Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Topeka's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Topeka?
Your $100,000 in Topeka has the same purchasing power as $122,414 in the average US city. You'd need $22,414 less here to maintain that standard of living.
Demographics and workforce data from the US Census ACS 5-Year.
bachelor's or higher
Climate, safety, and walkability indicators.
See a side-by-side breakdown of cost of living, housing, and salaries.
Popular comparisons
Sorted by affordability — most affordable first.
Within 10 points of Topeka's cost index of 82, sorted by closest match.
Topeka has a handful of real selling points, and they're not the kind of thing you find in a brochure. Your dollar carries more weight here and walkable in a way most us cities aren't are the headliners, plus 2 more things worth knowing. The rest is below.
The composite cost-of-living index lands at 82, a comfortable 18% under the US norm. It shows up most clearly in housing, which is where the gap to coastal metros usually opens up. Median rent in town runs about $926/mo against a typical household income of $54,052, which is the kind of ratio that leaves room to save.
With a citywide Walk Score of 71/100, Topeka sits firmly in the walkable-by-US-standards camp. Pick a central neighborhood and most daily errands happen without keys in your hand.
Bike Score of 75/100 in Topeka. That puts it in the small group of US cities where you can do groceries, commute, and run errands on a bike without it being a feat of urban survival.
Average commute time in Topeka runs around 17 minutes one-way — short enough that it doesn't restructure your day. Compared to the 45-plus-minute commutes that are normal in major metros, the difference adds up to a real lifestyle gap.
Reasons are pulled from Topeka's actual data — Census ACS, BLS, BEA, NOAA, EPA AQS, FBI, and Walk Score. We don't list positives that aren't supported by the numbers, which is why different cities show different sections.
Yes — and a lot of it. With winter averages near 22°F, Topeka sees real accumulation most years. Salt for the steps, tires that handle ice, and a sense of humor about February are the usual costs of admission.
Properly cold. Topeka's winter sits around 22°F on average — and that's the average, meaning plenty of nights drop well below zero. People here own gear.
Reliably warm. Topeka's summer averages around 87°F, the kind of heat where you remember to leave the house before noon for outdoor things and accept that the back of your shirt will be wet by lunchtime.
Topeka falls in roughly USDA Zone 7. The zone classification is based on average annual minimum temperatures, so it's the right lookup for whether perennials and trees will overwinter here. Note that this is approximate from our winter-temperature data — check the USDA map for the exact zone before betting an expensive plant on it.
Roughly 961 feet (293 m). That's modest elevation — comparable to most inland-Midwest and Southern cities.
Worse than the national norm, but it depends where. Topeka's ~4,684 per 100,000 reflects a citywide aggregate. Some neighborhoods here are notably safer than the average; others are notably worse. Worth looking at the specific area, not the city-level number.
Topeka is a genuinely affordable city by US standards. The composite index sits at 82 versus the 100 national baseline — about 18% cheaper overall, with housing doing most of the heavy lifting.
Topeka scores 71/100 on Walk Score, putting it in the "very walkable" tier. Transit Score is 31 out of 100. It's the kind of city where you don't think of going to the grocery store as "going" to the grocery store.
As a rule of thumb, plan on about $57,183 to live in Topeka the way a $70,000 earner lives in a typical US city. The math gets less forgiving the lower you go below that. Median rent in Topeka runs about $926/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.