children would need an income of $213,325 to support sustainable comfort. KCMO ranked No. 39 on SmartAsset’s list of salaries needed to live comfortably in U.S. cities.

SmartAsset recommends the 50/30/20 budgeting rule. The rule allocates 50 percent of a person’s or household’s income toward essentials like housing, groceries and transportation; 30 percent toward entertainment and hobbies; and 20 percent toward paying off debt, saving or investing.

Needed salaries for Kansas Citians to achieve a level of comfort come in roughly below the national average, according to the website. On average, an individual needs $96,500 for sustainable comfort in a major U.S. city.

Additional findings from the study showed a family of two adults and two kids needs to make over $300K in six U.S. cities including San Francisco ($339,123); San Jose ($334,547); Boston ($319,738); Arlington, VA ($318,573); New York City ($318,406); and Oakland, CA ($316,243).

The study only ranked 99 cities and the list does not include other cities in the KC metro area. St. Louis, which ranked at No. 37, requires an individual to make $89,357 and a family needs $231,379. On the Kansas side, Wichita came in at No. 9 and shows an individual needs $81,203, while a family needs $186,784.