Kansas City is one metro with two state lines running through it, which is why "RN jobs in Kansas City, MO" and "nursing jobs in Kansas City" are really the same search. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts the Kansas City, MO-KS metropolitan area as nine Missouri counties (Jackson, Clay, Platte, Cass, Ray, Clinton, Caldwell, Lafayette and Bates) and five Kansas counties (Johnson, Wyandotte, Leavenworth, Miami and Linn), and its May 2025 wage survey puts 29,650 registered nurses and about 51,300 nurses and nursing staff at work across it. This guide covers what each nursing role earns in the metro, where the open jobs are on both sides of the line, which license you need to work in Missouri and Kansas, and how the roles are projected to grow.
How big is the nursing workforce in Kansas City?
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations are 7.1% of all jobs in the Kansas City metro, against 6.3% nationally, so the metro leans slightly more on healthcare employment than the country as a whole. Registered nurses are by far the largest nursing occupation. The BLS estimates for May 2025:
| Occupation | Employed in the Kansas City metro | Employed in Missouri (statewide) |
|---|---|---|
| Registered nurses | 29,650 | 76,310 |
| Nurse practitioners | 2,730 | 7,710 |
| Nurse anesthetists | 980 | 1,550 |
| Licensed practical nurses | 4,570 | 14,700 |
| Nursing assistants | 13,370 | 34,050 |
| Medical assistants | 4,220 | 13,050 |
Put another way, roughly two in five of Missouri's registered nurses work in the Kansas City metro, and the Kansas side (Johnson and Wyandotte counties above all) adds the rest of the metro's total.
What nurses earn in Kansas City
The table shows the BLS mean annual wage for each role in the Kansas City metro for May 2025, with the 25th and 75th percentiles (the middle half of earners) and the Missouri statewide mean beside it. Hourly figures are the annual wage divided by 2,080 hours, the convention BLS uses.
| Occupation | Mean annual (Kansas City) | Mean hourly | 25th percentile | 75th percentile | Missouri mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Registered nurses | $87,740 | $42.18 | $77,910 | $98,700 | $85,900 |
| Nurse practitioners | $130,010 | $62.50 | $120,120 | $144,550 | $130,970 |
| Nurse anesthetists | $243,830 | $117.23 | $180,200 | $264,350 | $271,780 |
| Licensed practical nurses | $65,980 | $31.72 | $60,610 | $73,900 | $62,410 |
| Nursing assistants | $42,000 | $20.19 | $37,730 | $45,630 | $38,410 |
| Medical assistants | $44,210 | $21.25 | $39,110 | $47,430 | $42,030 |
Three things stand out. First, registered nurses in the metro average $87,740 a year ($42.18 an hour), with the middle half earning between $77,910 and $98,700; that is a little above the Missouri statewide mean of $85,900, as you would expect for the state's largest labor market. Second, the metro runs below the national figure: the BLS median for registered nurses nationwide is $97,550, and across all healthcare practitioner occupations the Kansas City mean hourly wage is $46.52 against $52.26 nationally. Third, licensed practical nurses and nursing assistants in Kansas City earn slightly more than the Missouri average ($65,980 and $42,000 against $62,410 and $38,410), while nurse practitioners and nurse anesthetists earn slightly less in the metro than statewide.
These are survey means, not offers. Night and weekend differentials, overtime and sign-on bonuses sit on top of base pay and vary by employer; see how shift differentials work and, for the statewide picture on both sides of the line, nurse jobs and pay in Missouri and in Kansas.
Where the open nursing jobs are right now
Betterleap's job board counts open postings on hospital and health-system career sites. As of September 26, 2026, the cities that make up the Kansas City metro carried 1,571 open healthcare postings, 477 of them for registered nurses. Every city links to its live listings; the two Kansas City hubs are the place to start.
| City | Open postings | of which RN | Employers posting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas City, MO | 672 | 225 | 17 |
| Kansas City, KS | 550 | 144 | 11 |
| Olathe, KS | 191 | 60 | 8 |
| Overland Park, KS | 158 | 48 | 9 |
Kansas City, Missouri had 672 open postings from 17 employers and Kansas City, Kansas 550 from 11, so the Kansas side is not an afterthought: it is close to half of the metro's hospital hiring. Statewide, Missouri employers had 6,314 open postings and Kansas employers 2,505 on the same date. Browse the whole metro by role: RN jobs in Kansas City, MO, RN jobs in Kansas City, KS, LPN jobs, CNA jobs and nurse practitioner jobs.
Health systems posting the most jobs in Missouri and Kansas
Counted by open postings on each system's own career site, statewide, as of September 26, 2026. Missouri's biggest posters are St. Louis and Springfield systems; the Kansas list is led from the Kansas City metro. Kansas City's own systems in the two state lists: Saint Lukes Episcopal Presbyterian Hospital (247), University Health (209), The University of Kansas Health System (872), AdventHealth (129).
| Missouri | Open postings | Kansas | Open postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mercy | 1,209 | The University of Kansas Health System | 872 |
| SSM Health | 925 | Salina Regional Health Center | 255 |
| CoxHealth | 522 | Stormont Vail Health | 245 |
| BJC Healthcare | 444 | AdventHealth | 129 |
Which license do you need to work in Kansas City?
Both Missouri and Kansas are members of the Nurse Licensure Compact, and that settles most of the question. If your primary state of residence is any compact state, a multistate RN or LPN license lets you work on either side of the Kansas City line, and in every other compact state, without a second license. A nurse who lives in Johnson County, Kansas and works at a hospital in Jackson County, Missouri needs one multistate license from Kansas, not two.
- Moving to Kansas from another compact state. The Kansas State Board of Nursing says that once you establish residency you may keep practicing in Kansas on your former multistate license until your Kansas multistate license is issued; you apply by endorsement. Kansas charges $125 for a multistate license application (RN or LPN), $100 for a single-state RN application, $75 for a single-state LPN application and $85 for the biennial renewal.
- Moving to Missouri. The Missouri State Board of Nursing issues multistate licenses on the same compact rules; its application forms, fees and processing times are on the board's own site, listed on NCSBN's Missouri member page.
- Coming from a non-compact state (California, New York, Illinois, Oregon and a handful of others). You apply for licensure by endorsement in Missouri or Kansas, and if you make that state your primary residence you can hold its multistate license. Our guide to transferring a nursing license walks through endorsement, and the compact states list shows who is in and who is out.
- Nurse practitioners and CRNAs. The compact covers RNs and LPNs only. Advanced practice nurses need an APRN license in each state they practice in, so a nurse practitioner working in both Overland Park and Kansas City, Missouri needs Kansas and Missouri APRN licenses.
Outlook for nursing roles
The BLS publishes its ten-year projections nationally, not by metro, and they apply to Kansas City as to anywhere else. Registered nursing grows faster than the average for all occupations, nurse practitioner roles grow much faster, and the LPN and nursing-assistant occupations grow slowly but turn over heavily, which is why openings stay high.
| Occupation | National median pay (May 2025) | Projected growth, 2025-35 | Openings projected each year | Typical entry education |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Registered nurses | $97,550 | 6% | 180,800 | Bachelor's degree |
| Nurse practitioners | $132,300 | 36% | 32,200 | Master's degree |
| Licensed practical nurses | $64,400 | 3% | 51,800 | Postsecondary nondegree award |
| Nursing assistants | $42,260 | 3% | 203,300 | State-approved program and competency exam |
If you are early in your career, getting your first nursing job as a new grad and new grad RN salary by state cover the first-year questions; how travel nurse stipends work explains the weekly packages travel contracts in the metro are quoted in.
Sources
- Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development), Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for the Kansas City, MO-KS metropolitan statistical area and Missouri statewide, 2025 (May 2025 survey), read 23 October 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mountain-Plains Information Office, Occupational Employment and Wages in Kansas City, May 2025, released 11 August 2026, read 23 October 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Registered Nurses, Nurse Anesthetists, Nurse Midwives, and Nurse Practitioners, Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses and Nursing Assistants and Orderlies, 2025 pay and 2025-35 projections, read 23 October 2026.
- National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Nurse Licensure Compact member states map and Missouri State Board of Nursing member page, current status, read 23 October 2026.
- Kansas State Board of Nursing, Nurse Licensure Compact and Agency fees, current schedule, read 23 October 2026.
- Betterleap job board, open postings on hospital and health-system career sites for the Kansas City metro, Missouri and Kansas, counted September 26, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
How much do registered nurses make in Kansas City?
The BLS estimates a mean annual wage of $87,740 ($42.18 an hour) for registered nurses in the Kansas City, MO-KS metropolitan area for May 2025, with the middle half of RNs earning between $77,910 and $98,700. The Missouri statewide mean is $85,900.
How many nursing jobs are there in Kansas City?
The BLS counts 29,650 registered nurses, 4,570 licensed practical nurses, 13,370 nursing assistants, 2,730 nurse practitioners and 980 nurse anesthetists employed in the Kansas City metro (May 2025). On September 26, 2026, hospital and health-system career sites in the metro's cities carried 1,571 open healthcare postings, 477 of them for RNs.
Can I work in Kansas City, Missouri with a Kansas nursing license?
Yes, if it is a multistate license. Missouri and Kansas are both Nurse Licensure Compact states, so a multistate RN or LPN license from your primary state of residence is valid on both sides of the state line. A single-state license is valid only in the state that issued it.
Does Kansas City pay nurses more or less than the national average?
Less. The Kansas City mean for registered nurses is $87,740 against a national median of $97,550, and across all healthcare practitioner occupations the metro's mean hourly wage is $46.52 compared with $52.26 nationally (BLS, May 2025). Housing and living costs in the metro are also below the national average, which narrows the gap in practice.
Which side of Kansas City has more nursing jobs?
On September 26, 2026, Kansas City, Missouri had 672 open hospital and health-system postings (225 for RNs) and Kansas City, Kansas had 550 (144 for RNs), with Olathe and Overland Park adding more on the Kansas side. Kansas City systems posting in the two state lists include Saint Lukes Episcopal Presbyterian Hospital, University Health, The University of Kansas Health System, AdventHealth.