Aerospace Engineering in Kansas

📊 Employment Overview

Kansas employs 585 aerospace engineering professionals, representing approximately 0.7% of the national workforce in this field. Kansas ranks #33 nationally for aerospace engineering employment.

💰 Salary Information

Aerospace Engineering professionals in Kansas earn competitive salaries across all experience levels, with an average annual salary of $99,000.

Note: Salaries are adjusted for cost of living and local market conditions. Data based on BLS statistics and industry surveys (2024-2025).

🎓 Schools Offering Aerospace Engineering

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🚀 Career Insights

Key information for aerospace engineering professionals in Kansas.

🏢 Industry Landscape & Top Employers

Kansas is the "Air Capital of the World" — a title earned by the extraordinary concentration of general aviation and business jet manufacturers in Wichita that makes this plains city the most prolific producer of aircraft in the world by unit count. With 585 aerospace engineers earning an average of $99,000, Kansas's aerospace market is defined by the annual production of thousands of Cessna, Beechcraft, and Learjet aircraft that provide personal and business aviation access to communities across the globe. The state's aerospace heritage is unmatched in its breadth, with more aircraft types designed and manufactured in Kansas than in any other state.

Major Employers: Textron Aviation (Wichita) — incorporating the Cessna and Beechcraft brands — is Kansas's largest aerospace employer and the world's largest manufacturer of general aviation aircraft. Textron produces the full spectrum of piston single-engine aircraft (Cessna 172 Skyhawk, the world's best-selling airplane), turboprops (King Air family), light jets (Citation family), and turboprop military trainers (T-6 Texan II). The Wichita facilities employ aerospace engineers for aircraft design, flight test, structures, and systems integration. Spirit AeroSystems (Wichita) is one of the world's largest independent aerostructures manufacturers — producing Boeing 737 fuselage sections, Boeing 787 fuselage sections, Airbus A350 wing components, and defense program structures. Spirit employs hundreds of aerospace engineers for structures analysis, manufacturing engineering, and program management. Bombardier's Learjet operation (Wichita) produces the Learjet 75 Liberty business jet and provides engineering support for the broader Learjet fleet. McConnell Air Force Base (Wichita) hosts KC-135 Stratotanker operations and the Boeing KC-46 Pegasus tanker training mission, employing aerospace engineers for tanker systems support and boom/receptacle refueling engineering. Garmin's aviation division (Olathe) develops avionics for general aviation, business jets, and military platforms — employing aerospace systems engineers for integrated flight deck development. L3Harris (Wichita) maintains aerospace operations.

Wichita's Manufacturing Scale: More civil aircraft are manufactured in Wichita than in any other city on earth. The Cessna 172 — with over 45,000 produced since 1956 — remains in continuous production in Wichita, alongside hundreds of King Airs, Citations, and Learjets annually. This manufacturing scale creates aerospace engineering demand that is structural, not cyclical — as long as the global economy supports general and business aviation, Wichita will need aerospace engineers to design, certify, and manufacture aircraft.

📈 Career Growth & Pathways

Kansas's aerospace engineering careers reward specialization in general aviation and business jet design, aircraft structures manufacturing engineering, and the FAA Part 23/25 certification expertise that is more concentrated in Wichita than anywhere else in the world.

Typical Career Trajectory:

• Junior Aerospace Engineer (0–2 years): $65,000–$88,000 — Entry at Textron Aviation, Spirit AeroSystems, Bombardier Learjet, or Garmin Aviation. Wichita State University's National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) creates an extraordinarily direct pipeline into every major Kansas aerospace employer. WSU aerospace graduates are among the most immediately employable in the nation due to their NIAR project experience.
• Mid-Level Engineer (3–7 years): $88,000–$115,000 — Textron Citation engineers with business jet aerodynamics or systems integration expertise, Spirit structural engineers with composite aerostructures manufacturing depth, and Garmin avionics engineers with general aviation certification experience advance strongly.
• Senior Engineer (7–12 years): $115,000–$145,000 — Technical authority on Textron aircraft programs (Citation Longitude certification, King Air engine upgrade programs) or Spirit AeroSystems senior structural engineers leading 737 fuselage production engineering. These engineers directly influence products used by hundreds of thousands of aircraft owners and operators.
• Principal/Fellow Engineer (12+ years): $145,000–$200,000+ — Textron Distinguished Engineers, Spirit AeroSystems Senior Fellows, and Garmin Chief Engineers represent Kansas's aerospace apex.

FAA Part 23 Certification Expertise: Wichita's concentration in Part 23 (normal category aircraft) and Part 25 (transport category) aircraft manufacturing creates aerospace engineers with FAA type certification expertise that is uniquely concentrated. Kansas engineers who have personally led FAA type certificate applications for new Cessna or Beechcraft aircraft develop credentials recognized by every aircraft manufacturer seeking US market access.

💰 Salary vs. Cost of Living

Kansas's $99,000 average aerospace salary in a state with extremely affordable living costs creates strong purchasing power — Wichita consistently ranks among the most affordable major metro areas in the nation, and aerospace engineers here build financial security at rates that coastal peers earning twice as much cannot match.

Wichita: Kansas's aerospace capital and one of the most affordable major aerospace employment centers in the United States. Cost of living roughly 20–25% below the national average, with median home prices of $185,000–$265,000. Wichita's aviation identity creates a unique cultural character — the city celebrates its aerospace heritage through the Kansas Aviation Museum, annual AirVenture Wichita events, and a community pride in its contribution to global aviation that permeates professional culture. Engineers purchase comfortable suburban homes in their first few years of practice.

Olathe / Kansas City (Garmin): More expensive than Wichita — median homes of $290,000–$380,000, cost of living near the national average — but with access to the Kansas City metro's cultural resources. Garmin aerospace engineers in the Kansas City corridor enjoy metropolitan amenities alongside aerospace career development.

Financial Efficiency: An aerospace engineer earning $99,000 in Wichita achieves a quality of life — spacious home, reliable vehicles, discretionary spending, strong savings — that would require $170,000–$185,000 in Los Angeles or $155,000+ in Denver. The financial discipline this enables — early homeownership, meaningful retirement contributions from the first year of practice — creates long-term wealth accumulation that significantly exceeds what coastal peers achieve despite higher nominal salaries.

📜 Licensing & Professional Development

Kansas's aerospace professional development is dominated by FAA aircraft certification expertise and aerostructures manufacturing engineering credentials — reflecting the state's unique concentration in Part 23/25 aircraft type certification and large commercial aircraft structure production.

The Kansas State Board of Technical Professions administers PE licensure via the standard pathway.

High-Value Credentials in Kansas's Aerospace Market:

• FAA Part 23 / Part 25 Type Certificate Expertise: The defining professional credential in Kansas's aerospace community. Engineers who have led FAA type certificate applications for Cessna Citations, King Airs, or Learjets develop a depth of FAA certification process knowledge that is concentrated in Wichita in ways unavailable anywhere else. FAA Designated Engineering Representative (DER) authority in structures, propulsion, or avionics disciplines is particularly valuable in Kansas's Part 23/25 manufacturing community.
• Composite Aerostructures (Spirit AeroSystems): For Spirit engineers working on 737 fuselage and 787 composite sections, expertise in advanced composite manufacturing processes — automated fiber placement, resin transfer molding, composite repair — and the specific NDT (nondestructive testing) methods used to certify production composite structures is the foundational manufacturing engineering credential.
• ASTM F3316 (Advanced Air Mobility Certification Standards): Emerging relevance as Wichita's aerospace community positions itself for eVTOL aircraft certification. The FAA's Part 23 rewrite (ASTM standards) and the emerging certification framework for advanced air mobility vehicles will be heavily shaped by Kansas's certification engineering community — engineers who develop expertise in these new standards are positioning themselves for the next generation of aircraft type certification work.
• Wichita State NIAR Research Credentials: The National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University is a unique institution where aerospace students conduct funded research alongside industry — graduates who have completed NIAR projects (composite structure testing, aerodynamics analysis, avionics integration) enter the professional workforce with practical engineering credentials recognized by every Wichita employer.

Education: Wichita State University (the only US university co-located with a major aerospace manufacturing cluster through NIAR) is the most directly employer-connected aerospace program in the nation. Kansas State University (Manhattan) provides an additional strong aerospace engineering pathway. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's online programs serve working Kansas aerospace engineers seeking advanced credentials.

📊 Job Market Outlook

Kansas's aerospace market is expected to grow steadily, driven by general aviation manufacturing recovery, Spirit AeroSystems' Boeing production ramp, and the state's positioning for advanced air mobility aircraft certification leadership.

Textron Aviation Production Growth: Cessna Citation and King Air production is responding to strong business aviation demand — the post-pandemic surge in private aviation use has driven order backlogs that support production rate increases through the late 2020s. Each additional aircraft manufactured in Wichita requires engineering support for production rate tooling, quality engineering, and product improvement programs.

Spirit AeroSystems Boeing 737 Rate Increase: Boeing's 737 MAX production rate recovery — following quality and supply chain challenges in 2023–2024 — is expected to increase Spirit's fuselage production requirements proportionally. As 737 MAX deliveries ramp toward Boeing's stated production targets, Spirit's Wichita manufacturing engineering workforce requirements grow accordingly.

Advanced Air Mobility (eVTOL) Certification: Wichita's unique concentration of FAA Part 23 certification expertise positions the city as a natural hub for eVTOL aircraft certification engineering. Multiple advanced air mobility companies are evaluating Wichita for their certification engineering programs, recognizing that WSU's NIAR, Textron's certification experts, and the broader Wichita aerospace engineering community represent the deepest pool of relevant expertise in the nation.

Defense Programs at McConnell: McConnell AFB's KC-46 Pegasus training mission is growing as Air Force tanker recapitalization progresses. The boom/receptacle aerial refueling engineering support required for KC-46 operations creates niche but sustained aerospace engineering employment in the Wichita area.

🕐 Day in the Life

Aerospace engineering in Kansas means designing the aircraft that provide personal freedom of mobility to hundreds of thousands of pilots and business travelers worldwide — the Cessna 172 that a student pilot first solos, the Citation Longitude that connects a CEO's schedule across the continent, the King Air that delivers medical supplies to a remote community. The scale is smaller than a Boeing or Lockheed program, but the breadth of impact on how people experience aviation is genuinely profound.

At Textron Aviation (Wichita): Citation jet performance engineers working on a new Citation variant spend mornings analyzing drag polar data from recent flight test campaigns, comparing measured aerodynamic performance to CFD predictions, and developing the Airplane Flight Manual performance tables that pilots will use for decades of Citation operations. The afternoon might involve a design review for a winglet modification that improves cruise efficiency, or a meeting with the FAA's certification team in Wichita to discuss the testing plan for a new engine performance certification requirement. The Citation's role as a first business jet for thousands of companies worldwide — the aircraft that makes efficient regional business travel accessible for organizations that can't justify a larger jet — gives the engineering a practical directness that contrasts productively with the abstract scale of commercial airliner programs.

At Spirit AeroSystems (Wichita): Composite structures engineers overseeing 737 fuselage production develop disposition procedures for manufacturing nonconformances, analyze stress concentrations around repair areas, and prepare the engineering substantiation that Boeing's design engineers review before accepting Spirit's production structures. The knowledge that each fuselage section leaving Spirit's Wichita factory will eventually be filled with passengers flying on one of commercial aviation's most important aircraft creates both engineering accountability and genuine professional satisfaction.

Lifestyle: Wichita's lifestyle is unpretentious and genuinely satisfying for engineers who value community, affordability, and accessibility over urban scale. The city's aviation identity creates a professional culture that values engineering skill without the social stratification that can characterize larger tech cities. The Keeper of the Plains sculpture at the confluence of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas Rivers, the Old Town entertainment district, and Exploration Place science museum give Wichita more cultural character than its population alone might suggest. The Flint Hills tallgrass prairie — one of the last large remnants of the American prairie ecosystem — provides a hauntingly beautiful natural landscape within an hour. Hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation on Kansas's numerous reservoirs complete a lifestyle that Wichita aerospace engineers consistently describe as underrated and deeply satisfying.

🔄 Compare with Other States

See how Kansas compares to other top states for aerospace engineering: