Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers Salary

Yes — at the median salary of $56K, rent takes 28.7% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,066/month. That stays under the 30% guideline most financial planners use.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new rail yard engineers, dinkey operators, and hostlers typically earn — is $48K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,900/month. At HUD’s $1,066/month FMR, rent would take 37% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Pay here is roughly in line with the national average — $56K locally vs. $61K nationally, a 7% difference.

Kansas pays $56K median vs. the U.S. average of $61K — that’s -7%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 89.54), the purchasing-power equivalent is $63K — still ahead of the national median.

The median is $56,090 a year, that works out to about $27 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $48,330, and experienced rail yard engineers, dinkey operators, and hostlers can clear $59,240. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $3,714/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,066/month, which eats 28.7% of your paycheck. That's under the 30% guideline most financial planners use, so the numbers work.

Kansas has a Regional Price Parity of 89.54 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median rail yard engineers, dinkey operators, and hostlers salary is worth about $62,642 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.