Moving to Tennessee from Kansas
What to Expect
Everything you need to know before relocating from Kansas to Tennessee — costs, safety, healthcare, and practical first steps.
If you moved from Kansas to Tennessee, you would find that Tennessee is 11.0% more expensive than Kansas. A $75,000 salary in Kansas would need to be roughly $83,300 in Tennessee to maintain the same lifestyle. Wichita and Nashville are about 590 mi apart.
Is Tennessee cheaper than Kansas?
Where you'll feel the difference day-to-day
Restaurants
pay 7.4% more
Groceries
pay 0.9% less
Transportation
pay 3.9% more
Housing
pay 24.4% more
Childcare
pay 34.1% more
Entertainment and Sports
pay 3.5% less
Data: MyLifeElsewhere's crowdsourced cost of living database, with prices submitted and updated by users worldwide. Exchange rates are refreshed regularly from public sources.
What salary do you need in Tennessee?
What does your salary buy?
$75,000 → $83,300
To maintain the same standard of living in Tennessee
Calculate with your salary →Cost of living by city
Cost of living varies a lot by city. Each figure is a city's overall cost of living as a percentage of New York City (the priciest, = 100%).
On average, cities in Tennessee cost about 4% more than cities in Kansas.
Compare cities head-to-head
Key Indicator Comparison
Key indicators for anyone considering a move from Kansas to Tennessee.
Is it safe?
incidents per 100,000 people per year
incidents per 100,000 people per year
Kansas performs better than Tennessee across all safety metrics.
How's the healthcare?
share of people without health insurance
share of adults with obesity
share of adults with diabetes
share of adults who smoke
Kansas performs better than Tennessee across all health & wellbeing metrics.
What about housing?
typical price of a home
typical monthly gross rent
share of homes that are owner-occupied
Kansas generally does better on what about housing?, though Tennessee leads in homeownership rate.
Will I have good infrastructure?
share of households with internet
minutes each way to work
Kansas performs better than Tennessee across all infrastructure metrics.
What are the job prospects?
percentage of the labour force without work
a broad measure of economic output per person
typical annual income of a household
share of people below the poverty line
Kansas performs better than Tennessee across all employment & economy metrics.
Is it good for families?
average years of life at birth
share of adults with a 4-year college degree
Kansas performs better than Tennessee across all family life metrics.
Sources: US Census Bureau (American Community Survey) (2023), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (PLACES) (2022), FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (2023), Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025), Bureau of Economic Analysis (2024), OECD Regional Demography (2020). How we calculate this
Weather in Tennessee vs Kansas
Monthly averages — select a city to compare.
Avg. annual high / low
Avg. annual high / low
| Months | Wichita | Nashville |
|---|---|---|
| Jan–Mar | 49°/28°F (10°/-2°C) | 53°/33°F (12°/1°C) |
| Apr–Jun | 77°/55°F (25°/13°C) | 78°/56°F (26°/14°C) |
| Jul–Sep | 89°/66°F (32°/19°C) | 87°/66°F (30°/19°C) |
| Oct–Dec | 57°/35°F (14°/2°C) | 60°/40°F (16°/4°C) |
View all months
| Month | Wichita | Nashville |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 42°/22°F (5.8°/-5.6°C) | 47°/28°F (8.3°/-2.0°C) |
| Feb | 48°/26°F (9.0°/-3.3°C) | 52°/32°F (11.0°/-0.2°C) |
| Mar | 58°/35°F (14.4°/1.7°C) | 61°/39°F (16.1°/3.9°C) |
| Apr | 68°/44°F (19.8°/6.9°C) | 71°/47°F (21.4°/8.6°C) |
| May | 77°/55°F (24.8°/12.9°C) | 78°/57°F (25.7°/13.8°C) |
| Jun | 87°/65°F (30.4°/18.3°C) | 86°/65°F (30.0°/18.6°C) |
| Jul | 92°/70°F (33.5°/21.0°C) | 89°/69°F (31.8°/20.8°C) |
| Aug | 91°/69°F (32.9°/20.4°C) | 89°/68°F (31.7°/20.2°C) |
| Sep | 83°/60°F (28.1°/15.3°C) | 82°/61°F (28.0°/15.9°C) |
| Oct | 70°/47°F (20.9°/8.3°C) | 72°/49°F (22.1°/9.4°C) |
| Nov | 56°/35°F (13.4°/1.4°C) | 60°/39°F (15.7°/4.1°C) |
| Dec | 44°/24°F (6.4°/-4.4°C) | 49°/31°F (9.7°/-0.4°C) |
Data:
National Weather Service
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it cheaper to live in Tennessee than Kansas?
No — Tennessee is on average about 11% more expensive than Kansas. City-level variation matters.
How much money do I need to move to Tennessee?
Plan for at least 3 months of living expenses — roughly $20,825 in Tennessee on a $75,000 comparable salary — plus one-off moving costs (movers, a truck rental, and a rental deposit).
Is Tennessee safe?
Kansas performs better than Tennessee across all safety metrics.
How is healthcare in Tennessee compared to Kansas?
Kansas performs better than Tennessee across all health & wellbeing metrics.
What's the weather like in Tennessee compared to Kansas?
The average high temperature in Nashville is 70°F, compared to 68°F in Wichita. Nashville receives around 47.2 in of rainfall per year, while Wichita gets 32.6 in.
