Electrical Engineering in Missouri

📊 Employment Overview

Missouri employs 3,419 electrical engineering professionals, representing approximately 1.8% of the national workforce in this field. Missouri ranks #19 nationally for electrical engineering employment.

💰 Salary Information

Electrical Engineering professionals in Missouri earn competitive salaries across all experience levels, with an average annual salary of $100,000.

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

🎓 Schools Offering Electrical Engineering

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🚀 Career Insights

Key information for electrical engineering professionals in Missouri.

🏢 Industry Landscape & Top Employers

Missouri's electrical engineering market — 3,419 engineers earning an average of $100,000 — is anchored by one of the nation's premier defense aerospace manufacturing programs, the world's most important nuclear weapons component manufacturing facility, a major industrial automation company, and growing technology and healthcare sectors in St. Louis and Kansas City. The state's EE landscape combines defense-classified work of national strategic importance with strong industrial and utility engineering opportunities.

Major Employers: Boeing Defense, Space & Security (St. Louis) is Missouri's defining defense aerospace employer — building the F-15EX Eagle II (the last manned fighter in production at its facility), KC-46 Pegasus tanker electronics suites, and P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft electronics. Boeing's St. Louis campus is the historical home of McDonnell Douglas, and the decades of fighter aircraft expertise embedded in its engineering community is a genuine national asset. Emerson Electric (St. Louis HQ) is a Fortune 500 industrial technology company employing EEs for process automation (DeltaV DCS systems), climate control electronics, and test and measurement equipment across its global operations. Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies (Kansas City) operates the most important classified manufacturing facility in the US — producing non-nuclear components for the nation's nuclear warhead stockpile under contract to the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. The facility employs EEs for precision electronic component manufacturing, quality systems, and classified production technology. Cerner (Kansas City), now part of Oracle Health, employs EEs for healthcare IT infrastructure. World Wide Technology (Maryland Heights) is a major technology solutions company with significant engineering operations. Ameren Missouri and Kansas City Power & Light (Evergy) employ power systems engineers for Missouri's utility infrastructure. Whiteman AFB (Knob Noster) hosts the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber fleet — the world's only operational stealth bomber — with demanding maintenance electronics work performed by specialized defense contractors.

Space Technology: Spire Global (St. Louis) develops small satellite technology for weather and maritime monitoring. Boeing's satellite programs at the St. Louis campus add space electronics EE demand alongside the defense work.

📈 Career Growth & Pathways

Missouri's EE careers offer distinct tracks in defense aerospace electronics, nuclear weapons component manufacturing (one of the most classified career paths in the US), and industrial automation — all within a state where the cost-of-living advantage significantly amplifies effective compensation.

Typical Career Trajectory:

• Junior Electrical Engineer (0–2 years): $65,000–$86,000 — Entry at Boeing St. Louis, Emerson, Honeywell Kansas City, or Ameren. Missouri S&T, University of Missouri, and Washington University in St. Louis are the primary feeders. Beginning clearance processes early is important for Boeing and Honeywell federal careers.
• Mid-Level Engineer (3–7 years): $86,000–$115,000 — Boeing engineers with F-15EX avionics integration expertise or Emerson engineers with DeltaV DCS programming and safety instrumented system experience advance strongly. Honeywell Kansas City EEs working on classified nuclear component manufacturing programs command significant premiums.
• Senior Engineer (7–12 years): $115,000–$148,000 — Technical authority on major defense programs or Emerson product lines. Senior Boeing EEs leading avionics integration for F-15EX upgrades or managing electronic systems qualification for KC-46 tankers represent Missouri's defense electronics premium tier.
• Principal/Fellow Engineer (12+ years): $148,000–$210,000+ — Boeing Technical Fellows, Emerson Distinguished Engineers, and Honeywell Kansas City senior program technical authorities represent the career apex in Missouri's defense and industrial sectors.

Honeywell Kansas City — The Most Classified Factory in America: The Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies plant in Kansas City manufactures approximately 85% of the non-nuclear components found in US nuclear warheads — a detail that explains why this is one of the most carefully scrutinized and access-controlled manufacturing facilities in the world. Engineers who obtain DOE Q-clearances and demonstrate the reliability required for this work enter a career environment of extraordinary security and consequence, with compensation packages that reflect the unique nature of the work and the difficulty of replacing cleared personnel.

💰 Salary vs. Cost of Living

Missouri's $100,000 average EE salary in a state with well-below-national-average living costs creates solid purchasing power — with the Kansas City and St. Louis metros offering large-city amenities at genuinely Midwestern prices.

St. Louis Metro: Missouri's largest metro, with cost of living roughly 15–20% below the national average. Median home prices of $225,000–$340,000 in the primary engineering suburbs (Chesterfield, O'Fallon, Fenton) allow homeownership within 2–3 years of practice. St. Louis's urban neighborhoods (Clayton, Ladue, Webster Groves) offer historic homes and excellent schools within the engineer salary range. Rent for a two-bedroom apartment averages $1,100–$1,500/month.

Kansas City Metro: Similar cost profile to St. Louis — 15–20% below the national average, with median homes in the $260,000–$380,000 range. Kansas City's Plaza, Crossroads arts district, and nationally recognized barbecue culture give it strong urban appeal at moderate costs. Johnson County (Overland Park, Leawood) on the Kansas side offers additional affordable suburban options for engineers at Honeywell's facilities.

Tax Note: Missouri's income tax rates (top rate 4.95%) are relatively moderate, making the state's after-tax picture attractive compared to higher-rate Midwestern neighbors like Minnesota or Illinois. Combined with the state's low cost of living, Missouri offers strong real purchasing power for engineering salaries that appear modest compared to coastal markets.

📜 Licensing & Professional Development

Missouri's EE professional development landscape reflects its defense aerospace, nuclear manufacturing, and industrial automation sectors — each with distinct credentialing requirements and career development structures.

The Missouri Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Professional Land Surveyors, and Landscape Architects administers PE licensure via the standard pathway. PE licensure is valued for utility engineers at Ameren and Evergy and for consulting electrical engineers.

High-Value Credentials in Missouri:

• DOE Q-Clearance / DOD Secret/TS: The defining credential for Honeywell Kansas City engineers and for Boeing St. Louis personnel on classified fighter and bomber programs. DOE Q-clearances (equivalent to TS in the DOD world) are required for access to nuclear weapons-related information, and cleared engineers at Honeywell face essentially no unemployment risk.
• DO-178C / DO-254 (Avionics Software & Hardware): For Boeing St. Louis engineers developing F-15EX avionics upgrades and KC-46 electronic systems, aviation design assurance standards are foundational technical credentials. Boeing engineers who have personally led DO-254 hardware design assurance cases or DO-178C software qualification activities are among the most technically credentialed in Missouri's defense aerospace community.
• ISA CAP / Emerson DeltaV Certifications: For Emerson EEs developing and supporting DeltaV distributed control systems, demonstrated DeltaV configuration proficiency and ISA Certified Automation Professional (CAP) credentials are valued across the process industries that use Emerson technology globally.
• ASME Nuclear Standards / DOE Nuclear Quality Assurance: For Honeywell Kansas City manufacturing engineers, understanding nuclear quality assurance programs (NQA-1) and DOE nuclear safety standards is foundational to work at the facility. These credentials are essentially unavailable outside of active nuclear weapons or reactor programs.

Education: Missouri University of Science and Technology (Rolla) — Missouri S&T — is the state's premier engineering university, consistently producing graduates who feed directly into Boeing, Emerson, and the defense community. Washington University in St. Louis adds elite research engineering capability. The University of Missouri (Columbia) provides a strong additional pathway.

📊 Job Market Outlook

Missouri's EE market is expected to grow steadily, with defense modernization, nuclear warhead life extension programs, and Emerson's industrial automation expansion providing multi-decade demand stability.

F-15EX and Next-Generation Programs: Boeing's F-15EX Eagle II — the latest variant of the world's most successful fighter aircraft — is in active production for the US Air Force and international customers, sustaining the St. Louis campus's engineering workforce. Boeing's participation in next-generation fighter technology programs and its substantial international defense sales pipeline provides a long-term demand floor for Missouri defense EEs.

Nuclear Warhead Life Extension: The US nuclear arsenal is undergoing a comprehensive life extension program (LEP) — refurbishing existing warhead designs to extend their service lives and reliability. Honeywell Kansas City's manufacturing role in this program represents a multi-decade commitment of federal investment, sustaining the facility's engineering workforce well into the 2040s.

Emerson's Process Automation Growth: As industrial companies worldwide invest in digital transformation, Emerson's DeltaV and Plantweb platforms are benefiting from growing adoption. Emerson's St. Louis operations continue to develop next-generation DCS capabilities including cloud connectivity, AI-driven process optimization, and cybersecurity features — sustaining EE demand at the company's Missouri campuses.

Healthcare Technology: Kansas City's healthcare technology sector — centered on the former Cerner (now Oracle Health) and its ecosystem of health IT companies — employs EEs for medical device integration, clinical network infrastructure, and healthcare data center design. As Oracle expands its cloud healthcare platform, Kansas City's tech engineering community is expected to grow.

🕐 Day in the Life

Electrical engineering in Missouri spans from designing avionics for America's premier air superiority fighter to manufacturing components for nuclear warheads that define global strategic deterrence — technical work of extraordinary national consequence, embedded in two of America's most genuinely livable mid-sized cities.

At Boeing St. Louis (F-15EX Programs): Avionics engineers arrive at a campus whose history includes some of the greatest aircraft in American military aviation — the F-4 Phantom, F-15, and F/A-18 were all born here. A day might involve reviewing avionics bus communication diagnostics on an F-15EX production aircraft, performing electronic warfare system integration testing in an RF anechoic chamber, or preparing MIL-DTL-38999 connector specification packages for a new weapons system integration. The engineering culture is proud of its heritage and serious about the mission — the aircraft built in St. Louis protect pilots and project US military capability globally.

At Honeywell Kansas City: The facility's classified nature means specific work cannot be described in detail. What can be said is that engineers work on precision electronic components manufactured to tolerances and quality standards that exceed virtually any commercial application — because the consequences of failure in the nation's nuclear deterrent are simply unacceptable. The environment is rigorous, the workforce is deeply committed to excellence, and the security consciousness permeates every aspect of the work culture.

Lifestyle: St. Louis and Kansas City both offer genuinely rewarding Midwestern urban lives. St. Louis's Forest Park (larger than Central Park and free), the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Arch and its surrounding national park, and the excellent sports culture (Cardinals baseball, Blues hockey) give the city a distinctive identity. Kansas City's legendary barbecue (Joe's KC, Arthur Bryant's, Gates Bar-B-Q), the Nelson-Atkins Museum, the historic Country Club Plaza, and Royals baseball create an urban life that engineers from coastal cities routinely describe as a pleasant surprise. Both cities are affordable — the cost of a comfortable life in either metro on an engineering salary is simply not achievable at comparable quality in any coastal peer.

🔄 Compare with Other States

See how Missouri compares to other top states for electrical engineering: