Updated May 2026 · BLS OEWS 2024
Pipefitter Salary in Kansas City
2024 BLS OEWS Data · Plumbing · COL Index: 94
Pipefitters in Kansas City, MO earn a median annual wage of $72,600 per 2024 BLS OEWS data, with the 10th percentile at $45,960 and the 90th at $117,500. After cost of living, that translates to $77,234 in U.S.-average purchasing power. Trade Pay Score: B (70/100).
What Pipefitters Take Home in Kansas City
The $71,540 spread between entry-level and top-decile pipefitters in Kansas City is around 99% of the median — a typical range for skilled trades. Workers can roughly double their entry pay through a combination of experience, certifications, union membership, and moving from helper to journeyman to foreman roles.
Kansas City's cost-of-living index of 94 sits below the U.S. average, so the $72,600 median wage for pipefitters here actually translates upward — to roughly $77,234 in U.S.-average purchasing power. Below-average rent, groceries, and services mean wages tend to go further here than nominal numbers suggest.
With a Trade Pay Score of 70 (B), pipefitters in Kansas City land in the strong second tier. Pay, growth, and purchasing power are all solid but one factor — usually wage growth or cost-of-living-adjusted real pay — keeps the score below the A threshold. For most workers, B-graded combinations are perfectly reasonable career choices.
Salary Distribution
Percentile Breakdown
| Level | Salary | COL-Adjusted |
|---|---|---|
| 10th Percentile (Apprentice / Entry) | $45,960 | $48,894 |
| 25th Percentile (Early Career) | $51,550 | $54,840 |
| 50th Percentile (Journeyman / Median) | $72,600 | $77,234 |
| 75th Percentile (Experienced) | $96,990 | $103,181 |
| 90th Percentile (Master / Foreman) | $117,500 | $125,000 |
How These Numbers Are Calculated
Every wage figure here comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program at bls.gov/oes — a survey of about 1.2 million employers per release covering more than 800 occupations and every U.S. metropolitan statistical area. The Trade Pay Score combines raw median pay (30%), 5-year wage growth (25%), employment depth (25%), and cost-of-living-adjusted purchasing power (20%) into a single 0-100 grade. Read the full methodology.
Career outlook detail — projected 2032 employment levels for pipefitters, typical entry-level requirements, on-the-job training expectations — comes from the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook at bls.gov/ooh. Apprenticeship programs in Kansas City are listed at apprenticeship.gov. All three are public-domain federal data sources.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a Pipefitter make in Kansas City?
Per 2024 BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data, the median pipefitter salary in Kansas City, MO is $72,600. The 10th percentile is $45,960 (typical for entry-level or apprentice-tier positions); the 90th percentile reaches $117,500 (master, foreman, or specialty roles).
How does Kansas City pay compare for Pipefitters?
With a Trade Pay Score of 70/100 and a grade of B, the Kansas City-Pipefitter pairing is a strong combination but with one factor (usually growth or cost-of-living-adjusted real pay) holding it back from an A grade.
What is the apprenticeship path for Pipefitters in Kansas City?
Pipefitters typically complete a 5-year registered apprenticeship before reaching journeyman pay, starting around the 10th percentile ($45,960) and progressing toward the median. Registered apprenticeship programs in the area are listed at https://www.apprenticeship.gov/.
How does cost of living affect Pipefitter pay in Kansas City?
Kansas City has a cost-of-living index of 94. The median pipefitter salary of $72,600 translates to $77,234 in U.S.-average purchasing power — an upward adjustment because the metro is less expensive than average.
Where does this salary data come from?
Every wage figure on this page is a real BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics median or percentile from the 2024 release at https://www.bls.gov/oes/, which surveys roughly 1.2 million U.S. employers per release. Career outlook context (projected employment growth through 2032) comes from the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/. Both are public-domain U.S. government data sources.
Pipefitters in Kansas City, MO earn a median annual wage of $72,600 per 2024 BLS OEWS data, with the 10th percentile at $45,960 and the 90th at $117,500. After cost of living, that translates to $77,234 in U.S.-average purchasing power. Trade Pay Score: B (70/100).
The this entity record above pulls directly from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey. What follows is the per-entity context — how this entity sits in the broader U.S. skilled-trade wage data distribution and which underlying factors drive the headline numbers.
The methodology behind every numeric value on this page is publicly documented on the the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey portal and described in detail on this site’s methodology page. Refresh cadence varies by underlying series; the page surfaces the as-of date for each number so readers can trace any figure back to the source release.
Practical use of this page is in combination with the comparison and ranking pages elsewhere on the site, which surface the same data for this entity’s peers within U.S. trades, cities, and states. A single-entity reading without peer context can be misleading when an entity is an outlier on one axis but typical on another.