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Kansas jobs and job market: layoffs, colleges and workforce help

Kansas’s unemployment rate is 3.8%. 2,239 open professional jobs are listed here. Employers filed 8 layoff notices in the last 12 months. Choose a county or city for the same picture closer to home.

Independent page. Not from or affiliated with the State of Kansas.

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Kansas economy

  • 3.8%

    unemployment, Sep 2026

    3.8% the month before

  • 1,549,945

    in the labor force

    Source: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics

  • 2,937,569

    people in Kansas

    Source: U.S. Census Bureau

  • $72,639

    median household income

    Source: Census ACS

  • 41%

    of workers in white-collar occupations

    Management, business, financial and professional; Census ACS

Kansas outlook: Steady

Built from public Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census figures. It describes the area, not any one employer in it.

  • Private-sector jobs up 3.3% from 2022 to 2025
  • Population up 1.3% from 2020 to 2025
  • Unemployment 3.8%, up 0.2 points from a year ago
  • Sectors adding the most jobs: health care (+13,240 jobs), construction (+6,808 jobs)
  • Sectors losing the most jobs: admin & staffing (−8,067 jobs), information (−785 jobs)

Local job-market news

Recent headlines about layoffs, AI and jobs in Kansas. Each link goes to the publisher.

Learn and get funded in Kansas

Kansas layoffs

  • 8

    Layoff notices, last 12 months

  • 222

    workers named

    A floor: states may leave out counts

  • 7

    employers

Layoff notices filed in Kansas, newest first
Notice dateEmployerCity or countyWorkersTypeSource
Boston Heart Diagnostics CorporationLenexa68—State record
Family EndeavorsSan Antonio3—State record
First StudentCincinnati151—State record
Ashley Clinic/Southeast Kansas Mental Health CenterIola——State record
First Brands Group, LLC (Horizon Global)Edgerton——State record
First Brands Group, LLC (Hopkins)Edgerton——State record
Lowe'sCharlotte——State record
Vornado Air, LLC.Andover——State record

All layoff notices in the state

Get an email when a new notice is filed for Kansas

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Employers hiring most in Kansas

Employers with the most open professional roles on our job board right now.

  1. Garmin182 open roles
  2. Black & Veatch144 open roles
  3. Spirit AeroSystems57 open roles
  4. Kiewit Infrastructure West40 open roles
  5. Kiewit38 open roles
  6. McGraw-Hill Education38 open roles
  7. Kiewit Infrastructure South37 open roles
  8. Govcio31 open roles
  9. Panasonic Energy North America31 open roles
  10. SPX Technologies29 open roles
  11. Bechtel Plant Machinery28 open roles
  12. Colgate Palmolive23 open roles

Largest employers headquartered in Kansas

Employee counts with a year are published figures (Wikidata). Other sizes are estimates from our company directory, not payroll counts.

Higher education in Kansas

  • 33

    public and private non-profit colleges

    Source: IPEDS, U.S. Department of Education

  • about 212,000

    students enrolled

    Estimated from size bands

Largest colleges in Kansas

Largest colleges in Kansas
CollegeCityTypeStudents
Kansas State UniversityManhattanPublic 4-year20,000+
University of KansasLawrencePublic 4-year20,000+
Fort Hays State UniversityHaysPublic 4-year10,000–19,999
Wichita State UniversityWichitaPublic 4-year10,000–19,999
Pittsburg State UniversityPittsburgPublic 4-year5,000–9,999
Washburn UniversityTopekaPublic 4-year5,000–9,999
Baker UniversityBaldwin CityPrivate non-profit 4-year1,000–4,999
Benedictine CollegeAtchisonPrivate non-profit 4-year1,000–4,999
Emporia State UniversityEmporiaPublic 4-year1,000–4,999
Friends UniversityWichitaPrivate non-profit 4-year1,000–4,999
Kansas Wesleyan UniversitySalinaPrivate non-profit 4-year1,000–4,999
MidAmerica Nazarene UniversityOlathePrivate non-profit 4-year1,000–4,999

All 33 Kansas colleges

Workforce development and job centers

The public workforce board and American Job Centers serving Kansas. They offer free help with job search, training and filing for benefits.

Laid off in Kansas? How to file for unemployment in Kansas (steps, weekly amount and the appeal deadline).

  • Kansas Local Area I Workforce Development Board

    Atchison, Barber, Barton, Brown, Chase, Cheyenne, Clark, Clay, Cloud, Comanche, Decatur, Dickinson, Doniphan, Douglas, Edwards, Ellis, Ellsworth, Finney, Ford, Franklin, Geary, Gove, Graham, Grant, Gray, Greeley, Hamilton, Harvey, Haskell, Hodgeman, Jackson, Jefferson, Jewell, Kearny, Kiowa, Lane, Lincoln, Logan, Marion, Marshall, McPherson, Meade, Mitchell, Morris, Morton, Nemaha, Ness, Norton, Osage, Osborne, Ottawa, Pawnee, Phillips, Pottawatomie, Pratt, Rawlins, Reno, Republic, Rice, Riley, Rooks, Rush, Russell, Saline, Scott, Seward, Shawnee, Sheridan, Sherman, Smith, Stafford, Stanton, Stevens, Thomas, Trego, Wabaunsee, Wallace, Washington, Wichita

  • Kansas WorkforceONE

    Allen, Anderson, Bourbon, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Coffey, Crawford, Elk, Greenwood, Labette, Linn, Lyon, Miami, Montgomery, Neosho, Wilson, Woodson

  • Workforce Alliance Local Workforce Development Board

    Butler, Cowley, Harper, Kingman, Sedgwick, Sumner

  • Workforce Partnership Workforce Development Board

    Johnson, Leavenworth, Wyandotte

23 American Job Centers in Kansas

Job fairs and business events in Kansas

Hiring events, career workshops, small-business counseling and startup events from chambers, job centers, workforce boards, colleges and economic-development groups in Kansas.

Conferences in Kansas

Industry conferences and trade shows held in Kansas, the ones worth a trip for hiring managers and job seekers. 5 with dates announced.

All conferences

Kansas counties

Each county page has its own unemployment, layoffs, job openings, employers, colleges and job centers.

Show all 105

Kansas cities

Cities with open jobs, layoff notices, a job center or a college.

Show all 57

Laid off or looking for work in Kansas?

See what to do first, what Kansas unemployment benefits pay, and the jobs open near you.

See your options after a layoff

Sources: Census Bureau and BLS for population, income and unemployment; layoff notices from Kansas’s published record; job counts from our live job board, taken from employers’ own career sites; IPEDS for colleges; CareerOneStop for workforce boards and job centers. Kansas unemployment benefits and severance rules.

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