Firefighter pay in Kansas after taxes: what you keep (2026)

The median firefighter in Kansas earned $44,060 a year in May 2024, which is $21 an hour for a full-time year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Half of the 3,630 firefighters the BLS counts in Kansas earned more than that and half earned less; the middle half of them sat between $38,110 and $57,350. That is the gross figure, before anyone takes anything. What you keep depends on Kansas's tax, and Kansas has a progressive state income tax with a top rate of 5.58%.

What the median firefighter keeps in Kansas

For a single filer on the median $44,060, taking the standard deduction and no other adjustments:

The state line is 3.9% of gross at this salary, approximated at 70% of the top bracket, which is where a middle income lands in most progressive states. Health insurance, retirement contributions and local taxes are not in it either; they vary by employer and by city.

Where Kansas ranks for firefighter pay

Of the 50 states, Kansas ranks 41 of 50 on the gross median for firefighters, in the bottom ten. The highest-paying state is Washington at $93,490 and the lowest is Louisiana at $33,700. Gross rank is not take-home rank: a state with no income tax climbs several places once the state line is applied, and a high-tax state drops.

Across the border

The same job in the states next to Kansas, gross median and estimated take-home for a single filer:

Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri and Oklahoma leave a firefighter with more at the end of the year than Kansas does; Colorado by about $22,985. Pay is one line; rent is the other, and a higher median in a metro with higher rent can leave you with less.

Where the firefighter jobs are in Kansas

The BLS count of 3,630 firefighters is statewide. The metros with the most of that work are Wichita, Overland Park, Kansas City and Topeka, which is where the median is set and where the upper quartile ($57,350 and above) is most often paid. Employers who could not hire locally and have filed with the Department of Labor are listed on the Kansas openings page; those filings are the ones already paying to bring people in, and housing or transport is often part of the offer.

Kansas also has programs that pay people to move in: Choose Topeka (up to $15,000, for people who take a job in Shawnee County or move there as remote workers; the employer matches part of it) and Rural Opportunity Zones (student loan repayment up to $15,000 over five years, plus an income tax waiver in some counties, for graduates moving to one of the designated rural counties). Each has a residence condition and a funding round; the amount is the program's own "up to" figure.

What people get wrong about firefighter pay in Kansas

• Quoting the mean. The BLS mean for Kansas is $23 an hour, pulled up by the top earners. The median ($21) is what the typical firefighter makes.
• Comparing gross across states. A $44,060 offer in Kansas is $35,665 in hand; the same number in a no-tax state is $37,386.
• Forgetting the employer's share of insurance. A job that pays $42,060 with full health coverage can beat one that pays $47,060 without it.
• Treating the statewide median as the metro median. Wichita pays differently from a rural county; ask for the figure for the place you are actually going.

Everything about Kansas, on one page

The Kansas page has the licence registries and boards, the state tax at three salaries, the programs that pay you to come, and the openings filed in Kansas this month. If you know which state you are leaving, the move pages compare the two directly. Creating a free Workmerica profile with your trade and your destination puts you in front of Kansas employers hiring from out of state.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024 state estimates for Firefighter. Tax lines are a single filer with the standard deduction, 2024 federal brackets, and the state rate in lib/us-states.ts; progressive states are approximated. Not tax advice.