Urban and Regional Planners in Kansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$62,444
after federal, FICA and Kansas tax
Tax takes
$19,886
24.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$69,409
Kansas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Kansas — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$82,330
Kept after tax
$62,444
Worth in national money
$69,409
State rank
23
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Kansas is 23 of 51 states for urban and regional planners, with a middle wage of $82,330. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Kansas this is well-paid work. Of 488 occupations with published figures in the state, urban and regional planners ranks 90 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $82,330 you keep $62,444 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $69,409 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $87,620, since top earners drag the number up.
- Kansas ranks 23 of 51 for urban and regional planners at $82,330. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Ranked against every occupation Kansas publishes a median for, urban and regional planners sits 90 of 488 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Retained pay in Kansas is $62,444 after the full tax stack, from $82,330. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $69,409 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $87,620 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Urban and Regional Planners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $58,930 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $82,330 |
| Top tenth earn over | $128,320 |
| This salary | $82,330 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Kansas | $62,444 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $66,749 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$719 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $76,210 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$993 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Kansas earn less than $82,330. The published range is $58,930 up to $128,320, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Kansas the take-home figure of $62,444, from $82,330, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 90 of 488 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kansas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $69,409, the adjusted value of that $82,330 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 90 of 488 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for urban and regional planners in Kansas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $58,930 to $128,320. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Kansas is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $62,444 from $82,330. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 90 of 488 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kansas, so $69,409 — the adjusted value of that $82,330 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 90 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $87,620, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $58,930 at the bottom tenth to $128,320 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $69,409.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Kansas adds its own income tax on top — which is why $62,444 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Kansas is $87,620. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($58,930) and the ninetieth ($128,320) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Kansas's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $69,409 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $62,444 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Kansas income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.