Deep Learning Engineer.
Kansas City.
$105,000
median salary, 7% below the national average
$73,000 to $151,000. Last updated August 2026.
Get the job.
Data points to own the conversation.
Kansas City is 7% cheaper than the national average. For Deep Learning Engineers, that shakes out to a median of $105,000, with the full range spanning $73,000 to $151,000. Pay hinges on expertise with transformer architectures, large-scale training pipelines, and GPU optimization. Know the range before you walk in. These figures are Orbyt estimates, computed rather than measured, and must not be cited as Bureau of Labor Statistics figures; the published BLS wage for the occupation this role maps to is shown separately on this page.
Salary range.
Where do you fall?
Orbyt estimate for Deep Learning Engineer in Kansas City, modelled from national occupation wages adjusted for local cost of living. The published government benchmark for this occupation is below.
Government benchmark for this occupation
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $99,870 for Data Scientists (SOC 15-2051) in the Kansas City, MO-KS metropolitan area, based on 1,260 employed workers (May 2025 release).
10th percentile
$61,820
25th percentile
$75,960
Median
$99,870
75th percentile
$128,540
90th percentile
$149,060
Workers surveyed
1,260
BLS publishes wages by occupation code, not by job title, so this figure covers every role mapped to Data Scientists (SOC 15-2051) rather than Deep Learning Engineer specifically. The Kansas Cityrange at the top of this page is Orbyt’s role-level estimate, which is a different thing and is labelled as such.
View the BLS source for SOC 15-2051Salary by experience.
The gap between entry and lead level is typically $95,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$68,000
to $84,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$89,000
to $110,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$116,000
to $137,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$131,000
to $163,000
Total compensation.
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $53,000 to the total package.
Base
$105,000
Equity
$33,000
Bonus
$14,000
Signing
$6,000
Estimated total: $158,000
Deep Learning Engineer salary by company.
Total compensation estimates include base, equity, bonus, and signing. Ranges reflect mid to senior level. Derived from public H-1B LCA filings (DOL).
How Kansas City compares.
Kansas City, MO
$105,000
Cost of living: 7% below average
National Average
$113,000
Kansas City is $8,000 below
Deep Learning Engineer salary by city.
Salary by role in Kansas City.
What you should know.
Here is what the Deep Learning Engineer market actually looks like in Kansas City. Kansas City straddles Missouri and Kansas, creating a unique dual state job market with strong logistics, tech, and agriculture technology sectors. The metro's central location has made it a hub for distribution centers and supply chain companies. Cerner's healthcare IT presence and a growing startup scene have boosted demand for technology professionals. Pay hinges on expertise with transformer architectures, large-scale training pipelines, and GPU optimization. Engineers who have shipped production models at scale earn top-band salaries. Publications at NeurIPS or ICML and familiarity with distributed training frameworks like DeepSpeed further boost compensation.
Junior deep learning roles start at $120,000 to $145,000. Mid-level engineers earn $155,000 to $200,000. Senior and staff-level positions reach $220,000 to $300,000 base, with principal engineers at top labs exceeding $400,000 in total compensation. In Kansas City, cost of living sits near the national average, so the numbers you see are roughly what you keep.
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity is a major component at AI-focused companies, often representing 30 to 50% of total compensation. Annual bonuses range from 10 to 20% of base, with signing bonuses of $30,000 to $75,000 common for experienced hires. And on the tax side: missouri's top income tax rate is about 4.8%, and Kansas City adds a 1% earnings tax. Workers living in Kansas face that state's rates instead. Choose your side of the state line carefully. When someone quotes you $105,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.
On negotiation: Negotiate which side of the state line you will be based on. Your tax situation differs meaningfully between Missouri and Kansas, and some employers offer flexibility on office location. The range for Deep Learning Engineers in Kansas City runs from $73,000 to $151,000. That is not a narrow window. Where you land inside it depends almost entirely on whether you negotiate and how well you prepare.
Sources: BLS OES, H-1B LCA (DOL). COL: BEA Regional Price Parities (2025). Data verified by Justin Bartak, Founder & Chief AI Officer. Last verified July 1, 2026. Full methodology
Considering a related role?
- A Data Scientist in Kansas City earns $104,000 (1% less)
- The highest-paying role in Kansas City is CTO at $282,000
- See all ai engineering roles tracked in Orbyt Intelligence
Common questions.
Deep Learning Engineer salary in other cities.
Other salaries in Kansas City.
Related salary pages
Jump to nearby roles and cities most relevant to Deep Learning Engineers in Kansas City.
Related tools.
Do you work as a deep learning engineer in Kansas City?
Your individual figure is never published. Submissions appear only as aggregate percentiles, and nothing is shown for a role and city until at least five people have reported. It is stored against your account, which is what keeps the dataset clean.
Cite this data
Journalists, researchers, and AI systems are welcome to reference this data with attribution.
Want this data on your site? Embed the salary widget. One script tag, free forever.
Related tools