- Missouri assesses residential property at 19% of market value and reassesses in odd-numbered years. Kansas assesses it at 11.5% and reappraises at market value every January 1.
- The levies run the other way. In 2025, Kansas City, Mo.'s main tax code levied 8.3882 per $100 of assessed value, Overland Park in the Blue Valley district about 104 mills, and Kansas City, Kan. about 160 mills.
- On one $220,000 rental at full assessment, that's about $292 a month in the Kansas City Public Schools district, $206 in Overland Park (Blue Valley) and $324 in Kansas City, Kan. At $1,600 rent the DSCR runs from 0.91 to 0.99 across seven tax codes.
- Kansas exempts the first $75,000 of a residential property's appraised value from its 20-mill statewide school levy, rentals included: up to $172.50 a year. Missouri's new homestead credit covers only primary residences.
- Missouri bills can trail market value. Jackson County's 2023 reassessment raised values about 30% on average before the state ordered increases capped at 15%. Underwrite the bill at your price, not the seller's.
Three numbers make every bill
Property tax works the same way on both sides of State Line Road: take a value, multiply by the state's assessment percentage to get assessed value, then apply the local levy. What differs is each input, and how often the value is reset.
Jackson County's assessment office lists the Missouri residential rate at 19%. Article 11 of the Kansas Constitution sets 11½% for "real property used for residential purposes including multi-family residential real property". On a $220,000 house, that's $41,800 of assessed value in Missouri and $25,300 in Kansas. Kansas taxes a smaller slice of the value, but it levies far more on that slice.
The 2025 levies, side by side
Missouri levies are quoted per $100 of assessed value and Kansas levies in mills, dollars per $1,000. Converting both to a share of market value at full assessment makes them comparable:
| Tax code | State | 2025 levy | Share of market value per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas City, Kansas City Public Schools (Jackson code 001) | Mo. | 8.3882 per $100 | 1.59% |
| Kansas City, Hickman Mills schools (code 012) | Mo. | 8.9029 per $100 | 1.69% |
| Kansas City, Raytown schools (code 019) | Mo. | 9.0712 per $100 | 1.72% |
| Kansas City, Lee's Summit R-7 schools (code 048) | Mo. | 7.4903 per $100 | 1.42% |
| Overland Park, Blue Valley USD 229 | Kan. | 104.463 mills | 1.20% |
| Overland Park, Shawnee Mission USD 512 | Kan. | 98.929 mills | 1.14% |
| Kansas City, Kan., USD 500 | Kan. | 160.381 mills | 1.84% |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
The spread inside one state is as wide as the spread between them. Four Kansas City, Mo. tax codes in Jackson County run from 1.42% to 1.72% of value. On the Kansas side, Overland Park runs about 1.14% to 1.20%, while Kansas City, Kan. runs 1.84%. The school district usually decides it: in Jackson County's schedule the school levy ranges from 4.7391 (Lee's Summit R-7) to 6.3200 (Raytown) per $100 on the same city levy.
One $220,000 rental, seven tax codes
Take a single-family rental worth $220,000 that leases for $1,600 a month. Finance 80% ($176,000) on a 30-year fixed at an example 7.5%, which is $1,230.62 a month of principal and interest. For insurance, use $195.93 a month: NerdWallet's March 2026 Missouri sample rate for $200,000 of dwelling coverage ($2,100 a year), scaled up 12% to its Kansas City average. NerdWallet's averages for Kansas City, Kan. and Overland Park were within 3% of Kansas City, Mo., so the same figure works on both sides. Then put the house in each tax code at full assessment.
| Tax code | Annual tax | Monthly tax | PITIA | DSCR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KC, Mo. / KC Public Schools | $3,506 | $292 | $1,719 | 0.93 |
| KC, Mo. / Hickman Mills | $3,721 | $310 | $1,737 | 0.92 |
| KC, Mo. / Raytown schools | $3,792 | $316 | $1,743 | 0.92 |
| KC, Mo. / Lee's Summit R-7 | $3,131 | $261 | $1,687 | 0.95 |
| Overland Park / Blue Valley | $2,470 | $206 | $1,632 | 0.98 |
| Overland Park / Shawnee Mission | $2,330 | $194 | $1,621 | 0.99 |
| KC, Kan. / USD 500 | $3,885 | $324 | $1,750 | 0.91 |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
Same house, same rent, same loan: about $130 a month separates the cheapest tax code from the dearest, and that's 0.08 of DSCR. To reach 1.20, the rent would need to be about $1,959 in Overland Park's Blue Valley district, $2,062 in the Kansas City Public Schools district and $2,100 in Kansas City, Kan. Real houses at $220,000 don't rent the same in every one of those places, so treat this as a tax comparison, not a market one.
Timing: odd years in Missouri, every January in Kansas
Kansas law requires every county appraiser to value all real property at fair market value as of January 1, every year (K.S.A. 79-1455). A purchase or a renovation tends to show up in next year's appraisal. Missouri reassesses real estate every odd-numbered year, per Jackson County's assessment office, so the next countywide reset after 2025 falls in 2027. Until then, the bill on a house you buy may still reflect the seller's older value.
That lag has been large in Jackson County. KCUR reported that the 2023 reassessment raised values about 30% on average. The State Tax Commission then ordered the county to cap increases at 15%, affecting more than 200,000 parcels, and the resulting credits are being applied to 2026, 2027 and 2028 bills. In July 2026 KCUR reported a proposed class settlement worth about $250 million, still awaiting a judge's approval. It's why the Census Bureau's 2020–2024 figures put Jackson County's typical bill at 1.12% of value, while the full levy math in the KC Public Schools district comes to 1.59%.
Tax breaks that do and don't reach a rental
- Kansas school-levy exemption: applies to rentals. K.S.A. 79-201x exempts "property used for residential purposes" from the statewide school levy up to $75,000 of appraised value, from tax year 2024 on. The levy is 20 mills for the 2025–26 and 2026–27 school years (K.S.A. 72-5142), so the saving is up to $75,000 × 11.5% × 0.020 = $172.50 a year. The Saline County appraiser's office describes it as applying to all residential-class property, with no application needed.
- Missouri's 2025 homestead credit: owner-occupants only. Polk County's March 2026 notice, ahead of a local vote on the homestead credit created by 2025's Senate Bill 3, states that the credit applies only to the taxpayer's primary residence and does not apply to rental properties.
- Kansas revenue-neutral rate: a vote, not a cap. A Kansas taxing body that wants a rate above the one that would bring in the same revenue as last year, at this year's values, must publish notice, hold a hearing and vote (K.S.A. 79-2988). Your levy can still rise, but not quietly.
St. Louis and the Illinois side
St. Louis sits entirely on Missouri's 19% rate and odd-year cycle, until you cross the river. Using the Census medians as a rough effective rate (median tax ÷ median value, 2020–2024), the same $220,000 house at $1,600 rent compares like this, with insurance at NerdWallet's Missouri or Illinois sample rate for $200,000 of coverage:
| Jurisdiction | Rough effective rate | Monthly tax | DSCR |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis city | 1.03% | $189 | 1.00 |
| St. Louis County | 1.20% | $221 | 0.98 |
| St. Charles County | 1.08% | $199 | 1.00 |
| Madison County, Ill. | 1.92% | $352 | 0.91 |
| St. Clair County, Ill. | 2.03% | $373 | 0.90 |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
These Missouri figures carry the same caution as Jackson County's: Census medians reflect what owners paid on their current assessments, not a fresh assessment at your price. Get the parcel's tax rate from the city or county collector before you rely on them.
What to ask before the loan is sized
Ask your lender which tax figure goes into the payment: the current bill, or an estimate at your purchase price. If the current bill rests on an old Missouri assessment, the ratio at closing will look better than the ratio after the next reassessment, and the escrow payment will rise to match. A deal that only works on the seller's bill doesn't work.
United Lending's DSCR rental loans are qualified on the property's rent, so the tax line goes straight into the ratio. We lend with a DSCR from 0.75 and credit scores from 620, up to 85% LTV on a purchase and up to 80% on a cash-out refinance. Those are separate limits, not one combined offer: the highest leverage goes to stronger credit and rent coverage, and a lower score or ratio means lower leverage. They're business-purpose loans for investment property only, never for a home you or a relative will live in. For tax planning, such as appeals, depreciation or how a credit applies to you, talk to a CPA or a property tax attorney.
Checklist for the tax line
- Find the parcel's tax code (Missouri) or tax unit (Kansas) on the county's records.
- Pull the current levy from the county's levy sheet: per $100 in Missouri, in mills in Kansas.
- Compute the bill at your price: price × 19% × levy ÷ 100 in Missouri; price × 11.5% × mills ÷ 1,000, less up to $172.50, in Kansas.
- Compare it with the seller's bill. A big gap in Missouri usually means an assessment that will catch up.
- Run the DSCR on the higher of the two, with a real landlord-insurance quote.
For the rest of the ratio, see the Kansas City DSCR guide and the St. Louis DSCR guide.