Amazon's Missouri Data Center Jobs and What They Actually Pay
Updated June 15, 2026
Amazon is putting several billion dollars into a new data center campus in Montgomery County, Missouri, a rural stretch of the state between St. Louis and Columbia. The company says the project will create more than 400 permanent data center jobs and thousands of construction jobs while it is built, on land that until now brought in under $9,000 a year in property taxes. For a county that size, that is a genuine shift.
The roles Amazon named are concrete: electricians, HVAC technicians, project engineers, network specialists, operations managers, and security specialists. Most coverage stops at the headline number. The question worth asking is the one a job announcement never answers, what do these jobs pay, and can you build a life on that pay where the campus is going? Below are the numbers, straight from federal wage surveys, against the real cost of living in Missouri.
The short version: Missouri is one of the markets where these wages go further than they look, because rent and everyday costs sit below the national average. A paycheck that would feel tight on a coast does real work here.
What the permanent jobs pay in Missouri
Statewide median annual wages from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025 data. Median means half the workers earn more and half earn less. The range shows where entry-level pay starts and what the experienced top tier earns. Tap any card for pay by metro across Missouri.
Why the pay goes further in Missouri
A wage only means something next to what it costs to live. Missouri's cost of living runs below the national average, and the fair-market rent for a two-bedroom in the state is about $1,097 a month, roughly $13,164 a year. Line that up against the wages above and even the entry roles clear the rent with room to spare, while the electrical, network, and management jobs leave a real cushion. That gap, decent pay against low cost, is the whole point, and it is what most job coverage leaves out.
The construction wave comes first
Before anyone runs a server, the campus has to be built, and that is the larger near-term hiring push: thousands of construction jobs in the trades. Statewide, construction laborers earn a median of $56,730, and licensed electricians on the project earn more. Most of this work runs through general contractors and the building trades rather than Amazon's own payroll, and none of it requires a four-year degree.
If you want into the trades without taking on debt, registered apprenticeships pay you a wage while you learn. We broke down the free and paid training paths, and what each trade earns, here: free trades training and what the jobs pay.
Start applying
Ready to move on it? These get you from reading to applying for data center and construction roles tied to builds like this one.
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Common questions about Amazon's Missouri data center jobs
What is Amazon building in Missouri?
Amazon announced a multibillion-dollar data center campus in Montgomery County, in east-central Missouri. The company says it will create over 400 full-time data center jobs plus thousands of construction jobs while the campus is built, and named roles including electricians, HVAC technicians, project engineers, network specialists, operations managers, and security specialists. Amazon also projects hundreds of millions of dollars in new local tax revenue from land that previously generated under $9,000 a year.
What do the permanent data center jobs pay in Missouri?
It depends on the role. Across Missouri, the median electrician earns $65,410 a year, and the more technical roles run higher: network and systems administrators sit near $80,870, and operations managers similar. The figures below are statewide medians from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025 data. Median means half earn more and half earn less, so treat it as the middle of the road, not a starting wage or a ceiling.
Can you actually afford to live there on that pay?
That is the part most job announcements skip, and it is where Missouri does well. The fair-market rent for a two-bedroom in the state runs about $1,097 a month, and the cost of living sits below the national average. So a wage that would feel tight on either coast stretches a lot further here. Even the lowest-paid role on Amazon's list clears the local two-bedroom rent, and the skilled and technical roles leave real room in the budget. The point of these jobs is not just the paycheck, it is what the paycheck buys where you live.
How do I apply for the construction jobs?
The construction phase is the bigger near-term hiring wave, with thousands of roles for laborers, electricians, and mechanical trades while the campus goes up. Statewide, construction laborers earn a median of $56,730 and electricians more. Most of this work flows through general contractors and the building trades rather than Amazon directly, and you do not need a degree to start. Registered apprenticeships listed at apprenticeship.gov pay you a wage while you train.
Are these jobs permanent or temporary?
Both kinds exist here. The thousands of construction jobs last as long as the build does, which can run for years on a campus this size but is finite. The 400-plus data center jobs are the permanent ones, the people who run and maintain the facility once it opens. If you want a career rather than a project, those operations, electrical, mechanical, and network roles are the ones to aim for.
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Source data is published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and other federal agencies. AffordMap is not affiliated with or endorsed by any government agency. Per BLS policy, "BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov."