Retiring in Kansas

Every figure below is sourced to Kansas’s own publications and dated. Estimates only, and not tax advice.

Retirement tax by state

What your state actually takes from a 401(k) withdrawal, a pension, and Social Security — in dollars, not a yes/no list.

Long-term index-fund growth after expense-ratio drag — and what your state takes from the gains at withdrawal.

Decided on the two rates that actually govern it — yours now, and yours at withdrawal, in the state you'll retire in rather than the one you're in.

2026 limits, employer match, the 60-63 super catch-up, and whether the Roth catch-up mandate applies to you.

When your RMDs start under SECURE 2.0, how much this year's is, and what missing it costs.

What a backdoor Roth conversion would actually cost you in tax — the pro-rata rule most calculators only describe.

The tax a leveraged rental owes inside a self-directed IRA — computed at trust rates, not the rate you'd assume.

401(k) and IRA withdrawals: Taxed
Social Security: Not taxed
Top marginal rate: 5.58%; The top of 2 graduated brackets.
Tax year: 2026; Brackets are legislated and change on a fixed calendar, so the year matters.

Kansas is now a genuinely good state for a retiree whose income is Social Security plus a Kansas or federal government pension - both are fully exempt with no cap - and an ordinary one for a retiree living on a private 401(k), which is taxed in full.
Any source describing Kansas as taxing Social Security above $75,000 of federal AGI is describing law repealed effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2023. The repeal is the most consequential recent change in this record.
Kansas's standard deduction is small and NOT indexed for inflation, so the large personal exemption does most of the work of shielding low incomes; the two must be added together to get a realistic Kansas zero-tax threshold.