Editing Wichita, Kansas (section)

==Economy==
[[File:Boeing Wichita.jpg|thumb|[[Boeing]] plant in Wichita (2010): Boeing was once the largest employer in Wichita (as per a 2005 analysis), and aviation remains the city's largest industry.]]

Restaurants founded in Wichita include [[White Castle (restaurant)|White Castle]] and [[Pizza Hut]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://consumerist.com/2015/07/14/the-white-castle-story-the-birth-of-fast-food-the-burger-revolution/|title = The White Castle Story: The Birth of Fast Food & the Burger Revolution|date = July 14, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.pizzahut.de/en/about-pizza-hut/the-history-of-pizza-hut/ |title=The History of Pizza Hut |publisher=Pizza Hut |access-date=December 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181212171427/https://www.pizzahut.de/en/about-pizza-hut/the-history-of-pizza-hut/ |archive-date=December 12, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> A survey of well-known Kansas-based brands conducted by RSM Marketing Services and the Wichita Consumer Research Center showed many of the top-25 Kansas-based brands such as [[Koch Industries|Koch]], [[Coleman Company|Coleman]], [[Cessna]], Pizza Hut, [[Beechcraft]], [[Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers|Freddy's]], and more are based in Wichita.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/news/2019/08/12/slideshow-see-the-best-known-brands-in-kansas.html|website=www.bizjournals.com|access-date=August 14, 2019|title=Slideshow: See the best-known brands in Kansas|date=August 12, 2019}}</ref>

Wichita's principal [[industrial sector]] is [[manufacturing]], which accounted for 21.6% of area employment in 2003. Aircraft manufacturing has long dominated the local economy, and plays such an important role that it has the ability to influence the economic health of the entire region; the state offers tax breaks and other incentives to aircraft manufacturers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/12/22/351204/hawker-beechcraft-secures-40-million-incentive-package-to-remain-in.html|access-date=January 2, 2011|title=Hawker Beechcraft secures $40 million incentive package to remain in Wichita}}</ref>

[[Healthcare]] is Wichita's second-largest industry, employing about 28,000 people in the local area. Since healthcare needs remain fairly consistent regardless of the economy, this field was not subject to the same pressures that affected other industries in the early 2000s. The Kansas Spine Hospital opened in 2004, as did a critical-care tower at [[Wesley Medical Center]].<ref name="wichitakansas.org"/> In July 2010, Via Christi Health, which is the largest provider of healthcare services in Kansas, opened a hospital that will serve the northwest area of Wichita. Via Christi Hospital on St. Teresa is the system's fifth hospital to serve the Wichita community.<ref>[http://www.kansas.com/2010/07/18/1408862/hospital-ready-for-visitors.html "Hospital ready for visitors"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100723133643/http://www.kansas.com/2010/07/18/1408862/hospital-ready-for-visitors.html |date=July 23, 2010 }}, ''Wichita Eagle and Kansas.com'', July 18, 2010.</ref> In 2016, Wesley Healthcare opened Wesley Children's Hospital, the first and only children's hospital in the Wichita area.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.kansas.com/news/business/health-care/article99429747.html|title=Wichita's Wesley Children's Hospital Officially Opens|last=Tanner|first=Becky|date=September 1, 2016|work=The Wichita Eagle}}</ref>

Thanks to the early 20th-century oil boom in neighboring [[Butler County, Kansas]], Wichita became a major oil town, with dozens of oil-exploration companies and support enterprises. Most famous of these was Koch Industries, today a global natural-resources conglomerate. The city was also at one time the headquarters of the former [[Derby Oil Company]], which was purchased by [[Coastal Corporation]] in 1988.

Koch Industries and [[Cargill]], the two largest privately held companies in the United States,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/21/private-companies-10_rank.html|title=Forbes article|work=Forbes}}</ref> both operate headquarters facilities in Wichita. Koch Industries' primary global corporate headquarters is in a large office-tower complex in northeast Wichita. [[Cargill Meat Solutions]] Div., at one time the nation's third-largest beef producer, is headquartered downtown. Other firms with headquarters in Wichita include amusement ride manufacturer [[Chance Rides]], gourmet food retailer [[Dean & Deluca]], [[renewable energy]] company [[Alternative Energy Solutions]], and [[Coleman Company]], a manufacturer of camping and outdoor recreation supplies. [[Air Midwest]], the nation's first officially certificated "commuter" airline, was founded and headquartered in Wichita and evolved into the nation's eighth-largest regional airline prior to its dissolution in 2008.<ref>"[http://ows.doleta.gov/dmstree/uipl/uipl2k2/uipl_3002c2a3.html uipl_3002c2a3.html]." [[United States Department of Labor]]. Retrieved on May 26, 2009.</ref>

As of 2013, 68.2% of the population over the age of 16 was in the labor force; 0.6% was in the armed forces, and 67.6% was in the civilian labor force with 61.2% employed and 6.4% unemployed. The occupational composition of the employed civilian labor force was 33.3% in management, business, science, and arts; 25.1% in sales and office occupations; 17.2% in service occupations; 14.0% in production, transportation, and material moving; and 10.4% in natural resources, construction, and maintenance. The three industries employing the largest percentages of the working civilian labor force were educational services, health care, and social assistance (22.3%); manufacturing (19.2%); and retail trade (11.0%).<ref name=Census2010/>

The cost of living in Wichita is below average; compared to a U.S. average of 100, the cost of living index for the city is 84.0.<ref name=CityData>{{cite web | title = Wichita, Kansas | publisher = City-Data.com | url = http://www.city-data.com/city/Wichita-Kansas.html | access-date = March 11, 2015}}</ref> As of 2013, the median home value in the city was $117,500, the median selected monthly owner cost was $1,194 for housing units with a mortgage and $419 for those without, and the median gross rent was $690.<ref name=Census2010/>

===Aircraft manufacturing===
[[File:NASA-2000Starship.jpg|thumb|right|[[Beechcraft Starship]] were built in Wichita from 1983 to 1995.]]

From the early to late 20th century, aircraft pioneers such as Clyde Cessna, Emil Matthew "Matty" Laird, Lloyd Stearman, [[Walter Beech]], [[Al Mooney]] and [[Bill Lear]] began aircraft-manufacturing enterprises that led to Wichita becoming the nation's leading city in numbers of aircraft produced, earning Wichita, in 1928, the 1929 title "Air Capital City" from the nation's [[Aerospace Industries Association|Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce]] — a title the city would claim permanently.<ref name="we_built_2018_09_smithsonianmag" /><ref name="borne_south_wind">Rowe, Frank J. (aviation engineering executive) & Craig Miner ([[Wichita State University]] Dept. of History). ''Borne on the South Wind: A Century of Kansas Aviation'',  [[Wichita Eagle|Wichita Eagle and Beacon Publishing Co.]], Wichita. 1994 (the standard reference work on Kansas aviation history)</ref><ref name="sampler_air">Penner, Marci, editor, and Richard Harris, contributor, in "[http://www.kansassampler.org/8wonders/commerceresults.php?id=131 Wichita Aviation Industry]" in "8 Wonders of Kansas Commerce" on the ''Kansas Sampler'' website of the Kansas Sampler Foundation, sponsored by the Kansas Humanities Council for the Kansas 150 Sesquicentennial, 2010–2011.</ref><ref name="wichita_av_hist_2020_03_31_thesunflower">[https://thesunflower.com/50981/news/wichitas-aviation-history-is-rich-but-the-industry-faces-unprecedented-challenges/ "Wichita's aviation history is rich, but the industry faces unprecedented challenges,"] May 1, 2020, ''The Sunflower,'' [[Wichita State University]], retrieved March 31, 2023</ref>

The aircraft corporations [[Swallow Airplane Company|E. M. Laird Aviation Company]] (the nation's first successful commercial airplane manufacturer), [[Travel Air]] (started by Beech, Stearman, and Cessna), [[Stearman Aircraft|Stearman]], [[Cessna]], [[Beechcraft]], and [[Mooney Airplane Company|Mooney]] were all founded in Wichita between 1920 and early 1932.<ref name="borne_south_wind" /><ref name="sampler_air" /><ref name="wichita_av_hist_2020_03_31_thesunflower" /><ref name="wbj_back" /> By 1931, [[Boeing]] (of [[Seattle]], Washington) had absorbed Stearman, creating "Boeing-Wichita", which would eventually grow to become Kansas' largest employer.<ref name="capital_story">Harris, Richard, "[http://harris1.net/hold/av/avhist/wichita/aircap_x.htm  The Air Capital Story: Early General Aviation & Its Manufacturers]", reprinted from ''In Flight USA'' magazine on author's own website, 2002/2003</ref><ref name="the_wichita_four">Bissionette, Bruce, ''The Wichita 4: Cessna, Moellendick, Beech & Stearman'' (from interviews with Matty Laird, Lloyd Stearman, Olive Ann Beech, Dwayne Wallace, Rawdon, Burnham, and other principals), Aviation Heritage Books, Destin, FL, 1999.</ref><ref name="boeing_sells_2023_02_23_spokesman">[[Associated Press]]: [https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2005/feb/23/boeing-sells-wichita-plant/ "Boeing sells Wichita plant,"] February 23, 2005, ''[[Spokesman-Review]],'' retrieved March 31, 2023</ref>  During [[World War II]], employment peak at Boeing-Wichita was 29,795 in December 1943.<ref name="WOK">{{cite web |title=Boeing Wichita History |url=https://wingsoverkansas.com/legacy/a375/ |website=Wings Over Kansas |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102000841/https://wingsoverkansas.com/legacy/a375/ |archive-date=January 2, 2023 |date=November 28, 2004 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Today, Cessna Aircraft Co. (the world's highest-volume airplane manufacturer) and Beechcraft remain based in Wichita, having merged into [[Textron Aviation]] in 2014, along with [[Learjet]] and Boeing's chief sub-assembly supplier, [[Spirit AeroSystems]]. Airbus maintains a workforce in Wichita, and [[Bombardier Aerospace|Bombardier]] (parent company of Learjet) has other divisions in Wichita, as well. Over 50 other aviation businesses operate in the Wichita MSA, as well as over 350 suppliers and subcontractors to the local aircraft manufacturers. In total, Wichita and its companies have manufactured an estimated 250,000 aircraft since Clyde Cessna's first Wichita-built aircraft in 1916.<ref name="capital_story" /><ref name="ks_av" /><ref name="borne_south_wind" /><ref name="sampler_air" /><ref name="we_built_2018_09_smithsonianmag" />

In the early 2000s, a national and international recession combined with the after-effects of the [[September 11 attacks|September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks]] to depress the aviation subsector in and around Wichita. Orders for new aircraft plummeted, prompting Wichita's five largest aircraft manufacturers, Boeing Co., Cessna Aircraft Co., Bombardier Learjet Inc., [[Hawker Beechcraft]], and [[Raytheon|Raytheon Aircraft Co.]]—to slash a combined 15,000 jobs between 2001 and 2004. In response, these companies began developing small- and mid-sized airplanes to appeal to business and corporate users.<ref name="wichitakansas.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.wichitakansas.org/ |title=Wichita Chamber of Commerce |publisher=Wichitakansas.org |access-date=July 15, 2013}}</ref>

In 2007, Wichita built 977 aircraft, ranging from single-engine [[light aircraft]] to the world's fastest civilian jet; one-fifth of the civilian aircraft produced in United States that year, plus numerous small military aircraft.<ref name="sampler_air" /><ref name="ks_av">Harris, Richard, (Chairman, Kansas Aviation Centennial; Kansas Aviation History Speaker, Kansas Humanities Council; Amer. Av. Historical Soc.), [http://ks100aviation.org/story_detailed.htm#ks_av_now "Kansas Aviation History: The Long Story"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808154322/http://ks100aviation.org/story_detailed.htm#ks_av_now |date=August 8, 2017 }}, 2011, [http://ks100aviation.org/ Kansas Aviation Centennial website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229200102/http://ks100aviation.org/ |date=December 29, 2018 }}</ref><ref name="gama_stats_2007">[[General Aviation Manufacturers Association]] (GAMA), ''GAMA Statistical Databook & Industry Outlook 2007'', Washington, D.C.GAMA ([[General Aviation Manufacturers Association]]), ''[http://www.gama.aero/files/GAMA_DATABOOK_2011_web.pdf GAMA Statistical Databook & Industry Outlook 2010] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722001714/http://www.gama.aero/files/GAMA_DATABOOK_2011_web.pdf |date=July 22, 2011 }}'', Washington, D.C. (which includes historical data for previous 10 years)</ref> In early 2012, Boeing announced it would be closing its Wichita plant by the end of 2013,<ref name="boeing_sells_2023_02_23_spokesman" /><ref>{{cite web|title=Boeing to close Wichita Facility by end of 2013|url=http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=2090|access-date=February 18, 2012}}</ref> which paved the road for [[Spirit AeroSystems|Spirit Aerosystems]] to open its plant (actually, the Boeing-Wichita factory, still producing the same aircraft assemblies for Boeing, but officially under a different corporation).<ref name="we_built_2018_09_smithsonianmag" /><ref name="legacy_spirit_aerosystems">[https://www.spiritaero.com/company/overview/history/ "A Legacy of Innovation: Our Heritage,"] [[Spirit AeroSystems]], retrieved March 31, 2023</ref>