Downtown Kansas City is the central business district (CBD) of Kansas City, Missouri and the Kansas City metropolitan area which contains 3.8% of the area's employment. It is between the Missouri River in the north, to 31st Street in the south; and from the Kansas–Missouri state line eastward to Bruce R. Watkins Drive as defined by the Downtown Council of Kansas City; the 2010 Greater Downtown Area Plan formulated by the City of Kansas City defines the Greater Downtown Area to be the city limits of North Kansas City and Missouri to the north, the Kansas–Missouri state line to the west, 31st Street to the south and Woodland Avenue to the east. However, the definition used by the Downtown Council is the most commonly accepted.

The Downtown Loop is a complex layout of highways in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri involving 24 exits, four Interstate Highways, four U.S. Highways, and numerous city streets. Each exit is numbered 2 and suffixed with every letter of the alphabet except I and O. The entire circumference of the loop is just over 4 miles (6.4 km).