Firefighters · SOC 33-2011

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Firefighters

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025U.S. metropolitan areas

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for firefighters. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked (8 such areas are excluded here). Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Top 25 of 347 metro areas

Firefighters: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$152,100	1,330	1.2
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$113,700	3,450	1.5
3	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$106,420	14,960	1.6
4	Bellingham, WA	$101,130	320	3.5
5	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$101,090	3,760	1.8
6	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$99,930	300	1.8
7	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$98,050	7,200	1.1
8	Vallejo, CA	$95,950	330	2.3
9	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$95,910	290	3.1
10	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$94,080	2,590	2.4
11	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$90,050	260	2.0
12	Rochester, NY	$89,120	730	1.5
13	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$88,090	340	1.4
14	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$87,980	3,010	1.9
15	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$87,400	310	1.5
16	Ames, IA	$86,010	60	1.1
17	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$85,170	1,730	1.4
18	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$83,310	750	2.9
19	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$82,820	14,560	3.2
20	Corvallis, OR	$82,700	60	1.5
21	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$82,250	410	2.0
22	Binghamton, NY	$81,810	120	1.3
23	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$81,680	840	2.1
24	Reno, NV	$81,360	780	2.8
25	Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	$81,100	180	3.3

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Firefighters overview.

About this data. Estimates are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 release, retrieved from bls.gov/oes/tables.htm on July 24, 2026. OEWS estimates describe metropolitan/nonmetropolitan areas and states — not city limits — and are not designed for year-over-year comparisons. See BLS methodology, our plain-English methodology, and sources. CitySalaryData is independent and not affiliated with BLS.