Firefighter Pay and Benefits

What are the typical Firefighter Pay and Benefits. Career Firefighters can make a good living and most would say they don’t do it for the money. At the end of the day however, it is important to be able to support your family and plan for your future. Will a career in the fire service meet you financial needs?

As a new firefighter it is important to understand your pay and benefits. It is also important to understand how a fire department is funded and what can impact your pay. “So what does a firefighter make?”

A career firefighter starting salary on average in the United States is $53,300.00. The range throughout the country is $29,200.00 to $97,400.00 in 2021 according to Indeed.com. You’re probably asking yourself why such a wide range. There are several factors that impact starting salaries. The two primary reasons are location and requirements for the position.

Understanding Firefighter Base Salaries

Base salaries are just that, a starting point. Most departments have a scale, often call steps, within each rank. These steps are usually accomplished by time on the department and completion of training. Of course successful evaluations have an impact as well. Poor evaluations can, in many departments, hold a person from advancing to the next step.

Here is a snap shot of a typical pay chart showing annual steps. As you can see the starting wage is higher for a paramedic versus an EMT. Typically you will see a 5 to 7 percent increase for a paramedic versus an EMT.

The career as a firefighter has a lot of paths and opportunities that can be pursued by the candidate. For example, most departments now provide some level of medical care and medical response. A new firefighter that is on a department that operates the ambulance service or supplements the medical response can pursue additional training as an Emergency Medical Technicians, EMT, or Paramedic. What is important for you as the candidate to first understand is what interests you within the career. If, for example, you’re not interested on emergency medicine then you might find an interest in technical rescue or hazardous materials team response.

You might be asking yourself, “I have no idea?” That’s completely understandable. I just want you to start thinking about why wages are so broad with in the fire service and within a department.

Firefighter Pay and Benefits

The benefit package can be as important as the wage itself. A lower salary that provides better retirement and health benefits can have a bigger impact on your life in later years that simply higher salary.

The benefit package will usually include medical and dental insurance, vacations and holiday leave accrual, as well as information on worker compensation and sick leave.

No benefit package is the same. It is important for you as the candidate to review the benefit and wage package for the department you are applying for.

Firefighter Retirement

The fire service is one of the few careers that still provides a retirement pension. Most departments that are government based, meaning City, State, or County operated and funded will have a pension program.

How are Fire Departments funded?

As stated earlier, it is important to have a general understanding of how your fire department is funded. This can be a complicated discussion but in general there are three types of departments and funding streams.

1. City or metro department.
2. County or fire district.
3. Private often for profit organization.

City Department

City departments are funded by the city usually funded by city sales taxes. These taxes can come from several different revenue streams. What is important to understand is a city department is a part of the entire city funding plan. Every department within the city is competing for their share of the financial pie. During tough times, such as we saw during the pandemic, funding can be severely impacted by low sales tax revenue.

County and Special District Departments.

County departments and most special district departments are funded by property taxes. Often call Levy funding. This type of funding is voted on by the property owners within the district or county. The funding usually lags behind growth. It is important for the department to anticipate growth or downturn in population in order to meet financial needs for the department.

Private Fire Service Organization

Private or for hire organizations are privately managed and funded. The funding usually comes through service agreements with a city or county. Organizations like Rural Metro are an example of a privately funded organization. The pay with these types of organizations is usually lower and they are not covered under union contracts.

I have written a post that discusses these differences in more detail. Click this link to see that post.The Difference Between a Fire Department and a Fire District.

Firefighter Contracts

A great resource is to review the Firefighter Union Contract for the department you are applying for to answer all your questions as they pertain to pay and benefits. Most career departments are apart of the International Association of Fire Firefighters, IAFF. This union organization is instrumental in ensuring safe working conditions along with fair and competitive wages.

The union contract is a public document. To receive a copy of the current contract you can usually contact the Human Relations department or the local union directly.

In closing I want to wish you the best on your pursuit of a fire service career. By learning more about the career will make you a better candidate. Good luck to you.