City earnings tax
Kansas City, Missouri charges its residents 1 percent. Riverside charges none.
Riverside, Missouri 64150 · Platte County
The Northland city that taxes you nothing
Riverside was chartered in 1951 on a promise its City Hall still keeps. Paul Sidwell lives in the Northland and has been licensed since 2014. He will show you what that promise is worth in dollars, what the levee protects, and why Riverside's median price is the least useful number in the metro.
City residential real estate tax
No city levy on your home. County, school and state levies still apply.
City residential personal property tax
No city levy on your vehicles. The county still assesses them.
Verified on the City of Riverside's own finance page, which describes the commitment as unchanged since the city's founders made it in 1951. Riverside funds itself on sales tax, gaming revenue and tax increment financing instead.
What the earnings tax line is actually worth
Kansas City, Missouri levies a 1 percent earnings tax on its residents, and on anyone who earns wages inside its limits. A Riverside address is not a Kansas City address. Put in a household income and see the resident side of that difference.
$
$1,000a year you would not pay Kansas City as a Riverside resident
| Household income | Kansas City resident earnings tax |
|---|---|
| $75,000 | $750 a year |
| $100,000 | $1,000 a year |
| $150,000 | $1,500 a year |
| $200,000 | $2,000 a year |
This compares living in Riverside against living inside Kansas City, Missouri. If you work inside Kansas City limits you still owe the tax on those wages wherever you live, so the saving shown here is the resident portion. It is an illustration, not tax advice. Paul will walk through your actual situation, and a CPA should confirm it.
A builder's eye on a city that rebuilt itself
Paul Sidwell has lived in the Kansas City area since 2001 and has been licensed since 2014, in Missouri and in Kansas, with RE/MAX Revolution. Before real estate he worked in home construction and remodeling.
That matters more in Riverside than almost anywhere else in the Northland. Six in ten Riverside homes were built in the 1960s and 1970s, and another quarter have gone up since 2000 on the bluffs. Those are two completely different inspections. Paul reads the older stock for wiring, panels, sewer laterals and foundation drainage, and he reads the new stock for builder allowances, grading and what the finished street will look like.
He holds the Certified Residential Specialist designation along with ABR, CFSP, AHWD, CPS, RENE and e-PRO training, and he co-authored The Hidden Costs of Overpricing. His office is at 2 Victory Drive in Liberty and his practice covers the Northland across Platte and Clay counties.
Four things that make Paul uniquely different in Riverside
He can price a bimodal market
Riverside sells $280,000 ranch homes and $1.2 million bluff builds in the same quarter. A citywide median blends them into a number that describes no actual house. Paul prices to the pocket and the product.
He reads the flood map before the listing
Riverside carries real flood exposure in the valley and almost none up on the bluffs. Paul pulls the designation and the elevation for the specific address rather than repeating a citywide score.
He knows what the city does and does not charge
No city earnings tax, no city residential real estate or personal property tax, but county, school and state levies still apply. Paul explains the whole bill, not the headline.
He handles both ends of the stock
A career in construction first. On a 1968 ranch that means panels, laterals and drainage. On a new bluff build it means allowances, grading and the phase schedule.
Two Riversides, one ZIP code
Riverside is Platte County's southernmost city, sitting directly across the Missouri River from downtown Kansas City. It was settled in the 1840s and formally incorporated in 1951, after both Parkville and Kansas City showed interest in annexing the area. The founders chartered it on a promise that residents would not be taxed by the city, and City Hall still keeps it.
The 1993 flood changed the place permanently. The answer was the Riverside-Quindaro Bend Levee, an $87 million L-385 project completed in 2005: 4.7 miles of earthen levee averaging about 20 feet, protecting roughly 1,200 acres to a 500-year standard and opening around 800 acres of river bottom for the Horizons development. It was the first levee in Missouri to carry a public trail along its top.
What that produced is a city with two housing markets. Down in the valley and along the older streets sit 1960s and 1970s homes, a large share of the city's rental stock and the most affordable path into the Park Hill School District. Up on the bluffs, newer construction on streets like Palisades, Riverview and Sienna Ridge trades from the high six figures past $1 million. The same MLS search returns both.
The valley and the bluff
The established streets
Typically $280,000 to $500,000
- Most of the city's 1960s and 1970s stock, on established streets near Route 9 and Vivion Road.
- The practical entry into Park Hill schools, and a deep rental pool: 57.5 percent of occupied Riverside homes are renter-occupied (ACS 2023).
- Recent verified sales here have run from $280,000 on Saint Joe Boulevard to $466,000 on 50th Street.
Paul checks: Panels, sewer laterals, foundation drainage and the flood designation for the exact parcel.
The bluff-top builds
Typically $700,000 to $1.2 million
- Newer construction on Palisades, Riverview, Scenic View, Sienna Ridge, Luna Piena and Verona.
- Long market times are normal at this tier: recent sales sat 89, 121, 163 and 191 days before closing.
- Recent verified sales have run from $725,000 on Verona to $1.2 million on Palisades.
Paul checks: Builder allowances, the phase schedule, grading on a bluff lot and how the view is protected.
Why Riverside's median tells you almost nothing
Over the three months ending July 2026, Riverside's median sale price was $465,767, down 39.5 percent from the same period a year earlier. In the same window, the price per square foot rose 20.4 percent to $248. Both numbers are correct. Prices did not fall by two fifths; the mix of what sold changed.
$280,000Saint Joe Blvd$390,000Apache Dr$466,000NW 50th St$600,000Valley Ln$725,000Verona Dr$785,900Sienna Ridge$987,252NW 47th Ter$1,200,000Palisades Dr
$280,000Saint Joe Blvd
$390,000Apache Dr
$466,000NW 50th St
$600,000Valley Ln
$725,000Verona Dr
$785,900Sienna Ridge
$987,252NW 47th Ter
$1,200,000Palisades Dr
Eight Riverside sales that closed between July and September 2026, in order of price. The city sells across a range this wide every quarter, which is why one median moves so far.
- 18 days
- Median time on market, twenty days faster than a year earlier
- 98.6%
- Of list price received, with 9.5 percent closing above asking
- $248
- Median price per square foot, up 20.4 percent year over year
- 21
- Homes sold in July, up from 15 a year earlier
Figures are a recent Redfin read and shift month to month. Riverside closes around twenty homes a month, so a single bluff-top sale moves the median further here than anywhere else Paul works. Treat any citywide figure as a starting point, never an appraisal.
Your street has its own number. Paul will pull it.
Comparable sales for your block and your product type, not a citywide average that blends both markets.
100 things worth knowing about Riverside
Ten subjects, one hundred specifics, drawn from Paul's answers and the public record. Search across all of them, or open the subject that matters to your move.
The Tax QuestionWhat the city charges, and what it does not
- The City of Riverside levies no residential real estate tax, no residential personal property tax and no city earnings tax, and states the commitment is unchanged since the founders made it in 1951.
- Kansas City, Missouri levies a 1 percent earnings tax on its residents and on anyone earning wages inside its limits, so the resident side of that tax does not follow a Riverside address.
- The city earnings tax is the single most common reason Paul hears buyers name Riverside specifically (Paul's market notes).
- County, school district and state levies still apply to a Riverside home. The city simply is not one of the taxing jurisdictions on the bill.
- Riverside funds itself instead on sales tax, gaming revenue and tax increment financing.
- In fiscal 2023 the city reported $28.1 million in total governmental fund revenue.
- That year's general revenues included $6,354,948 in gaming revenue tax, $4,550,094 in gaming-related real estate income, $8,791,727 in tax increment financing revenue and $5,249,432 in sales tax.
- The combined sales tax rate in Riverside was 7.98 percent as of 2025, which is how a resident contributes to the city's budget.
- The city reports a police staffing ratio of about one officer for every 120 residents.
- Riverside provides weekly residential waste collection at no charge and subsidizes 75 percent of a resident community center membership.
The Levee and the RiverFlood protection and what it opened up
- The Riverside-Quindaro Bend Levee, known as L-385, was completed in 2005 at a cost of more than $87 million.
- It runs 4.7 miles along the left bank of the Missouri River, averaging about 20 feet in height and varying from 15 to 23 feet.
- It was planned and built by the Quindaro Bend Drainage District with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in response to the 1993 flood that cost Riverside businesses millions.
- The levee protects roughly 1,200 acres of river valley to a 500-year floodplain standard.
- About 2,800 large trees were planted in the levee's borrow areas.
- Completion opened around 800 acres of flood-protected bottomland for development, which became the Horizons district.
- L-385 was the first levee in Missouri to integrate a public trail along its top.
- First Street's national model still rates 14 percent of Riverside properties, about 176 of them, at severe flood risk over 30 years, which is higher than any other market Paul covers.
- That exposure is concentrated in the valley rather than on the bluffs, which is why Paul pulls the designation for the specific parcel instead of quoting the citywide figure.
- Any development within 500 feet of the levee centerline requires coordination with the Levee District and approval from the Corps of Engineers.
How Riverside BeganRed X, the founders and the ground itself
- Riverside is Platte County's southernmost city and sits directly across the Missouri River from downtown Kansas City.
- The area was settled in the 1840s but the city was not formally incorporated until 1951.
- Incorporation was driven by local business owners after both Parkville and Kansas City expressed interest in annexing the area.
- Edward Young, who founded the Riverside Red X as a gas station in 1948, led that incorporation effort with Ferd Filger and Dr. Thomas M. Eagle.
- The Red X remained in the Young family for decades and is the closest thing Riverside has to a civic landmark.
- The store was rebuilt as a 59,000 square foot building on about six acres of levee-district land that the Corps of Engineers had elevated years earlier.
- E.H. Young Riverfront Park, at 1001 Argosy Parkway, carries the same family name.
- The Renner Village Archeological Site in Riverside was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.
- The Argosy Casino opened on June 22, 1994 as the Argosy V, the first riverboat casino in Kansas City.
- It now runs 62,000 square feet of gaming space with about 1,500 slot machines and 37 table games, a 258-room hotel and 18,000 square feet of meeting space, operated by Penn Entertainment.
Schools and Park HillThe district that reaches into the city
- Riverside is served by the Park Hill School District, which covers about 73 square miles and enrolls nearly 12,000 students.
- Park Hill South High School sits inside Riverside city limits and opened in the fall of 1998.
- The same district serves Parkville, Weatherby Lake, Houston Lake, Lake Waukomis, Northmoor and Platte Woods, so Riverside buyers are shopping the same district as far more expensive addresses.
- That combination, Park Hill schools without a city tax bill, is the core of Riverside's value argument (Paul's market notes).
- Park Hill redrew its elementary boundaries in 2024 and opened Angeline Washington Elementary in 2025, so older boundary maps are out of date.
- Paul checks every Riverside address against the district's boundary locator rather than trusting a listing.
- Riverside's own population is small enough that the city has no elementary school inside its limits in some school-data listings, which confuses buyers reading third-party sites.
- Among Riverside adults 25 and older, 39.5 percent hold a bachelor's degree or higher and 95.4 percent finished high school (ACS 2023).
- The school district levy is a real part of a Riverside tax bill even though the city levy is zero.
- Buyers comparing Riverside with a Kansas City address should compare the full bill, since the jurisdictions differ on more than one line.
Housing StockWhat is actually built here
- Riverside has about 1,684 housing units and 1,622 occupied households (ACS 2023).
- 57.7 percent of the city's housing was built in the 1960s and 1970s, the highest concentration of that era in any market Paul covers.
- 27 percent has been built since 2000, including 3.1 percent since 2020, almost all of it on the bluffs.
- Almost nothing predates 1950: just 4.2 percent of the stock, and no recorded units from 1939 or earlier.
- Single-family detached homes make up 42.6 percent of the housing, a far smaller share than in Parkville or Liberty.
- The median Riverside home has 4.9 rooms, the smallest median footprint in Paul's Northland coverage.
- 57.5 percent of occupied homes are renter-occupied and 42.5 percent owner-occupied, which inverts the pattern of every neighboring city.
- The ACS median value of an owner-occupied Riverside home is $314,600, while 26.1 percent of owner-occupied homes are valued between $500,000 and $999,999.
- That split in the value distribution is the statistical fingerprint of the two-market city.
- The housing vacancy rate is 3.7 percent (ACS 2023).
Work and the Horizons DistrictThe employment base behind the tax promise
- The Horizons district occupies the flood-protected bottomland the levee opened, bounded by I-635 with rail access and a short run to downtown Kansas City.
- Horizons Business Park and the Riverside 69 district were built on engineered fill raised above the old river bottom.
- Employers in the district include manufacturing and logistics operations along with an Amazon facility.
- Transportation and warehousing is a growing share of Riverside employment, tracking the build-out of the business park.
- The Argosy Casino is a significant employer in its own right as well as the city's largest single revenue source.
- Riverside's own master planning anticipates the remaining Horizons outlots filling with restaurants, hotels and supporting commercial uses.
- That commercial base is what allows the city to charge residents nothing and still fund services (Paul's market notes).
- 21.4 percent of working Riverside residents work from home, the highest share in Paul's Northland markets (ACS 2023).
- Riverside commuters report a mean travel time of 18.4 minutes each way, the shortest of any city Paul covers.
- Downtown Kansas City sits directly across the river, which is why that commute number is what it is.
Getting Around and OutdoorsTrails, parks and the river
- The Missouri Riverfront Trail runs 4.8 miles from E.H. Young Riverfront Park in Riverside, along the top of the levee, to English Landing Park in Parkville.
- It is a partnership of Platte County Parks, the cities of Riverside and Parkville, the Riverside/Quindaro Bend Levee District and the Corps of Engineers.
- The trail surface changes from concrete to gravel to asphalt along its length, and there is little shade on the levee section.
- Trailhead parking sits at Highway 9 and NW River Park Drive, and at the traffic circle where Horizons Parkway meets Argosy Casino Parkway.
- Line Creek runs through the eastern portion of Riverside as a regional drainageway to the Missouri, and the Line Creek Trail follows part of it.
- E.H. Young Riverfront Park gives direct river frontage and parking at 1001 Argosy Parkway.
- Route 9 runs through Riverside connecting Parkville to North Kansas City, and I-635 crosses the city.
- Kansas City International Airport is roughly 16 to 19 minutes from Riverside addresses.
- Downtown Kansas City is close enough that the City Market is a short drive across the river.
- Kansas City was Google Fiber's first market and much of the Northland has fiber or high-speed cable, though availability varies block to block.
Who Lives HereACS 2023 five-year estimates
- Riverside's population is 4,153, living in 1,622 households that average 2.48 people.
- The median age is 34.2, the youngest in Paul's Northland coverage.
- Median household income is $50,882.
- Riverside's small population means five-year census estimates carry wide margins and move more than they would in a larger city, so Paul treats them as direction rather than precision.
- 23.3 percent of residents are under 18 and 14.4 percent are 65 or older.
- The median gross rent is $917 and the median monthly owner cost with a mortgage is $1,920.
- 39.5 percent of adults 25 and over hold a bachelor's degree or higher.
- Only 3.7 percent of housing units sit vacant.
- The renter share of 57.5 percent reflects the apartment and rental stock built alongside the older single-family streets.
- Population has grown since the 1990s, when a city manager described Riverside to a federal commission as a city of 3,390 people.
Value and InvestmentWhat the numbers support
- Riverside's appeal to investors is structural: Park Hill schools, a renter-majority housing base and no city tax on the property.
- 57.5 percent renter occupancy means a resale here has a genuine investor buyer pool as well as an owner-occupant pool (Paul's market notes).
- Northland rents generally track about 0.8 to 1.0 percent of a property's value per month (Paul's market notes).
- Well-located Northland single-family rentals hold occupancy at 90 percent or better (Paul's market notes).
- For most Riverside single-family homes, short-term vacation rental income is not a reliable strategy; this is a residential and industrial city, not a tourism market (Paul's market notes).
- The entry tier trades between roughly $280,000 and $500,000, which is the most affordable route into Park Hill schools anywhere in the district (Paul's market notes).
- The bluff tier trades from roughly $700,000 past $1.2 million and behaves like a separate market with its own timelines.
- Long market times at the top are normal rather than a warning sign: recent bluff sales sat 89 to 191 days before closing.
- In early 2026, buyers searching from Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago led inbound interest in Riverside, while 77 percent of local searches stayed inside the metro (Redfin).
- The levee is the reason the commercial base exists, the commercial base is the reason the city charges residents nothing, and that chain is the durable part of the Riverside value story.
What Paul ChecksThe address-level details, before you write
- The flood designation for the parcel. Riverside's citywide score is the highest Paul works. He pulls the FEMA designation and, where needed, an elevation certificate before an offer.
- Which side of the city line. A 64150 address can be Riverside or Kansas City, and that line decides whether the earnings tax applies to you as a resident.
- The full tax bill. City levies are zero, but county, school and state levies are not. Paul shows the whole bill so the saving is real rather than assumed.
- Age of the systems. On 1960s and 1970s stock that means the panel, the wiring, the sewer lateral and the water heater, checked before the offer.
- Foundation and drainage. Valley lots and bluff lots fail differently. Paul looks at grading, gutters and how water leaves the lot.
- Proximity to the levee and the rail. Development within 500 feet of the levee centerline is regulated, and the industrial district runs trucks and rail at all hours.
- What was permitted. Finished basements and additions are common on the older streets, and unpermitted work surfaces at inspection or appraisal.
- Rental history and condition. In a renter-majority city, a good share of resales were rentals. Paul reads them for deferred maintenance rather than assuming the worst.
- The builder's paperwork. On the bluffs that means the allowance list, the phase schedule and the grading plan before a contract is signed.
- The school assignment, verified. After the 2024 Park Hill redistricting, Paul checks the boundary locator for every address rather than trusting a listing.
Paul also works these Northland markets
ParkvilleRiver town on the Missouri bluffs with a historic Main Streetpaulsidwellparkvillemissouri.comLibertyClay County seat built around a historic courthouse squarepaulsidwelllibertymissouri.comGladstoneMid-century ranch streets in the heart of the Northlandpaulsidwellgladstonemissouri.comSmithvilleLake town on the growth corridor north of the metropaulsidwellsmithvillemissouri.comWeatherby LakePrivate lake community in southern Platte Countypaulsidwellweatherbylakemissouri.com
Five-star client reviews
In clients' own words, exactly as they wrote them on Google.
★★★★★
Paul has been an awesome agent. He helped me with a full interior and exterior remodel to make my home look better than it's ever looked in its life! He helped me get the best sale out of my home and I honestly feel like no other agent would've taken the time and effort he did to help me and my family. My family and I wish him the best of luck, and it has been an incredible time working with him.
Dazsl Dazvia Google
★★★★★
Paul is such a wonderful realtor. He is very proactive, knowledgeable, and helpful. We are extremely grateful to have Paul as our agent; he played a significant role in assisting us with purchasing our dream home in Overland Park. The real estate market in that area is highly competitive. We hope to work with Paul again in the near future. You will be very lucky to find him as your agent.
Quang Trong Trung Levia Google
★★★★★
As a first time home buyer, my husband and I didn't know what to expect.
We walked in RE/MAX and then there he was, Mr. Paul Sidwell.
He guided us every step of the way.
He does anything and everything for his clients. Hats off to his tireless work.
We're truly appreciated what he's done for us.
Paul, thank you sooo much :)
If you want a house, you want this man.
Paul The Realtor !!!
Miki Morfordvia Google
Riverside questions, answered
Does living in Riverside really mean no city taxes?
On the city's own line items, yes. The City of Riverside levies no residential real estate tax, no residential personal property tax and no city earnings tax, and describes that as unchanged since its founders made the promise in 1951. The honest qualification is that the city is only one of several taxing jurisdictions: Platte County, the Park Hill School District and the state still levy on a Riverside property, and the county still assesses personal property. You also pay a combined sales tax of about 7.98 percent, which is part of how the city funds itself alongside gaming revenue and tax increment financing. Paul shows the full bill rather than the headline.
What does a home cost in Riverside?
It depends entirely on which of the two Riversides you mean. The established streets in the valley generally run from about $280,000 to $500,000, and that is the most affordable path into the Park Hill School District anywhere. The newer bluff-top construction on streets like Palisades, Riverview and Sienna Ridge runs from roughly $700,000 past $1.2 million. The citywide median of $465,767 for the three months ending July 2026 sits between two markets and describes neither one well.
Why did Riverside's median price drop 39.5 percent?
Because the mix of homes that sold changed, not because values fell. In the same three-month window that the median fell 39.5 percent, the median price per square foot rose 20.4 percent, to $248. A quarter with fewer bluff-top closings pulls the citywide median down sharply even while individual homes hold or gain value. In a city that closes roughly twenty homes a month, one or two large sales swing the number. This is the clearest example in the Northland of why a median needs an agent attached to it.
How serious is the flood risk in Riverside?
It deserves a straight answer. National modeling rates 14 percent of Riverside properties, about 176 of them, at severe flood risk over the next 30 years, the highest share in any market Paul covers. The context matters: the Riverside-Quindaro Bend Levee, completed in 2005 at more than $87 million, protects roughly 1,200 acres of the valley to a 500-year standard, and the residential bluffs sit well above the floodplain entirely. Exposure is about which parcel you are buying, not about the city. Paul pulls the designation for the specific address before an offer is written.
Which school district serves Riverside?
The Park Hill School District, the same district that serves Parkville and Weatherby Lake. Park Hill South High School is inside Riverside city limits and opened in the fall of 1998. Because Park Hill redrew elementary boundaries in 2024 and opened a new elementary in 2025, older maps are unreliable, so Paul verifies the assignment for every address against the district's boundary locator.
Is Riverside a good rental investment?
It has a structural case. Riverside is 57.5 percent renter-occupied, sits in the Park Hill School District, and carries no city property tax on the asset. Northland rents generally track about 0.8 to 1.0 percent of value per month, and well-located single-family rentals hold occupancy at 90 percent or better. The cautions are equally real: much of the stock dates to the 1960s and 1970s, so mechanical condition drives the return, and short-term vacation rental is not a reliable strategy here. Paul underwrites the specific property rather than the city.
Twenty-two subjects, answered in Paul's own words
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