Kansas energy profile

Manufacturing energy costs in Kansas

As of Jul 2026, industrial electricity in Kansas runs 8.52 cents per kWh. That is 12.8% cheaper than the U.S. average and places the state 16 of 51 nationally.

Current prices in Kansas

  • Industrial electricity: 8.52 cents per kWh (Jul 2026, EIA).
  • Commercial electricity, the rate a warehouse or distribution center in Kansas typically pays: 12.04 cents per kWh.
  • Industrial natural gas: 5.16 per Mcf (Jul 2026), 12.7% above the national average.
  • Just below Kansas on the price ladder: North Carolina at 8.37, West Virginia at 8.4, Alabama at 8.42 cents. Just above: Wyoming at 8.62, Oregon at 8.92, Idaho at 9.02 cents.

What the rate does to operating cost

  • A 10 kW machine running a 4,000 hour year costs about 3,408 in electricity at Kansas rates versus 3,908 at the national average; at 50 kW the gap is 17,040 versus 19,540, and at 200 kW it is 68,160 versus 78,160.
  • Energy is a genuine competitive advantage here: energy-intensive steps like heat treating, melting, and drying carry meaningfully lower unit cost in Kansas than in most of the country, which strengthens make-versus-buy cases for keeping those operations in-house.

What factory labor pays in Kansas

  • Industrial production managers: $60.46/hr median in Kansas versus $60.61 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Industrial engineers: $48.00/hr median in Kansas versus $49.25 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Tool and die makers: $40.33/hr median in Kansas versus $30.79 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Production supervisors: $35.81/hr median in Kansas versus $35.79 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Industrial machinery mechanics: $31.65/hr median in Kansas versus $31.02 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Quality inspectors and testers: $25.81/hr median in Kansas versus $23.35 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Kansas employs about 174,000 manufacturing workers as of Aug 2026 (BLS).

Manufacturing base in Kansas

  • Kansas has 2,677 manufacturing establishments employing about 170,492 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).
  • Largest sectors by establishment count: fabricated metal products (503), food manufacturing (324), machinery manufacturing (290), printing and related support (260), machine shops (174).

Sources and update cadence

  • Prices come from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and refresh automatically when the agency publishes; this page also archives each month's Kansas observation so the local price history deepens over time.

Last reviewed 2026-09-30.