AI Data Engineer.
Wichita.
$128,000
median salary, 17% below the national average
$98,000 to $167,000. Last updated July 2026.
Get the job.
Data points to own the conversation.
Here is what AI Data Engineers actually make in Wichita: $98,000 at the 25th percentile, $128,000 at the median, and $167,000 at the 75th. That is 17% below the national average. Wichita is the air capital of the world, home to major aerospace manufacturers including Spirit AeroSystems, Textron Aviation, and Airbus. The number on your offer letter will depend on what you bring and how you ask.
Salary range.
Where do you fall?
Salary by experience.
The gap between entry and lead level is typically $115,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$83,000
to $102,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$109,000
to $134,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$141,000
to $166,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$160,000
to $198,000
Salary trend.
+8% YoYTotal compensation.
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $53,000 to the total package.
Base
$128,000
Equity
$32,000
Bonus
$13,000
Signing
$8,000
Estimated total: $181,000
How Wichita compares.
Wichita, KS
$128,000
Cost of living: 18% below average
National Average
$155,000
Wichita is $27,000 below
AI Data Engineer salary by city.
Salary by role in Wichita.
What you should know.
Before you negotiate an AI Data Engineer offer in Wichita, understand the terrain. Wichita is the air capital of the world, home to major aerospace manufacturers including Spirit AeroSystems, Textron Aviation, and Airbus. The city's engineering talent pool is deep, and the extremely low cost of living means aerospace salaries deliver exceptional purchasing power. AI data engineers who build and maintain ML data pipelines earn premiums based on scale of data handled and complexity of feature engineering systems. Experience with streaming data platforms like Kafka alongside batch processing tools commands 10 to 20% higher pay. Cloud platform expertise in AWS, GCP, or Azure ML infrastructure is a baseline requirement.
Junior AI data engineers earn $118,000 to $140,000. Mid-level engineers with 3 to 5 years managing ML pipelines reach $155,000 to $200,000. Senior engineers and tech leads earn $205,000 to $270,000, while staff engineers and directors of ML infrastructure can command $290,000 to $380,000. In Wichita, your dollars stretch further. Cost of living runs 18% below the national average, which means even a median salary buys a stronger lifestyle.
Base salary is not the full picture. Tech companies offer equity grants of 15 to 25% of base salary with four-year vesting. Annual bonuses range from 10 to 15%, and on-call compensation for maintaining production ML pipelines adds $5,000 to $15,000 annually at some firms. And on the tax side: kansas has a top income tax rate of 5.7%. Wichita has no city income tax. The moderate state rate combined with very low housing costs creates strong net pay. When someone quotes you $128,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.
On negotiation: Highlight aerospace engineering expertise. Wichita manufacturers pay competitive national rates for specialized aviation and defense engineering talent. The range for AI Data Engineers in Wichita runs from $98,000 to $167,000. 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), state pay-transparency job postings, and community submissions. 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?
- A Machine Learning Engineer in Wichita earns $126,000 (2% less)
- The highest-paying role in Wichita is Technical Fellow at $298,000
- See all ai engineering roles tracked in Orbyt Intelligence
Common questions.
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