How Much Do Firefighters Make a Year? Firefighter Salary Calculator

Firefighters earned a median of $59,280 a year in May 2025 ($28.50 an hour on BLS's 2,080-hour basis), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' survey of 345,990 paid firefighters. Pay is spread wider than in almost any other job on this site: the lowest-paid tenth earned under $34,910 and the top tenth over $101,040, nearly three times as much. Department size, state and rank explain most of that, and overtime — excluded from these figures — adds more.

Firefighters: pay at every level

This is the BLS line for firefighters (SOC 33-2011) employed by local, state and federal agencies and private employers. Volunteer firefighters are not paid wages and are not in the survey, and fire officers and inspectors are counted separately. Take-home assumes a single filer with 2026 federal tax and FICA and no state tax.

Firefighter pay by state

New York's firefighters have the highest median, $100,960, then Washington ($94,520) and California ($85,120). Louisiana's $33,120 is the lowest — a third of New York's. Volunteer firefighters, who make up the largest share of firefighters nationwide, especially in communities under 25,000, are unpaid and not in these figures (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook).

Which employers pay firefighters most

State fire agencies pay a little more than city and county departments: $64,980 against $59,850, with federal firefighters in between at $63,270. Local government employs 87% of paid firefighters (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook).

A firefighter's schedule

Firefighters typically work long periods, overtime is common and hours vary: a department may run 24-hour shifts followed by 48 or 72 hours off. Wildland firefighters can spend days or weeks in a fire camp, and their work may be seasonal (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook). A 24-on/48-off rotation averages 56 hours a week (24 hours in every 72), so the same salary is worth far less per hour on duty than BLS's hourly figure, which divides the salary by 2,080 hours. The calculator's duty-hours box shows the difference.

Overtime for firefighters

Under section 7(k) of the FLSA, fire protection employees of a public agency are owed overtime after 212 hours in a 28-day work period — an average of 53 hours a week — or 106 hours in 14 days, instead of after 40 in a week. Comp time at time and a half can replace cash, up to 480 banked hours, and agencies with fewer than five fire employees are exempt (DOL Fact Sheet #8). A 24-on/48-off rotation puts about 224 hours in a 28-day period, so roughly 12 of them fall past the 212-hour line even before call-backs.

What the median salary is worth per hour on duty

BLS's hourly firefighter wage is the annual wage divided by 2,080 hours. Firefighters on long rotations are on duty far more than that, so the same $59,280 median salary works out to much less per hour on shift. Base pay only; overtime and call-backs are on top.

Training, licenses and pay

Licensing and certification requirements vary by state and department. Many firefighters need EMT or paramedic certification, which requires continuing education, and some need a commercial or firefighter-endorsed driver's license to drive the apparatus (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook). BLS doesn't publish a paramedic premium for firefighters; the percentile spread below is the official measure of how much rank, certifications and department change pay.

Related tools and guides

More ways to work with your firefighter pay:

• Overtime pay calculator
• Take-home pay calculator (2026 federal tax)
• Side hustles for veterans
• Weekend income calculator
• Hourly pay by job: all the BLS pay calculators