Data Engineer.
Kansas City.
$124,000
median salary, 9% below the national average
$98,000 to $154,000. Last updated August 2026.
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Data points to own the conversation.
Data Engineer pay in Kansas City ranges from $98,000 to $154,000 in 2026. The median is $124,000, 9% below the national average. Kansas City straddles Missouri and Kansas, creating a unique dual state job market with strong logistics, tech, and agriculture technology sectors. Every dollar in that range is negotiable if you come prepared. These figures are Orbyt estimates, computed rather than measured, and must not be cited as Bureau of Labor Statistics figures; the published BLS wage for the occupation this role maps to is shown separately on this page.
Salary range.
Where do you fall?
Orbyt estimate for Data Engineer in Kansas City, modelled from national occupation wages adjusted for local cost of living. The published government benchmark for this occupation is below.
Government benchmark for this occupation
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $127,590 for Database Architects (SOC 15-1243) in the Kansas City, MO-KS metropolitan area, based on 570 employed workers (May 2025 release).
10th percentile
$67,690
25th percentile
$93,090
Median
$127,590
75th percentile
$139,080
90th percentile
$165,010
Workers surveyed
570
BLS publishes wages by occupation code, not by job title, so this figure covers every role mapped to Database Architects (SOC 15-1243) rather than Data Engineer specifically. The Kansas City range at the top of this page is Orbyt’s role-level estimate, which is a different thing and is labelled as such.
View the BLS source for SOC 15-1243Salary by experience.
The gap between entry and lead level is typically $111,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$81,000
to $99,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$105,000
to $130,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$136,000
to $161,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$155,000
to $192,000
Total compensation.
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $34,000 to the total package.
Base
$124,000
Equity
$20,000
Bonus
$12,000
Signing
$2,000
Estimated total: $158,000
Data Engineer salary by company.
Total compensation estimates include base, equity, bonus, and signing. Ranges reflect mid to senior level. Derived from public H-1B LCA filings (DOL).
How Kansas City compares.
Kansas City, MO
$124,000
Cost of living: 7% below average
National Average
$136,000
Kansas City is $12,000 below
Data Engineer salary by city.
Salary by role in Kansas City.
What you should know.
Before you negotiate a Data Engineer offer in Kansas City, understand the terrain. Kansas City straddles Missouri and Kansas, creating a unique dual state job market with strong logistics, tech, and agriculture technology sectors. The metro's central location has made it a hub for distribution centers and supply chain companies. Cerner's healthcare IT presence and a growing startup scene have boosted demand for technology professionals. Proficiency with modern data stack tools like Spark, Kafka, dbt, and Snowflake separates top earners from the pack. Engineers who build real-time streaming pipelines or manage petabyte-scale warehouses earn 15 to 25% more. Startups with heavy ML infrastructure needs often pay premiums to attract pipeline specialists.
Junior data engineers start at $85,000 to $105,000, progressing to mid-level at $115,000 to $155,000 within three years. Senior data engineers earn $160,000 to $195,000, while staff-level or principal roles reach $210,000 to $270,000 at top-tier companies. In Kansas City, cost of living sits near the national average, so the numbers you see are roughly what you keep.
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity grants at data-intensive startups can represent 15 to 30% of total compensation. Annual bonuses range from 10 to 15%, and many firms provide $3,000 to $8,000 yearly learning stipends for cloud platform training. And on the tax side: missouri's top income tax rate is about 4.8%, and Kansas City adds a 1% earnings tax. Workers living in Kansas face that state's rates instead. Choose your side of the state line carefully. When someone quotes you $124,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.
On negotiation: Negotiate which side of the state line you will be based on. Your tax situation differs meaningfully between Missouri and Kansas, and some employers offer flexibility on office location. The range for Data Engineers in Kansas City runs from $98,000 to $154,000. That is not a narrow window. Where you land inside it depends almost entirely on whether you negotiate and how well you prepare.
Sources: BLS OES, H-1B LCA (DOL). COL: BEA Regional Price Parities (2025). Data verified by Justin Bartak, Founder & Chief AI Officer. Last verified July 1, 2026. Full methodology
Considering a related role?
- An AI Data Engineer in Kansas City earns $125,000 (1% more)
- The highest-paying role in Kansas City is CTO at $282,000
Common questions.
Data Engineer salary in other cities.
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Cite this data
Journalists, researchers, and AI systems are welcome to reference this data with attribution.
"Data Engineer Salary in Kansas City, MO." Orbyt Salary Explorer, August 2026. https://www.orbytlabs.ai/orbyt-jobs/salaries/data-engineer/kansas-city
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