$100k a year, no longer in Kansas City

change
Asheville, NC cityscape

instead of kansas city

Asheville

nc · metro 417k

a dispatch from

asheville

NC

35.58°N

82.55°W

Asheville is what happens when a mountain town and an art school have a baby and raise it on craft beer. Downtown packs more breweries per capita than almost anywhere in America, plus buskers on every corner and Art Deco buildings the Depression accidentally preserved (the city went broke before it could tear them down). The Biltmore, America's largest private home, looms on the edge of town like a stone-carved flex. Remote workers keep showing up, which is how you know.

metro417k

01 · the verdict

the verdict

$220

the monthly cost of moving past Kansas City

Asheville costs more than Kansas City, and you'll feel it. The upside has to come from somewhere other than your budget.
landable, recorded on the asheville entry

02 · the money

a quick ledger.

01rent

$1,738/mo

16% more expensive than Kansas City(vs $1,502/mo)

02state income tax

4.5%

$17/mo less in state tax than Kansas City

vs 4.7% in Kansas City

03after rent

$6,220/mo

$220 less than Kansas City

gross of federal tax. a comparison, not a paycheck.

04a house here

$430k

32% more expensive than Kansas City

vs $326k in Kansas City

05metro size

417k

vs 2.2M in Kansas City

03 · the life

field notes, weather & such.

201

pleasant days a year, in asheville.

Kansas City only logs 170 pleasant days.

But the calendar thins out: Kansas City stays 2.4× busier.
on a typical month
·outdoorscore

66/100

18% higher than Kansas City

vs 56/100 in Kansas City

Closest outdoor draw: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 74.8 mi.

·walk score®

63/100

33% lower than Kansas City

vs 94/100 in Kansas City

Walk Score® methodology

·nonstops

8

81% fewer than Kansas City

vs 43 nonstops in Kansas City

04 · see also

neighbors of asheville on the map of tradeoffs:

compare asheville with: