What salary do you need to live in Topeka, KS?

Rent, home values and prices in Topeka

Census figures put the median gross rent in the Topeka, KS metro at $733 for a one-bedroom, $995 for a two-bedroom and $1,210 for a three-bedroom. Moving from one to two bedrooms adds $262 a month, and the third bedroom another $215.

On the ownership side, the typical owner-occupied home is valued at $183,200. Against a median household income of $69,888, the ratio is 2.6× — one of the gentler home-price-to-income ratios in the country.

Price levels matter beyond rent. The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures Topeka's overall prices at 88.8 on a scale where the nation is 100, which makes a $100,000 salary feel like about $112,587 would elsewhere.

How much you need to earn in Topeka

For two bedrooms, $93,000 is where Topeka turns Comfortable. Below that, $47,000 marks the start of Okay and $22,000 the start of Tight; under $22,000 the score reads Stretched. Rent at the Comfortable line is 13% of gross pay.

Royal, the top band, starts at $268,000. At that income rent is 4% of pay and the median home 0.7× income.

These lines come straight from the calculator's formula: the income is raised until the two-bedroom score crosses each cutoff, then rounded up to the next $1,000.

What different incomes look like in Topeka

Choosing a bigger place in Topeka at $75,000 trims the score from 64 to 56 without leaving Okay.

Read down the two-bedroom column and the first Comfortable row is $100,000, consistent with the $93,000 line above.

Where Topeka falls nationally

On price level Topeka is 317th of 387 (1 = most expensive); on two-bedroom rent it is 292nd, and on median home value 334th. The two rankings agree, both falling in the bottom quarter.

Cleveland, TN ($995) and Dubuque, IA ($994) bracket Topeka on two-bedroom rent.

Comparing Topeka with Kansas

How Topeka stacks up against its state: $995 for a two-bedroom against Kansas's $1,042, $183,200 for the median home against $217,200, and a price level of 88.8 against 90.1.

Scored the same way, the statewide figures turn Comfortable at $107,000, so Topeka needs $14,000 less than Kansas overall.

If Topeka is on your list, Wichita, KS, Manhattan, KS, and Joplin, MO-KS are the most similar Kansas metros by two-bedroom rent and price level; the table shows where each turns Comfortable.

Topeka's median income on the scale

A household at the Topeka median income of $69,888 would see a two-bedroom score of 57 — Okay — with rent at 17% of income. Put differently, Topeka's typical household is $23,112 below the $93,000 it takes to read Comfortable on two bedrooms. For Kansas as a whole, the median household income of $74,275 scores 55 against statewide rents. Since a household can have two or more earners, compare it with a combined income rather than one paycheck.

Treat every number here as a pre-tax, public-data estimate rather than financial advice.