Live in Missouri, work in Kansas
State income tax on wages · single filer · tax year 2026
Kansas takes
$3,059
on wages earned there
Missouri takes
$0
after the credit it gives
Both together
$3,059
state tax for the year
Cost of the line
$1,177
a year, above working at home
What crossing the line costs
costs youKansas charges more than Missouri would, and Missouri only credits you up to its own bill — so the difference stays with you. Solid is what you actually pay; the faded part of the Missouri bar is the credit it hands back. State income tax only — federal and payroll tax apply on top, and a city wage tax may too.
Which state taxes you, and what it costs
- You are not taxed twice over. You are taxed at the higher of the two rates, which is its own kind of bad news. Missouri hands back what you paid Kansas, but only as far as its own bill goes. Anything Kansas charges above that, you keep paying. On this salary the year comes to $3,059. Work at home instead and it would be $1,883.
- More people make this crossing than any other into Kansas. About 128,316 jobs there are held by people living in Missouri — the biggest of the 2 routes of this size into the state. Whatever this page says about the tax, it is describing a very well-worn road.
- Kansas taxes wages earned inside its borders by non-residents, and Missouri taxes its residents on the same wages wherever they are earned. The resident credit resolves the overlap but does not erase it: Missouri credits tax paid to Kansas only up to what it would itself have charged on that income, so the commuter settles at the higher of the two liabilities rather than the sum. At the reference salary that is $3,059 against $1,883 for the same earner working at home — $1,177 attributable to the state line itself. ⚠️ The corollary is the part most readers have backwards: moving to a cheaper home state while keeping the job in Kansas changes the split between the two treasuries and not the total.
- Measured against every other state sending commuters into Kansas, this is the largest single flow: 128,316 jobs held by Missouri residents, ahead of all 2 corridors of this size into that state. Census LODES counts jobs rather than people, so a worker holding two positions in Kansas appears twice.
Where the money goes
A $75,000 salary
- Federal income tax$7,670
- Social Security and Medicare$5,738
- State income tax$2,588
- Yours$59,005
| Federal income tax10.23% | $7,670 |
|---|---|
| Social Security and Medicare7.65% | $5,738 |
| State income tax3.45% | $2,588 |
| Yours78.67% | $59,005 |
Which rung you are on
A $75,000 salary
| This rung starts at | $66,500 |
|---|---|
| Next rung starts at | $121,800 |
| Room before it | $46,800 |
Federal only, measured on gross pay — so the first rung is what the standard deduction covers.
The arithmetic, step by step
| Kansas takes, on wages earned there | $3,059 |
|---|---|
| Missouri charges its residents | $1,883 |
| Less the credit Missouri gives | $1,883 |
| Total state tax | $3,059 |
| If you also worked in Missouri | $1,883 |
| Difference | $1,177 |
On a reference salary of $60,000 a year, single filer. Both states run progressive schedules, so the figures do not simply scale — use the tool above for your own salary.
What this page does not cover
- What you see here is state tax between Missouri and Kansas. Cities can charge their own tax on top, and a handful do. That layer is not modeled on this page, so treat these figures as the floor rather than the final bill.
- Two assumptions sit under this page. First, that Kansas is where all your pay comes from. Second, that you go there rather than working from your kitchen in Missouri. Mixed income changes how the credit is worked out, and remote days have their own rules in some states.
- The dollars rest on one assumed salary of sixty thousand. Double your pay and they do not simply double, because both states charge more on higher slices of income. What tends to stay put is which side of the Missouri and Kansas comparison you are on.
- These figures cover the STATE layer only. City and municipal wage taxes sit on top of them and are not included: a commuter into Philadelphia pays its wage tax on top of anything here, and Ohio's municipalities run their own credit system, which this site models in its own families. New York City, by contrast, taxes only its residents, so a commuter into it adds nothing at the city level. Whether Kansas or Missouri carries a local layer is a separate question from the state arithmetic above.
- The arithmetic assumes all wages are earned in Kansas and that there is no other income. That matters for the credit: where income comes from several states, Missouri limits the credit to the share of its own tax attributable to the Kansas portion, computed as a ratio rather than the straightforward cap used above. It also assumes days are worked in Kansas rather than remotely — several states tax a non-resident's remote days as though they were worked at the employer's location, which reverses the usual expectation and is handled on this site's reciprocity pages.
- Dollar amounts are computed at a stated reference salary of sixty thousand rather than a corridor wage average, which no published source provides per state pair. Because both states' liabilities and the credit between them are functions of the same income, the direction of the Missouri to Kansas comparison holds at other salaries even though the amounts do not — with one qualification worth stating, that a progressive schedule can change the SIZE of the gap at higher incomes, and in Kansas's case a bracket crossed on one side and not the other is exactly where that happens.
Questions people ask
Do I pay state tax twice, to Missouri and Kansas?
You file in both states, but you do not pay the full amount to both. Missouri credits the tax Kansas collected, capped at its own charge on that income. The practical result is one bill at the higher of the two levels: $3,059 for the year.
Would moving out of Missouri lower my state tax if I keep working in Kansas?
Probably not, and this is the part people get wrong. Kansas taxes the wages because that is where you earn them, whoever you are and wherever you sleep. Your home state only ever credits you up to its own bill. So moving somewhere cheaper changes which government keeps the money, not how much leaves your pay. What would change it is the job moving, not you.
Do I have to file tax returns in both Missouri and Kansas?
Two returns is the normal outcome here, even when only one state ends up taking anything. Kansas generally wants to see a non-resident return from people who work there, and Missouri wants your whole picture. It is paperwork rather than extra tax.
What if I work from home in Missouri some days instead of going to Kansas?
It depends on the state, and the answer is not the one most people expect. You might assume a day worked at your kitchen table in Missouri is taxed by Missouri. Usually that is right, and your Kansas share shrinks to the days you were actually there. But a few states tax days you work at home as though you had been in the office, unless your employer required you to be elsewhere. It is worth checking which kind Kansas is before assuming.
How is liability allocated between residence and work state on the same wages?
Both jurisdictions assert a claim on the same wages — Kansas on a source basis, Missouri on residence. The residence state grants a credit for tax paid to the source state, limited to the residence state's own liability on that income. Net combined liability therefore equals the greater of the two liabilities rather than their sum, $3,059 at the reference salary, and the split between the two treasuries is the only thing the credit changes.
Does changing residence reduce combined liability while the work state is unchanged?
No, while the source state is unchanged. Kansas's claim arises from where the services are performed and is unaffected by residence. Because the residence credit is capped at the residence state's own liability, combined liability equals the greater of the two — so substituting a lower-tax residence reduces the residence-state component toward zero while leaving the total at Kansas's level. The binding variable is the work location, not the home one.
What filing obligations arise in each state on this corridor?
Generally two. Missouri requires a resident return reporting all income; Kansas requires a non-resident return reporting the income sourced to it, which is also the mechanism by which the resident credit is substantiated. ⚠️ A filing obligation is distinct from a liability: a reciprocity exemption or a zero net position removes tax without necessarily removing the return, and the non-resident return is frequently what establishes the credit claimed on the resident one.
How do remote working days affect sourcing between these two states?
Ordinarily wages are sourced to where the services are performed, so days worked remotely from Missouri fall outside Kansas's jurisdiction and the source-state apportionment shrinks accordingly. ⛔ The exception is the "convenience of the employer" rule, which several states apply: a non-resident's remote days are sourced to the employer's location unless the remote work is required by the employer rather than chosen by the employee. The figures on this page model in-person attendance in Kansas throughout.