Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates Salary

Yes — at the median salary of $149K, rent takes 12.2% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,066/month. That stays under the 30% guideline most financial planners use.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates typically earn — is $77K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $4,595/month. At HUD’s $1,066/month FMR, rent would take 23% of that take-home — manageable on an entry-level income.

Pay here is roughly in line with the national average — $149K locally vs. $154K nationally, a 3% difference.

Kansas pays $149K median vs. the U.S. average of $154K — that’s -3%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 89.54), the purchasing-power equivalent is $166K — still ahead of the national median.

The median is $148,910 a year, that works out to about $72 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $76,590, and experienced judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates can clear $163,160. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $8,725/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,066/month, which eats 12.2% of your paycheck. That's under the 30% guideline most financial planners use, so the numbers work.

Kansas has a Regional Price Parity of 89.54 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates salary is worth about $166,306 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.