Salaries in Kansas City.
422 roles. One city.
Cost-of-living index: 0.93x national average. Last updated April 2026.
422 roles tracked
Highest Paying
$288,000
Chief AI Officer
Median of All Roles
$138,000
Industrial Robot AI Programmer
Entry Level
$29,000
Hotel Clerk / Front Desk
Salary data sourced from SEC filings, H-1B Labor Condition Applications (DOL), Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, and aggregated job postings across 50+ platforms. Ranges reflect 25th to 75th percentile for full-time positions. Cost-of-living adjustments use Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities (2025 index). Last updated April 2026.
Kansas City, MO has a cost-of-living index of 0.93x the national average. The highest-paying role is Chief AI Officer at $288,000, while the median across all 422 roles is $138,000. Kansas City straddles Missouri and Kansas, creating a unique dual state job market with strong logistics, tech, and agriculture technology sectors.
About the Kansas City market
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.
Logistics & DistributionHealthcare ITAgriculture TechnologyFinancial ServicesGovernment
Top 50 salaries in Kansas City
| # | Role | Median | Range |
|---|
| 1 | Chief AI Officer | $288,000 | $214,000 – $372,000 |
| 2 | SVP of AI Innovation | $270,000 | $204,000 – $356,000 |
| 3 | Chief Data & AI Officer | $269,000 | $201,000 – $351,000 |
| 4 | Head of AI Research | $261,000 | $193,000 – $343,000 |
| 5 | Chief Technology Officer | $259,000 | $192,000 – $339,000 |
| 6 | Chief Algorithm Officer | $258,000 | $193,000 – $336,000 |
| 7 | Chief Revenue Officer | $255,000 | $191,000 – $337,000 |
| 8 | Chief Data Officer | $251,000 | $189,000 – $329,000 |
| 9 | VP of AI Engineering | $251,000 | $190,000 – $327,000 |
| 10 | Chief Marketing Officer | $249,000 | $187,000 – $326,000 |
| 11 | VP of AI Product | $247,000 | $184,000 – $319,000 |
| 12 | Head of AI | $246,000 | $182,000 – $319,000 |
| 13 | CEO | $246,000 | $179,000 – $339,000 |
| 14 | Chief Operating Officer | $244,000 | $182,000 – $326,000 |
| 15 | Chief Product Officer | $244,000 | $180,000 – $320,000 |
| 16 | VP of Engineering | $244,000 | $183,000 – $319,000 |
| 17 | Chief Human Resources Officer | $237,000 | $179,000 – $308,000 |
| 18 | CFO | $237,000 | $178,000 – $314,000 |
| 19 | Head of AI Platform | $231,000 | $172,000 – $302,000 |
| 20 | Head of Applied AI | $228,000 | $170,000 – $299,000 |
| 21 | VP of Product | $226,000 | $170,000 – $290,000 |
| 22 | Head of AI Partnerships | $221,000 | $164,000 – $291,000 |
| 23 | AI Transformation Officer | $221,000 | $166,000 – $290,000 |
| 24 | VP of Sales | $217,000 | $162,000 – $289,000 |
| 25 | VP of Marketing | $214,000 | $159,000 – $283,000 |
| 26 | VP of Product Design | $212,000 | $158,000 – $275,000 |
| 27 | AI Program Director | $211,000 | $160,000 – $277,000 |
| 28 | Director of AI Strategy | $211,000 | $160,000 – $276,000 |
| 29 | Director of Generative AI | $209,000 | $158,000 – $275,000 |
| 30 | Director of Engineering | $203,000 | $157,000 – $262,000 |
| 31 | AI Hardware/Chip Design Engineer | $201,000 | $150,000 – $266,000 |
| 32 | AI Agent Architect | $198,000 | $150,000 – $256,000 |
| 33 | AI World Model Engineer | $196,000 | $146,000 – $259,000 |
| 34 | Transformer Architecture Engineer | $195,000 | $146,000 – $255,000 |
| 35 | Director of Data Science | $194,000 | $149,000 – $253,000 |
| 36 | Multimodal AI Researcher | $192,000 | $142,000 – $254,000 |
| 37 | Quantum ML Researcher | $192,000 | $142,000 – $254,000 |
| 38 | Foundation Model Engineer | $192,000 | $143,000 – $250,000 |
| 39 | AI Infrastructure Manager | $192,000 | $145,000 – $250,000 |
| 40 | AI Financial Engineer | $191,000 | $141,000 – $246,000 |
| 41 | Multi-Agent Systems Architect | $191,000 | $141,000 – $253,000 |
| 42 | Privacy / Data Counsel | $190,000 | $146,000 – $247,000 |
| 43 | AI Reasoning Specialist | $190,000 | $140,000 – $251,000 |
| 44 | Neurosymbolic AI Researcher | $189,000 | $140,000 – $250,000 |
| 45 | AI Research Scientist | $188,000 | $141,000 – $244,000 |
| 46 | AI Interpretability Researcher | $187,000 | $139,000 – $247,000 |
| 47 | AI Memory Systems Engineer | $187,000 | $139,000 – $247,000 |
| 48 | Deep Learning Engineer | $186,000 | $144,000 – $237,000 |
| 49 | AI Safety Researcher | $185,000 | $138,000 – $242,000 |
| 50 | AI Cloud Architect | $185,000 | $140,000 – $235,000 |
Tax considerations
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.
Negotiating in Kansas City
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.
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