Salaries in Wichita.
3,500+ roles. One city.
Cost-of-living index: 0.82x national average. Last updated April 2026.
3445 roles tracked
Highest Paying
$298,000
Technical Fellow
Median of All Roles
$128,000
AI Agent Operations Manager
Entry Level
$26,000
Home Health Aide
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.
Wichita, KS has a cost-of-living index of 0.82x the national average. The highest-paying role is Technical Fellow at $298,000, while the median across all 3445 roles is $128,000. Wichita is the air capital of the world, home to major aerospace manufacturers including Spirit AeroSystems, Textron Aviation, and Airbus.
About the Wichita market
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.
Aerospace & AviationManufacturingHealthcareEnergyAgriculture
Top 50 salaries in Wichita
| # | Role | Median | Range |
|---|
| 1 | Technical Fellow | $298,000 | $233,000 – $388,000 |
| 2 | Principal Quantitative Researcher | $296,000 | $231,000 – $384,000 |
| 3 | Principal AI Research Scientist | $290,000 | $226,000 – $377,000 |
| 4 | Senior VP of Product | $281,000 | $220,000 – $366,000 |
| 5 | SVP of Technology | $269,000 | $210,000 – $350,000 |
| 6 | Distinguished Engineer | $268,000 | $203,000 – $341,000 |
| 7 | Principal AI Safety Engineer | $268,000 | $210,000 – $349,000 |
| 8 | Chief Security Officer | $268,000 | $209,000 – $348,000 |
| 9 | Principal AI Agent Architect | $266,000 | $207,000 – $345,000 |
| 10 | Senior VP of Security | $265,000 | $207,000 – $344,000 |
| 11 | Chief AI Officer | $264,000 | $196,000 – $341,000 |
| 12 | SVP of Engineering | $262,000 | $204,000 – $340,000 |
| 13 | Staff Quantitative Researcher | $262,000 | $204,000 – $340,000 |
| 14 | Principal AI Agent Engineer | $261,000 | $204,000 – $339,000 |
| 15 | Principal Quantitative Developer | $258,000 | $202,000 – $336,000 |
| 16 | Chief Science Officer | $257,000 | $200,000 – $334,000 |
| 17 | L7 Software Engineer | $257,000 | $200,000 – $334,000 |
| 18 | Principal Computer Vision Engineer | $254,000 | $198,000 – $330,000 |
| 19 | SVP of Product | $254,000 | $198,000 – $330,000 |
| 20 | SVP of Strategy | $253,000 | $198,000 – $329,000 |
| 21 | Principal AI Engineer | $252,000 | $196,000 – $327,000 |
| 22 | Principal Deep Learning Engineer | $251,000 | $196,000 – $326,000 |
| 23 | Staff AI Research Scientist | $249,000 | $194,000 – $324,000 |
| 24 | Chief Design Officer | $249,000 | $194,000 – $324,000 |
| 25 | Chief Strategy Officer | $249,000 | $194,000 – $324,000 |
| 26 | Principal Applied Scientist | $248,000 | $194,000 – $323,000 |
| 27 | Principal AI Compiler Engineer | $248,000 | $194,000 – $323,000 |
| 28 | SVP of Sales | $248,000 | $194,000 – $323,000 |
| 29 | Chief Risk Officer | $247,000 | $193,000 – $322,000 |
| 30 | Principal Machine Learning Engineer | $246,000 | $192,000 – $320,000 |
| 31 | Principal AI Infrastructure Engineer | $246,000 | $192,000 – $320,000 |
| 32 | Chief Legal Officer | $246,000 | $192,000 – $320,000 |
| 33 | Chief Architect | $246,000 | $192,000 – $320,000 |
| 34 | SVP of Finance | $245,000 | $191,000 – $318,000 |
| 35 | Chief Machine Learning Officer | $244,000 | $190,000 – $317,000 |
| 36 | Principal Distributed Systems Engineer | $244,000 | $190,000 – $317,000 |
| 37 | Principal Kernel Engineer | $244,000 | $190,000 – $317,000 |
| 38 | Principal Language Runtime Engineer | $244,000 | $190,000 – $317,000 |
| 39 | CTO | $244,000 | $190,000 – $317,000 |
| 40 | Senior Head of Security | $244,000 | $191,000 – $317,000 |
| 41 | Senior VP of Design | $244,000 | $191,000 – $317,000 |
| 42 | Principal NLP Engineer | $242,000 | $188,000 – $314,000 |
| 43 | Principal Compiler Engineer | $242,000 | $188,000 – $314,000 |
| 44 | Chief Commercial Officer | $242,000 | $189,000 – $315,000 |
| 45 | Principal Cryptographer | $241,000 | $188,000 – $313,000 |
| 46 | Chief Digital Officer | $241,000 | $188,000 – $313,000 |
| 47 | Chief Cloud Officer | $241,000 | $188,000 – $313,000 |
| 48 | Principal ML Engineer | $239,000 | $186,000 – $310,000 |
| 49 | Senior Head of Product | $239,000 | $187,000 – $311,000 |
| 50 | Chief Innovation Officer | $239,000 | $186,000 – $310,000 |
Tax considerations
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.
Negotiating in Wichita
Highlight aerospace engineering expertise. Wichita manufacturers pay competitive national rates for specialized aviation and defense engineering talent.
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