Firefighters
Salary, job outlook, AI risk & career information
Firefighters in the United States earn a median salary of $59,280 per year — about $29 per hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Roughly 345K people work in this occupation nationwide, with projected employment growth of +3%.
AI & Automation Risk
The core duties of firefighting are intensely physical and require real-time presence in unpredictable, hazardous environments where AI cannot currently operate. While AI may enhance peripheral tasks like incident reporting, equipment maintenance scheduling, and predictive wildfire modeling, the essential work of rescuing victims and extinguishing fires remains a human-centric manual task.
Salary by City — What You Actually Take Home
Real purchasing power = salary adjusted for cost of living. Higher = more money in your pocket.
| City | Local Salary | Cost of Living | Real Purchasing Power |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CABEST VALUE | $152,100 | Above avg (113.1) | $134,532 |
| Fort Collins-Loveland, CO | $99,930 | Average (97.3) | $102,695 |
| Bellingham, WA | $101,130 | Above avg (104.0) | $97,229 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | $113,700 | Above avg (117.6) | $96,724 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | $106,420 | Above avg (112.6) | $94,474 |
| Ames, IA | $86,010 | Below avg (91.5) | $94,036 |
| Rochester, NY | $89,120 | Average (98.4) | $90,579 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $101,090 | Above avg (112.7) | $89,674 |
| Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA | $95,910 | Above avg (107.4) | $89,285 |
| Binghamton, NY | $81,810 | Below avg (92.1) | $88,837 |
| Vallejo, CA | $95,950 | Above avg (109.4) | $87,739 |
| Sheboygan, WI | $79,620 | Below avg (90.9) | $87,595 |
| Erie, PA | $80,280 | Below avg (91.9) | $87,317 |
| Abilene, TX | $78,380 | Below avg (90.4) | $86,709 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA | $94,080 | Above avg (109.1) | $86,240 |