- The middle half earn between $20.56 and $28.84 an hour.
- Kansas ranks 22nd of the 48 states with published figures for median pay in this trade.
- Kansas pays more than all 4 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 110 locksmiths on payrolls in Kansas.
- At the state median wage, a locksmith business needs to bill about $115.28 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Locksmith pay in Kansas, bottom to top
BLS files these as locksmiths and safe repairers: the people who open and repair locks, make keys, change locks and combinations, and install and repair safes.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $17.80 | $37,010 | $17.08 |
| 25th percentile | $20.56 | $42,770 | $20.75 |
| Median | $25.45 | $52,930 | $24.68 |
| 75th percentile | $28.84 | $59,990 | $31.04 |
| 90th percentile | $34.01 | $70,740 | $38.17 |
| Average (mean) | $25.26 | $52,550 | $26.67 |
Pay is bunched up in Kansas. The top tenth earn $34.01 an hour or more, about 1.9 times the $17.80 at the bottom tenth. Nationally that gap is 2.2 times, so the step from the bottom of the scale to the top is shorter here than in most places.
The floor is higher than nationally ($17.80 against $17.08) but the ceiling is lower ($34.01 against $38.17), which squeezes pay toward the middle.
The average, $25.26, is close to the median, so pay sits fairly evenly around the middle.
How Kansas compares with other states
Over a full year the gap to the national median is small: $52,930 in Kansas against $51,320 nationally, $1,610 more.
In the state ranking, Kansas sits 22nd, between Virginia ($25.76) and Maine ($25.32). The range runs from $17.20 in Arkansas to $36.89 in the District of Columbia.
Kansas pays locksmiths more than any of its neighboring states, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. Someone working near the border can earn more by taking work on this side of it.
How many locksmiths work in Kansas
About 110 locksmiths work on payrolls in Kansas, 0.7% of the 15,040 nationwide, the 36th largest count among the states.
It is a smaller part of local jobs than in most of the country, at 0.1 per 1,000 jobs, 0.78 times the national share.
What a locksmith business in Kansas should charge
Say you run a locksmith business in Kansas and pay the state median of $25.45 an hour. Here is the labor rate calculator's math on its starting numbers: 40-hour weeks, 10 paid days off, 2 unbilled hours a day, 7.65% payroll taxes, $90,000 a year of overhead and 15% profit.
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paid hours | 40 × 52 | 2,080 |
| Hours at work | 2,080 − 10 days × 8 | 2,000 |
| Billable hours | 2,000 × 6 ÷ 8 | 1,500 |
| Labor cost | $25.45 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $56,986 |
| Break-even rate | ($56,986 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $97.99 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $97.99 ÷ 0.85 | $115.28 |
That is $115.28 per billable hour, 4.5 times the wage, and $1.35 more than the $113.93 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $28.84 in Kansas, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $121.24.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $20.56, the rate only drops to $106.70.
At this wage, overhead is most of the price: $60 of every billed hour goes to it before anyone is paid. Spreading the same overhead over more billable hours, with a second person or less drive time, brings the rate down fastest.
Run it with your own numbers in the labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Working as a locksmith in Kansas
- Running the business. Quotes, invoices, booking and your website in one place: how locksmiths run on Koira.
- Getting found. The free Koira report checks how your business shows up in search and on maps against shops near you.
Where these numbers come from
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
The figures are the BLS state estimates for SOC 49-9094, locksmiths and safe repairers, across all industries, read straight from the May 2025 state data file. They cover wage and salary workers, not the self-employed. Where BLS did not publish a figure, this page leaves it out.
All states in one table: locksmith salary by state.