Workers in the Wichita, KS Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $27.34 in May 2024, compared to the nationwide average of $32.66, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($55.41), architecture and engineering ($45.40), and computer and mathematical ($42.88). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.97), personal care and service ($15.29), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($17.04). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Wichita area included office and administrative support (11.3 percent), production (11.1 percent), and food preparation and serving related (8.9 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.6 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.6 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.2 percent).

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Wichita had 34,180 jobs in production, accounting for 11.1 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.7-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $27.65, compared to the national wage of $24.08.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included aircraft structure, surfaces, rigging, and systems assemblers (10,100), inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (3,360), and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,890). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers ($43.84) and computer numerically controlled tool programmers ($43.05). At the lower end of the wage scale were pressers, textile, garment, and related materials ($13.74) and laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($14.10). (Detailed data for the production occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0048620.)

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 2.00 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than it does nationally. In the Wichita area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, aircraft structure, surfaces, rigging, and systems assemblers were employed at 154.31 times the national rate in Wichita, and metal and plastic layout workers, at 50.87 times the U.S. average. Printing press operators had a location quotient of 0.95 in Wichita, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

The statistics in this release are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support. State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data: in this case, the Kansas Department of Labor.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 530 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels; and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. Full OEWS data tables are available online.

Additional information about the OEWS estimates and methodology are available in the national Technical Notes. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 65.7 percent based on establishments and 65.9 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Wichita, KS Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,474 establishments with a response rate of 77 percent.

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 Wichita, KS Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Butler County, Harvey County, Sedgwick County, and Sumner County.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data, as well as general program documentation, are available on the OEWS website.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for production occupations, Wichita metropolitan area, May 2024

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	34,180	1.96	27.65	57,520
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,890	1.38	38.84	80,790
Aircraft structure, surfaces, rigging, and systems assemblers	10,100	154.31	31.13	64,760
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	880	1.69	21.16	44,010
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	90	0.87	25.55	53,140
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	2,940	1.01	20.26	42,140
Bakers	200	0.43	15.34	31,920
Butchers and meat cutters	150	0.53	17.72	36,860
Food batchmakers	40	0.13	18.71	38,910
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	190	1.48	17.97	37,380
Forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	90	5.19	24.92	51,840
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	490	1.41	21.35	44,400
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	320	2.27	20.96	43,590
Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	50	1.24	25.75	53,550
Machinists	1,510	2.55	24.76	51,500
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	230	0.75	18.91	39,340
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	180	0.70	18.73	38,960
Tool and die makers	510	4.62	36.59	76,120
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	1,660	1.96	26.49	55,100
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	90	1.27	24.51	50,980
Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	50	1.79	26.58	55,290
Layout workers, metal and plastic	570	50.87	36.75	76,440
Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	250	4.03	20.52	42,680
Prepress technicians and workers	90	2.07	20.61	42,870
Printing press operators	280	0.95	19.12	39,760
Print binding and finishing workers	110	1.56	12.24	25,460
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	360	0.93	14.10	29,330
Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials	40	0.67	13.74	28,590
Sewing machine operators	230	1.05	15.59	32,420
Upholsterers	(5)	(5)	21.79	45,310
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	210	1.32	20.15	41,920
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	130	1.05	18.20	37,860
Power plant operators	70	1.07	34.06	70,840
Stationary engineers and boiler operators	70	1.11	30.59	63,620
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	230	0.90	22.81	47,440
Gas plant operators	40	1.15	36.90	76,750
Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers	380	5.45	43.84	91,180
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	360	1.42	25.94	53,950
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders	60	0.54	23.37	48,620
Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders	70	1.31	25.60	53,240
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	290	1.43	23.89	49,680
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	60	0.61	22.12	46,000
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	70	0.65	21.96	45,690
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	3,360	2.86	32.13	66,830
Dental laboratory technicians	90	1.29	22.77	47,360
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	720	0.94	20.10	41,810
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	1,300	4.09	26.09	54,260
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	810	2.30	24.08	50,080
Computer numerically controlled tool programmers	390	6.95	43.05	89,550
Adhesive bonding machine operators and tenders	60	2.47	21.11	43,900
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	120	1.75	21.77	45,290
Helpers--production workers	250	0.75	20.37	42,370
Production workers, all other	240	0.43	17.44	36,280
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Wichita, KS Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0048620. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations may not sum to the totals due to rounding, and because the totals may include occupations that are 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. (5) Estimate not released.