Kansas City, and the County MHDC Leaves Out
Program and regulatory figures verified September 26, 2026. Details change; confirm your scenario with us.
The Kansas City limits are among the highest in Missouri. Whether they apply to you depends on a county footnote most people skip.
Which counties count
MHDC's Kansas City MSA row covers Caldwell, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Jackson, Lafayette, Platte and Ray, and then adds a footnote: excluding Bates County, due to lower income limit.
| County | Income limit, 1–2 | Income limit, 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Caldwell, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Jackson, Lafayette, Platte, Ray | $113,400 | $130,410 |
| Bates | $97,100 | $111,665 |
That is a $16,300 difference at the smaller household size, and it catches people who reason from their commute rather than from the sheet. If you are buying in Bates County, you read the all-other-areas row. Every area and exclusion.
What Next Step adds here
| First Place, non-targeted | Next Step | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–2 persons | $113,400 | $136,080 | $22,680 |
| 3 or more | $130,410 | $158,760 | $28,350 |
A Kansas City couple at $120,000 is over the First Place limit and comfortably under Next Step's. A family of four at $140,000 is over on First Place and under on Next Step. Those are ordinary Kansas City incomes, which is why the program choice matters more here than almost anywhere else in the state. Next Step.
The market
Kansas City's typical home value was $327,320 in August 2026, up 3.7% year over year, the highest of any Missouri metro. Warrensburg, at the eastern edge of the metro's orbit, sits at $284,975 and rose 4.4%.
Against the $566,354 non-targeted price cap that leaves $239,034 of headroom, so price is not the constraint here. Income is. Price limits.
Targeted tracts in the metro
Missouri designates targeted areas by census tract, effective January 8, 2024, and no county is targeted in its entirety. Kansas City has tracts that qualify, and they are not distributed the way people guess. You need the address and the FFIEC map.
But before you go looking: a targeted tract and Next Step deliver the same limits, and Next Step needs no tract. The tract only matters if you specifically want First Place while having owned recently. How tracts work here.
What to send us
The address, or the county if you are still looking; household income for everyone who will live there and be on the loan; how many people; and whether anyone has owned or taken a mortgage interest or real estate tax deduction in the past three years.
We will tell you which program fits, which income row applies, whether the tract is targeted, and what the 4% would come to. Send it over · and read the forgiveness schedule first.
Frequently asked questions
What is the MHDC income limit in Kansas City?
$113,400 for a one to two person household and $130,410 for three or more in the non-targeted column, rising to $136,080 and $158,760 on the targeted and Next Step column. Those figures cover Caldwell, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Jackson, Lafayette, Platte and Ray counties, effective May 1, 2026.
Is Bates County included in the Kansas City MHDC limits?
No. MHDC explicitly excludes Bates County from the Kansas City MSA row due to a lower income limit, so Bates reads the all-other-areas figures of $97,100 and $111,665 instead. That is a $16,300 difference for a one to two person household, and it catches buyers who reason from their commute rather than from MHDC's sheet.
Can a Kansas City family earning $140,000 get down payment assistance?
On Next Step, yes, for a household of three or more, where the limit is $158,760. On First Place the non-targeted limit is $130,410, so $140,000 would be over. That gap is exactly what Next Step exists for, and the assistance itself is identical on both programs at 4% of the total mortgage amount.
Is the price limit a problem in Kansas City?
No. Kansas City's typical home value was $327,320 in August 2026, the highest of any Missouri metro, and the non-targeted purchase price cap is $566,354, leaving $239,034 of headroom. The binding constraint in this metro is income, not price, which is the reverse of what buyers usually expect.
Are there targeted census tracts in Kansas City?
Yes, Missouri designates targeted areas by census tract and the Kansas City metro contains qualifying tracts, though no county is targeted in its entirety and the distribution is not intuitive. Checking requires the address and the FFIEC geocoding map. In practice Next Step delivers the same limits without a tract, so the lookup only matters for a repeat buyer who specifically wants First Place.
Mike Certo · NMLS #260555 · Cornerstone First Mortgage NMLS #173855 · Equal Housing Lender. Educational content about financing, not a loan commitment and not legal or tax advice. MHDC program terms, income limits and purchase price limits are set by the Missouri Housing Development Commission and change; figures here carry the date we verified them against MHDC's published documents. MHDC down payment assistance is a forgivable second loan, not a grant, and selling or refinancing inside ten years can require repaying all or part of it. Loans are subject to borrower and property qualification.