Pilot Salary in Missouri (2026)

Worth knowing: Boeing Defense, Space & Security St. Louis is the structural feature most national pilot-career surveys understate. The Boeing Defense STL campus (Mascoutah-Hazelwood-Berkeley complex, ~14,000 employees including ~700 test pilots and flight-test engineers) operates one of the country's largest single-site test pilot organizations — F-15EX Eagle II, F/A-18 Super Hornet, T-7A Red Hawk trainer, and MQ-25 Stingray unmanned tanker programs all maintain active flight test from the STL campus. Senior test pilots $185-345K TC plus DoD security clearance premium. The legacy TWA St. Louis mainline hub closed in 2003 after American Airlines acquired TWA's assets; American maintains operations at STL but doesn't anchor a major crew base. Most senior MO-resident commercial pilots commute to mainline hubs at Atlanta (Delta), Dallas-Fort Worth (American), Chicago O'Hare (United), or Memphis (FedEx Express). 49 USC 40116(f)(2) federal preemption routes commercial airline pilot wages through legal-residence-state taxation only — MO-resident pilots pay 4.95% state regardless of crew base. The 1% city earnings tax in St. Louis applies to Boeing Defense pilots based at the STL campus only if the specific Boeing facility sits within STL city limits — the Mascoutah-Hazelwood-Berkeley complex is in St. Louis County (outside STL city limits), so combined effective rate is 4.95% MO without the additional 1% city tax.