Kansas City, MO-KS

Across all occupations in the Kansas City, MO-KS metropolitan area, the median wage is $50,820 a year ($24.44 an hour) and the mean $66,550, May 2025. That median is 0% against the US median of $50,980 and +6% against Missouri's $47,800. BLS counts 1,096,110 jobs in the area, which spans Missouri and Kansas. The highest-paying occupation is anesthesiologists; the largest is general and operations managers.

All occupations: Kansas City, MO-KS vs Missouri and Kansas and the United States

All occupations: wage percentiles, mean and employment in the Kansas City, MO-KS area, Missouri and Kansas and nationally, May 2025
Area	Basis	Percentile wage					Mean	Employment
Area	Basis	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	Mean	Employment
Kansas City, MO-KS	Hourly	$14.67	$18.08	$24.44	$37.93	$56.64	$31.99	1,096,110
Kansas City, MO-KS	Annual	$30,510	$37,600	$50,820	$78,900	$117,800	$66,550	1,096,110
Missouri	Hourly	$14.32	$17.39	$22.98	$35.70	$50.15	$29.89	2,936,050
Missouri	Annual	$29,780	$36,160	$47,800	$74,260	$104,320	$62,160	2,936,050
Kansas	Hourly	$13.72	$17.25	$23.08	$34.75	$49.64	$29.15	1,437,520
Kansas	Annual	$28,530	$35,880	$48,010	$72,280	$103,250	$60,640	1,437,520
United States	Hourly	$15.00	$18.07	$24.51	$38.71	$61.81	$33.54	155,495,730
United States	Annual	$31,200	$37,590	$50,980	$80,520	$128,560	$69,770	155,495,730

Annual wage at the 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th and 90th percentiles across all occupations in the metro; the line marks the US median. The same numbers are in the table above.

615 detailed occupations publish a median in this area. State profiles: Missouri, Kansas. Compare any occupation across every area in the wage explorer.

20 highest-paying occupations in Kansas City, MO-KS

Rank	Occupation	Median annual	Median hourly	Employment
1	Anesthesiologists	$477,890	$229.76	290
2	Pediatricians, General	$271,410	$130.49	70
3	Physicians, Pathologists	$224,280	$107.83	70
4	Chief Executives	$221,640	$106.56	990
5	Nurse Anesthetists	$218,080	$104.85	980
6	Family Medicine Physicians	$213,950	$102.86	590
7	Dentists, General	$171,690	$82.54	1,070
8	Computer and Information Systems Managers in Missouri	$168,050	$80.80	4,710
9	Administrative Law Judges, Adjudicators, and Hearing Officers	$164,530	$79.10	60
10	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$162,680	$78.21	1,820
11	Financial Managers in Missouri	$162,490	$78.12	4,970
12	Purchasing Managers	$161,910	$77.84	690
13	Air Traffic Controllers	$161,700	$77.74	430
14	Sales Managers in Missouri	$159,990	$76.92	**
15	Podiatrists	$153,510	$73.80	40
16	Medical Dosimetrists	$151,240	$72.71	40
17	Physicists	$141,200	$67.88	40
18	Human Resources Managers	$140,890	$67.74	1,380
19	Pharmacists	$139,460	$67.05	2,640
20	Marketing Managers	$139,240	$66.94	2,260

Ranked by median; an occupation whose median BLS withholds or top-codes in this area cannot appear here, however well it pays.

20 largest occupations in Kansas City, MO-KS

Rank	Occupation	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient	Median annual
1	General and Operations Managers in Missouri	31,080	28.35	1.26	$90,490
2	Registered Nurses in Missouri	29,650	27.05	1.24	$83,040
3	Retail Salespersons in Missouri	26,110	23.82	0.95	$34,320
4	Cashiers in Missouri	24,160	22.04	1.11	$30,700
5	Stockers and Order Fillers in Missouri	23,580	21.52	1.18	$36,850
6	Customer Service Representatives in Missouri	22,240	20.29	1.22	$44,350
7	Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Missouri	20,870	19.04	0.69	$32,780
8	Fast Food and Counter Workers in Missouri	20,120	18.36	0.74	$29,560
9	Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Missouri	19,070	17.40	0.92	$41,700
10	Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Missouri	18,230	16.63	1.25	$60,170
11	Waiters and Waitresses in Missouri	16,540	15.09	1.03	$36,080
12	Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in Missouri	15,930	14.53	1.32	$46,810
13	Cooks, Fast Food in Missouri	13,850	12.64	3.07	$30,170
14	Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators in Missouri	13,770	12.57	1.39	$54,990
15	Nursing Assistants in Missouri	13,370	12.20	1.31	$39,710
16	Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Missouri	12,950	11.81	0.83	$36,350
17	Software Developers in Missouri	12,160	11.10	1.02	$124,990
18	Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education in Missouri	11,500	10.49	1.17	$61,060
19	Accountants and Auditors in Missouri	11,260	10.28	1.10	$80,040
20	Office Clerks, General in Missouri	10,520	9.60	0.61	$45,640

Most concentrated occupations in Kansas City, MO-KS

The 10 occupations with the highest location quotient among those employing at least 100 people in the area. A quotient of 2.00 means the occupation's share of local jobs is twice its national share.

Rank	Occupation	Location quotient	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Median annual
1	Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents	4.97	1,980	1.81	$50,250
2	Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials	4.37	490	0.44	$37,650
3	Athletes and Sports Competitors	3.08	330	0.30	$78,790
4	Cooks, Fast Food in Missouri	3.07	13,850	12.64	$30,170
5	Air Traffic Controllers	2.69	430	0.39	$161,700
6	Nurse Anesthetists	2.68	980	0.89	$218,080
7	Dancers	2.66	150	0.14	*
8	Chemical Engineers	2.54	380	0.34	$102,320
9	Cutters and Trimmers, Hand	2.40	100	0.09	$39,300
10	Prepress Technicians and Workers	2.36	400	0.36	$48,240

Occupation groups in Kansas City, MO-KS

Group	Median annual	Mean annual	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient
Management	$117,420	$132,300	78,100	71.25	1.00
Computer and Mathematical	$100,770	$103,230	39,540	36.07	1.07
Legal	$98,030	$127,850	8,980	8.19	0.98
Architecture and Engineering	$92,660	$97,640	21,440	19.56	1.16
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical	$81,020	$96,760	77,640	70.83	1.12
Business and Financial Operations	$80,180	$90,310	81,990	74.80	1.10
Life, Physical, and Social Science	$78,090	$86,640	8,740	7.97	0.84
Construction and Extraction	$63,230	$69,810	44,150	40.28	0.97
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair	$59,790	$62,610	42,940	39.17	1.00
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media	$55,680	$72,730	13,470	12.29	0.93
Community and Social Service	$53,620	$58,270	15,470	14.11	0.82
Protective Service	$53,280	$59,200	24,120	22.01	0.91
Educational Instruction and Library	$51,540	$58,120	55,000	50.18	0.86
Production	$49,510	$54,820	60,960	55.61	1.01
Office and Administrative Support	$46,980	$50,050	123,320	112.51	0.99
Transportation and Material Moving	$44,570	$48,410	104,360	95.21	1.08
Healthcare Support	$38,270	$39,950	47,250	43.11	0.85
Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance	$37,700	$40,440	27,710	25.28	0.86
Sales and Related	$37,340	$54,390	95,930	87.52	1.01
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry	$37,100	$41,940	1,570	1.43	0.51
Personal Care and Service	$33,510	$37,660	27,110	24.73	1.18
Food Preparation and Serving Related	$32,000	$35,890	96,330	87.89	1.00

Every occupation in Missouri and Kansas, and the area's place among the state's metros, is on the state profiles. All 615 published occupations for this area are in the wage explorer; other metros are on the metros hub.

Source and notes

Data: BLS OEWS May 2025, released 2026-05-15. Cross-industry estimates, all ownerships. BLS page: OEWS Kansas City, MO-KS estimates (area 28140).

#: Equal to or greater than the top code (BLS publishes no wage above it).
*: Wage estimate not available.
**: Employment estimate not available.

Annual wages assume 2,080 hours a year at the hourly rate; occupations BLS publishes on one basis only show an en dash (–) on the other.
Employment is rounded to the nearest 10 by BLS. Where BLS withholds a cell, nothing is estimated in its place.
Jobs per 1,000 is the occupation's employment per 1,000 jobs in the Kansas City, MO-KS area; the location quotient is that share divided by the national share.
The concentration table keeps only occupations with employment of 100 or more in the area, so a quotient built on a handful of rounded jobs cannot top it.
The area spans Missouri and Kansas; its figures are the whole MSA, as BLS publishes them, under the primary state Missouri.