Wichita’s cost of living rose over the last year, but one KS city saw a decrease
Wichita’s cost of living saw a slight increase from 2024 to 2025, according to a new report by financial website SmartAsset, while residents of another city in Kansas saw relief.
SmartAsset named Wichita the 174th location nationally for increase in cost of living over a one-year period in its March 16 report “Where Cost of Living Increased and Decreased Most – 2026 Study.”
The report found Wichita had an increase of 0.78%, although the city still has a cost of living 12.6% below the national average. Hutchinson saw a 2.75% decrease in cost of living, according to the analysis, landing 14.9% below the U.S. average.
“The cost of living premium in a specific location reflects the relative cost of housing, groceries, utilities, transportation, and other common necessities, compared to the rest of the country,” SmartAsset’s report said.
The analysis compared 236 locations in the U.S. on cost of living changes over a one-year period, using data from the Council for Community and Economic Research on pricing for housing, transportation, utilities, medical costs and more, adjusted for inflation.
Four additional Kansas locales made the list: Manhattan was 121st, Pittsburg was 133rd, Salina was ranked 173rd and the Kansas City, Missouri-Kansas metropolitan area landed in 194th.
Nationally, grocery prices are up 2.4% from February 2025 to February 2026, according to the BLS Consumer Price Index, with a 3.9% increase in restaurant dining prices. Electricity is up 4.8%, medical care services are up 4.1% and transportation costs are up 2.2%. Average gas prices in Kansas are up by more than 75 cents per gallon compared to one month ago.
Although Wichita’s cost of living increase was modest overall, the city’s real estate has become significantly more expensive recently. The median home sale price in Wichita increased by 7.4% from February 2025 to February 2026, according to real estate company Redfin.
Sedgwick County officials have credited the real estate market gains, in part, as a driver in rising property values.
Unemployment has seen a slight uptick in Wichita, with a 3.7% unemployment rate in December, compared to 3.4% the month prior, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Calculator reports a single Sedgwick County resident without children needs to earn $20.65 per hour to afford necessities, while a single parent with one child would need to make $35.64. The minimum wage in Kansas is the same as the federal minimum, $7.25, although a bill was recently introduced to raise the state’s minimum wage to $16.
Where is cost of living increasing the most?
Here’s how the top 15 cities and metro areas with the greatest increases in cost of living from 2024 to 2025 compared, according to SmartAsset:
1. Great Falls, Mont.: 9.78% increase in cost of living
2. Springfield, Mo.: 8.25%
3. Rapid City, S.D.: 7.73%
4. Orange County, Calif.: 7.3%
5. Monroe, La.: 7.14%
6. Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Iowa: 6.8%
7. Augusta-Aiken, Ga.-S.C.: 6.66%
8. Champaign-Urbana, Ill.: 6.64%
9. Asheville, N.C.: 6.48%
10. Grand Junction, Colo.: 6.29%
11. Philadelphia, Pa.: 6.26%
12. Prescott-Prescott Valley, Ariz.: 6.22%
13. Dalton, Ga.: 6.16%
14. New York (Manhattan), N.Y.: 6.12%
15. Ponca City, Okla.: 6.1%
Hutchinson wasn’t alone in among cities and metro areas that saw relief in cost of living from 2024 to 2025. Others with the greatest declines in cost of living included Meridian, Miss., Orlando and Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., and Charleston-North Charleston, S.C., according to SmartAsset.
