Workers in the Kansas City Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $23.78 in May 2017, around 2 percent below the nationwide average of $24.34, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Stanley W. Suchman noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly lower than their respective national averages in 14 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; computer and mathematical; and architecture and engineering. Three groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including computer and mathematical; office and administrative support; and business and financial operations. Conversely, 12 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including education, training, and library; healthcare support; and food preparation and serving related. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—computer and mathematical—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Kansas City had 44,440 jobs in computer and mathematical occupations, accounting for 4.2 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 3.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $38.36, significantly below the national wage of $43.18.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the computer and mathematical group included applications software developers (8,260), computer user support specialists (7,280), and computer systems analysts (6,980). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were actuaries and systems software developers, with mean hourly wages of $56.58 and $47.97, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were computer user support specialists ($23.18) and computer network support specialists ($29.79). (Detailed data for the computer and mathematical group are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_28140.htm .)

Location quotients allow us to explore the occupational make-up of a metropolitan area by comparing the composition of jobs in an area relative to the national average. (See table 1.) For example, a location quotient of 2.0 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than it does nationally. In the Kansas City Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the computer and mathematical group. For instance, network and computer systems administrators were employed at 1.8 times the national rate in Kansas City, and computer user support specialists, at 1.6 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, web developers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Kansas City, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OES data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 650 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), metropolitan divisions, nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels; and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 200,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by mail, Internet or other electronic means, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2017 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2017, November 2016, May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, and November 2014. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 72 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted sample employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Kansas City Metropolitan Statistical Area included 7,386 establishments with a response rate of 65 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

The May 2017 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Information about the 2010 SOC is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/soc and information about the 2012 NAICS is available at www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm.

Metropolitan area definitions

The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

The Kansas City, Mo.-Kan., Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Bates, Caldwell, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Jackson, Lafayette, Platte, and Ray Counties of Missouri, and Johnson, Leavenworth, Linn, Miami, and Wyandotte Counties of Kansas.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/mountain-plains. Answers to frequently asked questions about the OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed technical information about the OES survey is available in our Survey Methods and Reliability Statement on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/oes/current/methods_statement.pdf.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request . Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Kansas City Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2017

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Computer and mathematical occupations	44,440	1.4	$38.36	$79,800
Computer and information research scientists	110	0.5	51.48	107,080
Computer systems analysts	6,980	1.6	40.73	84,710
Information security analysts	1,190	1.5	40.33	83,890
Computer programmers	2,820	1.5	38.22	79,490
Software developers, applications	8,260	1.3	43.43	90,330
Software developers, systems software	3,120	1.1	47.97	99,780
Web developers	950	1.0	30.12	62,640
Database administrators	1,180	1.4	41.59	86,510
Network and computer systems administrators	4,870	1.8	38.92	80,950
Computer network architects	1,870	1.6	46.92	97,590
Computer user support specialists	7,280	1.6	23.18	48,220
Computer network support specialists	1,670	1.2	29.79	61,970
Computer occupations, all other	2,900	1.2	41.57	86,470
Actuaries	340	2.4	56.58	117,690
Operations research analysts	640	0.8	41.73	86,790
Statisticians	270	1.0	41.41	86,140
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Kansas City, MO-KS, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_28140.htm. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations do not sum to the totals because the totals include occupations not shown separately. Estimates do not include self-employed workers. (3) The location quotient is the ratio of the area concentration of occupational employment to the national average concentration. A location quotient greater than one indicates the occupation has a higher share of employment than average, and a location quotient less than one indicates the occupation is less prevalent in the area than average. (4) Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a "year-round, full-time" hours figure of 2,080 hours; for those occupations where there is not an hourly mean wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data.