FHA Loans in Kansas: The Mortgage Tax Is Gone and the Premium Comes From HUD

Kansas City is one metro with a state line running through it. A client looking at homes on both sides finds the same FHA loan limit in every county, Kansas or Missouri, and a different closing the moment the home is across the line.

All 105 Kansas counties share one 2026 FHA loan limit, $541,287 for a one-unit home, and Kansas no longer charges a tax on the mortgage you record.

I'm Jeff Moran, NMLS #483943, licensed to originate mortgages in Kansas through C2 Financial Corporation. This page covers the Kansas pieces. The down payment and credit score rules that apply everywhere are on the FHA loans page.

The Kansas side of the line

Missouri's constitution bars new taxes on real estate transfers, so Missouri cannot add a new transfer tax to your purchase. Kansas, for its part, repealed its mortgage registration tax. A 2014 law phased it down to zero, and for any mortgage recorded on or after January 1, 2019 that tax is gone. The register of deeds, the county office that records your mortgage, still charges a recording fee, and it is set by the page rather than by the size of the loan. Kansas and Missouri also regulate title and closing charges differently, so the same home price can produce two different cash-to-close figures depending on which side of the line the home is on. I want you to see that before we price anything. The Kansas page tells the repeal story, and the state-by-state list of mortgage recording taxes shows where Kansas lands.

The one charge that grows with your Kansas FHA loan

With the state tax gone, the charge that still grows with your loan amount is FHA's own. Every FHA loan carries an upfront mortgage insurance premium, and HUD's FHA handbook sets it at 1.75 percent of the loan before the premium is added. You can pay it in cash at closing or roll the whole thing into the loan, and you cannot split it between the two. On a loan amount I made up for the example, the arithmetic is:

Base loan amount (invented)            $250,000
Upfront premium                 x        0.0175
                                      ----------
Upfront premium                          $4,375
Total loan if financed                 $254,375

HUD leaves the financed premium out when it measures your loan against the county limit and against the share of the home's value you are borrowing. Once you pay the upfront premium, you do not get it back, with one exception: refinancing into another FHA-insured loan. Kansas adds no tax to that refinance, and the Kansas refinance page prices the rest of it.

What is the FHA loan limit in Kansas?

There is one answer for the whole state. HUD's 2026 loan limit letter sets the national floor, and HUD's county list puts every one of the 105 Kansas counties at it, which is as low as the FHA limit goes anywhere in the country.

Units	FHA limit, every Kansas county
One	$541,287
Two	$693,050
Three	$837,700
Four	$1,041,125

Wichita, Topeka and the Kansas side of Kansas City all share it, so when you compare two towns you are comparing prices and closing costs, and the limit never comes into it. Missouri is the same way, with every county and the City of St. Louis at the floor.

Comparing closing charges in Kansas

Kansas does not require an attorney at closing, and a Kansas title agent can handle your closing and your escrow. In counties with 10,000 people or more, that title agent has to file its rates and charges. The filing covers its closing, escrow and document preparation fees along with the title premium, and the Kansas Insurance Department publishes the filings by agency. So we can look at two agents' filed charges side by side before you pick one. On an FHA purchase that is worth doing, because the closing costs are the part of your cash to close that a lower filed charge can bring down.

No Kansas statute or statewide authority says who pays for the owner's title insurance policy, so that is a term for you and the seller to settle in the purchase contract.

Pricing your Kansas scenario

When you're ready, you can see FHA priced for a home on either side of the Kansas City state line, or anywhere else in Kansas, with the upfront premium and the filed closing charges included.

Common questions

Does Kansas charge a mortgage registration tax on an FHA loan?

Not since 2019. The tax was phased out and repealed for mortgages recorded on or after January 1, 2019, and the register of deeds now charges only its recording fee, which is set by the page.

Is the FHA loan limit higher in Johnson County than in Sedgwick County?

It is the same. Every Kansas county is at the national floor for 2026, and the only thing that moves the limit is how many units the home has.

Does the Missouri side of Kansas City have a different FHA limit?

The limit is the same on both sides. The closing costs are what change, because Kansas and Missouri tax and regulate title charges differently.

Can I compare closing fees on a Kansas FHA purchase?

Yes. In counties of 10,000 people or more, title agents file their charges, including closing and escrow fees, and the Kansas Insurance Department publishes them by agency, so we can compare providers before you choose one.

Who pays for the owner's title insurance on an FHA purchase in Kansas?

That is decided in your purchase contract. Kansas has no statute or statewide rule assigning it to you or the seller.

Nothing here is a loan approval, a denial, a commitment to lend, or legal advice. The loan limits are HUD's published 2026 figures, and the example above uses invented amounts.