Tech

AI / ML Engineer Salary in Missouri (2026)

The average AI / ML Engineer in Missouri earns around $220,000/year. After taxes, your estimated take-home is $154,319/year ($12,860/month).

Take-Home Pay Breakdown

CategoryAmount
Annual Take-Home Pay
$154,319
Monthly Take-Home Pay
$12,860
Biweekly Take-Home Pay
$5,935
Hourly Take-Home Pay

based on 2,080 hrs/year

$74/hr
Federal Tax
$41,704
State Tax
$9,168
FICA Taxes
$14,809
Effective Tax Rate

total taxes ÷ gross salary

29.85%
Estimates only — not tax advice. · Full disclaimer →

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AI / ML Engineer Salary Ranges in Missouri

Entry Level (0–3 yrs)

$165,000

/year

See tax breakdown →

Mid Level (3–7 yrs)

$220,000

/year

See tax breakdown →

Senior Level (7+ yrs)

$380,000

/year

See tax breakdown →

Not all AI / ML Engineers earn the same — not even close

Missouri's AI/ML engineering market is anchored by Oracle Health (legacy Cerner ~12K KC-area employees post-2022 $28B Oracle acquisition, the country's largest single-state healthcare-software AI/ML organization), Centene HQ Clayton (Fortune 25 healthcare insurance, ~25K MO employees, substantial claims + member analytics), Edward Jones HQ Maryland Heights (~20K employees, largest US broker-dealer branch network with substantial investor analytics ML), Washington University in St. Louis research (substantial NIH-funded computational biology + medical AI), Boeing Defense Space & Security STL (cleared aerospace AI), plus the Cortex Innovation Community St. Louis startup cluster.

Principal ML Engineer / Senior Scientist

$215,000–$365,000+ TC

Oracle Health senior · WashU research · Centene senior · Boeing Defense senior · cleared specialty

Senior ML Engineer (Healthcare Software)

$155,000–$245,000

Oracle Health (legacy Cerner) · clinical decision support · EHR ML · medical-imaging AI premium

Senior ML Engineer (Healthcare Insurance)

$145,000–$220,000

Centene claims + member analytics · Express Scripts/Cigna PBM · senior healthcare-insurance ML

Senior ML Engineer (Financial Services)

$145,000–$225,000

Edward Jones investor analytics · Stifel quant · Wells Fargo Advisors · senior FinServ ML

Senior ML Engineer (Cleared Aerospace)

$165,000–$275,000

Boeing Defense Space & Security · F-15EX + T-7A + MQ-25 · TS/SCI plus polygraph premium

Senior MLOps Engineer

$125,000–$195,000

Production ML deployment · Oracle Health clinical pipelines · Centene real-time scoring · senior platform IC

ML Engineer (Mid-Level, 3-6 yrs)

$108,000–$165,000

Most common mid-career band · WashU + Mizzou + UMKC + Missouri S&T pipeline · cross-industry

Junior ML Engineer (0-3 yrs)

$85,000–$125,000

Post-WashU + Mizzou + UMKC + Missouri S&T MS/PhD · Oracle Health + Centene new-grad · entry band

Senior Computational Biologist (WashU)

$155,000–$255,000

Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine · NIH-funded computational biology · academic premium

Senior Research Scientist (Cortex / Startup)

$145,000–$235,000

Cortex Innovation Community STL · BioSTL startup cluster · early-stage equity participation

Worth knowing: Oracle Health (legacy Cerner, ~12K KC-area employees post-2022 $28B Oracle acquisition) is the structural depth feature most national AI/ML-career surveys understate for MO. Oracle Health operates the country's largest single-state healthcare-software AI/ML organization — clinical decision support ML, EHR predictive analytics, medical imaging AI, and revenue cycle ML all at scale across Oracle Health's ~25% US hospital EHR market share. Senior Oracle Health ML engineers clear $155-275K TC. Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine ($706M+ FY2023 NIH funding — top-5 nationally) operates substantial NIH-funded computational biology + medical AI research. Centene HQ Clayton (Fortune 25, ~$165B revenue, ~25K MO employees) operates the country's largest single-state Medicaid managed care AI/ML organization. Edward Jones HQ Maryland Heights (~20K employees, ~$15B revenue) operates substantial investor analytics ML supporting the 15K+ branch network. Boeing Defense Space & Security STL (~14K MO employees) drives cleared aerospace AI/ML at TS/SCI clearance scales. The Cortex Innovation Community St. Louis (post-2002 redevelopment of CWE biotech district, ~$2.4B cumulative investment, ~300 startups) drives early-stage AI/ML startup demand. MO's 4.95% flat tax plus STL/KC 1% city earnings tax creates county-residency arbitrage: Edward Jones Maryland Heights employees + Oracle Health North Kansas City employees pay only 4.95% combined; downtown STL employers pay 5.95%.

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