Creative pay 2026
Photographer salary in Kansas (2026)
Photographers in Kansas earn a median $37,790 a year ($18.17 an hour), according to BLS wage data for May 2025. That is 15% below the US median of $44,660; Kansas is 36th of 50 states and territories. That is below the $48,010 median for all jobs in Kansas.
- $37,790median a year in Kansas
- $18.17median an hour
- −15%vs the US median ($44,660)
- 300employee jobs (BLS estimate)
What is the salary range for a photographer in Kansas?
Half of photographers in Kansas earn between $34,240 and $50,470. Pay is bunched more tightly than nationally: the 90th percentile is 2.5 times the 10th, against 3.0 times across the US.
| 10th percentile | $29,340 | $30,820 | $14.11 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25th | $34,240 | $36,050 | $16.46 |
| Median | $37,790 | $44,660 | $18.17 |
| 75th | $50,470 | $62,740 | $24.27 |
| 90th percentile | $72,380 | $91,810 | $34.80 |
The mean (average) is $44,120, above the median, pulled up by the highest earners.
How does Kansas compare with other states?
Kansas sits 36th of 50, between South Carolina ($37,890) and Nevada ($37,460).
Which cities in Kansas pay photographers best?
Of the 2 metro areas in Kansas where BLS publishes a median for the job, Kansas City pays most, at $43,750, 16% above the state median.
| Kansas City, MO-KS | 280 | $43,750 | $21.03 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wichita, KS | 50 | $36,300 | $17.45 |
How many photographers work in Kansas?
BLS estimates 300 employee jobs, 0.21 in every 1,000 jobs in the state. The job is rarer here than nationally: a location quotient of 0.63, where 1 is the US average.
Employees only. BLS does not count the self-employed, who are a large share of several creative jobs.
What do other creative jobs pay in Kansas?
Every other creative job here pays a higher median than photographers do.
| UX/UI designer | $70,620 | 200 |
|---|---|---|
| Copywriter | $65,840 | 240 |
| Motion designer | $62,720 | n/a |
| Videographer | $60,690 | 110 |
| Graphic designer | $53,630 | 1,730 |
| Video editor | $50,900 | 70 |
What do freelance photographers charge?
Upwork, photographers list $25 to $45 an hour, worldwide. Kansas's employee median of $18.17 an hour is below that range. The rate calculator works out an hourly rate from the salary you want.
Questions
What is the average photographer salary in Kansas?
The median is $37,790 a year and the mean is $44,120, from BLS data for May 2025 covering about 300 employee jobs.
How much does a photographer make an hour in Kansas?
The median hourly wage is $18.17. The bottom 10% earn under $14.11 and the top 10% over $34.80.
What does a starting photographer earn in Kansas?
BLS does not publish pay by experience. The lowest-paid quarter of photographers in Kansas earn under $34,240 a year and the lowest-paid tenth under $29,340, which is the nearest guide to starting pay.
Get the Slice Weekly
One free email every Friday: tools for creators and the best advice we found from people who make things.
Where do these numbers come from?
US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (published 15 May 2026). Occupation 27-4021, Photographers. Employees only; annual figures are hourly times 2,080.
n = 300 jobs in the Kansas estimate. Last updated 2 October 2026.
Get the data
Free · CSV and JSON · 2 files
This page’s own figures as a CSV, and the full files behind What creative jobs pay in 2026. One email unlocks every download on Slice’s data pages.
- This page’s figures (CSV) Every table and figure on this page, with its source line.
- Every role, country and source (CSV) One row per role, country and measure: percentiles for employees and every published freelance rate, with its source.
- The full dataset (JSON) Everything above plus every US state and metro table, the outlook figures and the source records.
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: credit “Slice (tryslicemedia.com)” and link to this page. Leave the box unticked and we send you nothing. Everything on this page stays free to read without an email.
Photographer pay in other states
- District of Columbia $110,970
- New York $60,050
- Massachusetts $57,990
- Oregon $53,630
- Utah $52,140
- Connecticut $49,790
- Washington $48,050
- California $47,840
- Kentucky $47,170
- Colorado $47,070
- Virginia $46,550
- Minnesota $46,470