Kansas City vs. St. Louis
Cooks, Fast Food. Median, spread and buying power, side by side.
Data released May 2025
BLS OEWS · SOC 35-2011
Fig. 1 — Side by side
Both distributions, one scale
10th to 90th percentile, median struck in red
Table 1 — Adjusted
St. Louis's median is 2.3% higher — but at national prices the two medians buy almost exactly the same.
Kansas City's median $30,170 buys $32,600 at national prices (price parity 92.5); St. Louis's $30,860 buys $32,500 (95.1).
Table 2 — The figures
Point by point
Published percentiles for both metros; the last column is St. Louis against Kansas City.
| Kansas City | St. Louis | Δ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employment | 13,850 | 17,700 | +27.8% |
| 10th percentile | $29,180 | $29,510 | +1.1% |
| 25th percentile | $29,850 | $30,250 | +1.3% |
| Median | $30,170 | $30,860 | +2.3% |
| 75th percentile | $31,700 | $33,800 | +6.6% |
| 90th percentile | $34,800 | $36,450 | +4.7% |
Sources
How this page was made
- Wage data
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release. Public domain.
- Price parity
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024.
- Full pages
- Cooks, Fast Food in Kansas City · Cooks, Fast Food in St. Louis
Percentiles are reported exactly as released. Derived (price-adjusted) figures round to the nearest hundred. We take no payment for how any figure is presented.