Take-home pay compared · Tax year 2026
Kansas vs Missouri taxes
Missouri's state tax is lower at every salary. In Kansas City, Missouri, the city's 1% earnings tax takes almost all of that back, and for a couple it can tip the balance to Kansas.
Kansas
$2,238.75
take-home a paycheck · $58,207 a year
Effective tax rate 22.4%
Missouri
$2,269.42
take-home a paycheck · $59,005 a year
Effective tax rate 21.3%
On $75,000, you keep $798 more a year in Missouri than in Kansas. That is $30.67 a paycheck, paid every two weeks.
| Deduction | Kansas | Missouri |
|---|---|---|
| Federal income tax | −$295.00 | −$295.00 |
| Social Security & Medicare | −$220.67 | −$220.67 |
| State income tax | −$130.20 | −$99.53 |
| State payroll deductions | None | None |
| Total tax | −$645.87 | −$615.20 |
| Take-home | $2,238.75 | $2,269.42 |
Income and payroll taxes only, for wage income with no pre-tax deductions or dependents. Full working for each side: Kansas paycheck calculator · Missouri paycheck calculator.
Kansas and Missouri side by side, 2026
| Kansas | Missouri | |
|---|---|---|
| State income tax | 5.2% – 5.58% | 2% – 4.7% |
| Standard deduction (single) | $3,605 + $9,160 exemption | $16,100 |
| Payroll deductions | None | None |
Take-home at every salary
| Salary | Kansas | Missouri | Difference | Keeps more |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $30,000 | $25,389 | $25,812 | $424 | Missouri |
| $40,000 | $32,888 | $33,377 | $490 | Missouri |
| $50,000 | $40,365 | $40,942 | $578 | Missouri |
| $60,000 | $47,842 | $48,507 | $666 | Missouri |
| $75,000 | $58,207 | $59,005 | $798 | Missouri |
| $100,000 | $74,400 | $75,417 | $1,018 | Missouri |
| $125,000 | $90,528 | $91,766 | $1,238 | Missouri |
| $150,000 | $106,221 | $107,678 | $1,458 | Missouri |
| $200,000 | $138,567 | $140,464 | $1,898 | Missouri |
| $250,000 | $170,032 | $172,369 | $2,338 | Missouri |
| $500,000 | $313,376 | $317,914 | $4,538 | Missouri |
| Salary | Kansas | Missouri | Difference | Keeps more |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $60,000 | $50,831 | $51,444 | $613 | Missouri |
| $80,000 | $65,833 | $66,574 | $741 | Missouri |
| $100,000 | $80,787 | $81,704 | $917 | Missouri |
| $150,000 | $116,472 | $117,829 | $1,357 | Missouri |
| $200,000 | $149,818 | $151,615 | $1,797 | Missouri |
| $250,000 | $185,175 | $187,412 | $2,237 | Missouri |
| $300,000 | $219,210 | $221,887 | $2,677 | Missouri |
| $400,000 | $287,280 | $290,837 | $3,557 | Missouri |
| $500,000 | $350,210 | $354,647 | $4,437 | Missouri |
Where the difference comes from
Neither state deducts a payroll levy, so the state-level gap is the two income taxes, and it runs Missouri’s way at every salary.
Kansas has two bands, 5.2% on the first $23,000 of taxable income and 5.58% above it, after a standard deduction of $3,605 and a personal exemption of $9,160. Missouri starts from the federal standard deduction of $16,100, and its top rate of 4.7% begins so low that it behaves as a flat 4.7% on nearly everything above that.
So Missouri shelters a little more of the salary and charges a lower rate on the rest. On $75,000 a single filer is taxed on $62,235 in Kansas and $58,900 in Missouri, and pays $3,385 against $2,588. That is $798 more kept in Missouri. The gap grows with the difference in rates: $578 on $50,000, $1,458 on $150,000 and $2,338 on $250,000.
The earnings tax changes the answer in two cities
The Missouri column leaves out Kansas City’s and St. Louis’s 1% earnings tax. Residents of either city pay it on all their earnings, wherever they work, and people who live elsewhere pay it on what they earn inside the city. Anywhere else in Missouri, the figures above are complete. No Kansas city levies anything like it.
For someone who lives and works in Kansas City, Missouri, the 1% takes back almost all of the state saving. On $75,000 it is $750, against Missouri’s $798 lead. A single filer comes out ahead in Kansas above about $115,000. Couples reach that point much sooner, at about $63,000 of joint income, because the state gap is narrower for them: Kansas more than doubles its standard deduction on a joint return, while Missouri does not widen its bands for couples. A couple on $150,000 keeps $1,357 more in Missouri on state tax alone, and the earnings tax on the same pay is $1,500.
Living on one side of the line, working on the other
The Kansas City area sits on both sides of the border, and there is no reciprocity between the two states. Each taxes what nonresidents earn there, and each gives its own residents a credit for tax paid to the other.
- Live in Kansas, work in Missouri. Missouri taxes the income earned in Missouri, the Missouri Department of Revenue explains, by working out the tax on your whole income and prorating it. Kansas then requires residents to report all income, regardless of where it was earned, and allows a credit for taxes paid to other states. With Kansas’s tax the higher of the two, you pay about the Kansas figure, plus the city’s 1% if the job is in Kansas City, Missouri.
- Live in Missouri, work in Kansas. You file a Kansas nonresident return, and a Missouri return claiming a credit for the tax paid to Kansas, which leaves you paying about the Kansas figure. If you live in Kansas City, Missouri, its 1% earnings tax applies to all your earnings, even though the job is in Kansas.
So for a job on one side of the line, moving your home to the other side does little for your state income tax, and living in Kansas City, Missouri adds the earnings tax either way.
What the take-home figure does not count
Kansas’s brackets, deduction and exemption are set in statute and are not indexed to inflation. Since tax year 2024 Kansas has subtracted Social Security benefits for every taxpayer, and Missouri has subtracted capital gains in full since January 1, 2025. This page models wages only, and neither state’s property or sales tax is in these figures.
Questions people ask
- Do you take home more in Kansas or Missouri on $75,000?
- Missouri, by $798 a year, or $66 a month, for a single filer in 2026. That counts federal tax, Social Security, Medicare, state income tax and every state payroll deduction.
- Is the difference the same at every salary?
- No, but the same side stays ahead. The gap is $424 a year at $30,000 and $2,338 at $250,000, for a single filer.
- I live in Kansas and work in Kansas City, Missouri. What do I pay?
- Missouri tax on your Missouri earnings, filed on a nonresident return, and Kansas tax on all your income, with a Kansas credit for the tax paid to Missouri. Because Kansas taxes the same wages at a higher rate, you end up paying about the Kansas figure. Kansas City's 1% earnings tax also applies to work done in the city.
- Is there a reciprocal agreement between Kansas and Missouri?
- No. Each state taxes a nonresident's earnings from work done there, and each lets its own residents claim a credit for income tax paid to the other, so the same wages are not fully taxed twice. A commuter files in both states.
- Does Kansas City, Kansas have an earnings tax like Kansas City, Missouri?
- No. No Kansas city or county levies an income tax on wages. The 1% earnings taxes belong to Kansas City, Missouri and St. Louis only, and neither is included in the Missouri figures here.
What this comparison covers
Income tax and payroll deductions on wages: federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, state income tax, every state payroll deduction. It does not compare sales tax, property tax, housing or the cost of living, which can outweigh the difference in take-home pay. Figures assume the standard deduction, no dependents and no pre-tax retirement contributions. See how we calculate.
Where the Kansas figures come from
Every Kansas number on this page was read from the documents below — the state's own, not a summary of them. Nothing here is estimated. If a figure looks wrong, the source is one click away, and we would rather you checked.
- Form K-40ES, Individual Estimated Income Tax Vouchersksrevenue.gov
The two rate bands and the standard deduction used on the return.
- Notice 24-08, Kansas income tax rates and standard deductionksrevenue.gov
The statutory rates, thresholds and personal exemption enacted for tax years after 2023.
- K.S.A. 44-710, Employer contributions, payment; ratesksrevisor.gov
That unemployment contributions are paid by the employer and may not be deducted, in whole or in part, from wages.
Where the Missouri figures come from
Every Missouri number on this page was read from the documents below — the state's own, not a summary of them. Nothing here is estimated. If a figure looks wrong, the source is one click away, and we would rather you checked.
- Withholding Formulador.mo.gov
The 2026 rate bands and standard deduction, with the department's own worked example.
- Year-to-year changes in Missouri income taxdor.mo.gov
The rate reduction schedule and which top rate applies for the year.
- Unemployment Insurance Taxlabor.mo.gov
That no part of the unemployment tax an employer owes can be deducted from a worker's pay.