The region repriced: What new housing data reveals about affordability in the Kansas City metro

The Kansas City Region Housing Data Hub has been updated with the U.S. Census Bureau's 2020–2024 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year estimates and 2018–2022 Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The new data offers the clearest picture of how housing costs shifted in the MARC nine-county region compared to the previous five year period and what this means for renters and homeowners.

You can learn more about the ACS five-year estimates on the Census Bureau’s website and on the HUD website.

Median rents rose between 9% and 34% by county across the region, even as renter incomes grew from 12% to 41%. In Wyandotte County, Kansas, and Platte County, Missouri, income growth kept pace with or exceeded rent increases. Four of the nine counties in the region saw rents outpace income growth: Jackson and Clay counties in Missouri, and Leavenworth and Miami, counties in Kansas.

The region also saw a significant shift in the availability of rentals at lower and higher prices between 2015-2019 and 2020-2024.

Units priced under $1,000 per month declined from 145,019 to 76,134, while units priced at $1,500 or more increased from 30,804 to 92,073. Renters in every county are feeling the pressure of these rising costs. The share of cost-burdened renter households, those spending more than 30% of their income on rent, ranges from 32% to 41%, with Jackson County, Missouri, among the highest.

Housing supply grew modestly in Platte, Clay and Cass counties in Missouri, each adding roughly 10%–12% more units. Home values increased 43%–72% regionally, though median incomes for owner-occupied households grew 20%–33%. Approximately 88,755 homeowners are cost-burdened in the metro, making up 13% of owner-occupied households in Ray County, Missouri, to 20% in Wyandotte County, Kansas.

All of the ACS and CHAS data and more are available on the Housing Data Hub — an interactive tool that pulls multiple housing data sources from together from our communities.

Housing data analysis can be found at marc.org/housing in the Housing Analysis and Data Stories section.