Average pay for a US Firefighter in 2022

What did you want to be when you grew up? A teacher? A policeman? Maybe even a firefighter? Inquiring minds want to know how much a career in the fire service pays.

What’s the average pay for a US Firefighter in 2022?

More than 310,000 firefighters serve this country. Earnings vary widely depending on their position in the organization and their geographic location.

The average annual salary for a United States firefighter is $50,850. In contrast, the lowest-paid is around $30,000, while the highest-paid is nearly $70,000! Keep in mind that these figures are averages, and you have to take into consideration the cost of living in the area in which you want to be a firefighter.

In the United States, a firefighter’s annual salary typically ranges from $30,000 to $70,000. Firefighters who rise through the ranks stand to gain significantly as well. Over $300,000 per year is the highest salary for a US fireman! Factors such as location, experience, actual rank or position within the Fire Department, specialized training, and the number of hours spent overtime during the year come into play. Firefighters may put in hundreds of additional hours per year on top of their normal shifts. Even so, it’s fair to say that joining the fire service isn’t something you should do in order to get rich; the honor is in helping others and making a difference in your community.

We all know that getting a college education pays off financially, but how much more in the field of fire service? For the sake of comparison, we divided Firefighter pay into three categories by educational attainment. A Firefighter makes an average annual income of $32,800 dollars if they only have a high school diploma. Someone with an Associates Degree earns an average of $51,400, which is 57% higher compared to someone with only a High School diploma. One can expect to make 68% more money with a Bachelor’s Degree than with an Associates Degree.

A person’s salary also rises linearly with their level of experience. For a Firefighter with less than 2 years of experience, the average annual salary is roughly $28,700. An employee with 2-5 years of experience can expect to make $38,300 a year. Between 5 and 10 years of experience, a person may expect to earn a salary of $56,700 per year. Firefighters with 10-15 years of experience get an average annual compensation of $69,100.