Engineering firms in Kansas City: 420 offices, the design giants headquartered here and two states' licensing rules

This report is for owners, developers, utilities and public agencies choosing a Kansas City engineering firm, engineers weighing employers on both sides of the state line, and B2B sellers whose customers are design firms. It covers the Census count, the county split, the large firms that a published employer list names, the licensing rules in Missouri and Kansas, and a worked prospecting example.

The Census count

County Business Patterns 2023 reports NAICS 541330 (Engineering Services) for the Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area (CBSA 28140). The code covers consulting engineers who design for clients: civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, environmental, power and process.

In bands: 309 offices with 1 to 19 employees, 89 with 20 to 99 and 22 with 100 or more. The Census Bureau publishes every size cell here, and the shape is clear: the seven offices with 500 or more employees account for at least 5,000 of the 19,431 jobs (our arithmetic from the size floors).

The counts are of establishments with paid employees. A firm with offices in Kansas City, Missouri, and Overland Park counts twice, and a sole practitioner without staff isn't counted. Engineers employed by utilities, manufacturers or contractors are counted in those industries, not here.

Where the offices are

The Census Bureau publishes employment for the three smaller counties but flags it as high-noise (its confidentiality noise changed the figure by 5% or more), so we leave it out. Johnson County, with Overland Park, Olathe and Lenexa, is the center of gravity: 47.9% of the offices and 52.9% of the jobs. Jackson County's offices are larger on average, 58.5 employees against Johnson's 51.1 (our calculation), because of the big headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri.

The big firms, from a published employer list

The Kansas City Area Development Council publishes a major employers list on its OneKC site, with regional headcount in ranges. It doesn't date the figures, so treat them as indicative. Engineering-led firms marked as headquartered in the region include:

The same list shows national firms with large Kansas City offices, such as HDR and Olsson (each 250 to 499), and dozens of smaller MEP, civil and structural specialists. None of the firms above files with the SEC, and SEC records show no listed engineering services company (SIC 8711) headquartered in the metro. For a ranked view of the national firms, see the largest engineering firms.

Licensing on both sides of the line

Individual engineers need a professional engineer license in each state where they seal work. Firms need their own authorization, and the two states word it differently:

A firm based in Overland Park designing a project in Kansas City, Missouri, needs the Missouri certificate as well as its Kansas one. Missouri's board offers an active licensee search and downloadable listings, the quickest way to confirm a firm's certificate.

How to choose a Kansas City engineering firm

1. Match the firm's market to your project. The region's big firms are national specialists in power, water, transportation and process work; a tenant fit-out or a small site plan is better served by one of the 309 offices with fewer than 20 people.
2. Check the right state's license. Confirm the firm's certificate and the engineer of record's license in the state where the project sits.
3. Ask for similar local projects with the reviewing jurisdiction (Kansas City, Missouri; Overland Park; Johnson County) and the number of review cycles.
4. Compare scope before fee, including construction administration and site visits.
5. Use the ACEC Missouri directory to find member firms by discipline; ACEC Missouri also promotes qualifications-based selection, which public owners use to pick a firm before negotiating price.

Selling to Kansas City engineering firms

Illustrative example. The company, rates and results are fictional, to show the method.

Crossroads Relocation (crossroadsrelocation.example) runs corporate housing and relocation for employers hiring engineers from out of town. The big design firms recruit nationally, so it starts at the top of the size table:

• Offices with 100 or more employees: 11 + 4 + 4 + 3 = 22.
• Offices with 50 to 99 employees, which also hire from outside the region: 21.
• It assumes 40% of those 43 offices relocate at least ten hires a year: about 17 accounts.
• At $6,000 in fees per relocation and 10 moves each from five clients, that's $300,000 a year.

Its buyers are talent acquisition leads and office HR managers, and the timing follows campus and experienced-hire recruiting seasons and large project wins, when firms staff up fast. Matching each of the 43 offices to a firm and the recruiter who owns relocation is the research Bebop does for every account.

Subject: Relocating [discipline] hires to [city]

Hi [first name],

When [firm] brings engineers in from out of state, the first 60 days in Kansas City decide whether they stay. Most firms handle housing with a stipend and hope.

We place relocating hires in furnished housing on either side of State Line, handle the lease and utilities, and report move dates to HR. Could I send our typical cost for a 90-day move into Overland Park?

[Your name], Crossroads Relocation

Next step: to turn these counts into named accounts, read how to build a prospect list.