Firefighters in Connecticut
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,923
after federal, FICA and Connecticut tax
Tax takes
$17,707
22.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$57,791
Connecticut costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Connecticut — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$77,630
Kept after tax
$59,923
Worth in national money
$57,791
State rank
6
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Connecticut is one of the better-paying states for firefighters. The middle earner takes $77,630, which ranks 6 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 30.95% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 482 occupations Connecticut reports figures for, this is number 180.
- Connecticut is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $77,630 the take-home is $59,923; in national-average money that behaves like $57,791. The average lands at $73,760, below the middle of the range.
- Connecticut ranks 6 of 50 states publishing a median for firefighters, at $77,630 — about 30.95% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- In Connecticut's occupational distribution, firefighters sits at 180 of 482 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Take-home for firefighters in Connecticut, on $77,630, is $59,923; deflated by the state's price level, $57,791. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $73,760 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Firefighters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,320 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,630 |
| Top tenth earn over | $85,500 |
| This salary | $77,630 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Connecticut | $59,923 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,443 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,496 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $72,627 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,354 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $77,630 as a midpoint for Connecticut, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $51,320 and the ninetieth is $85,500 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Connecticut's $59,923, worked from $77,630. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 180 of 482.
- Two cautions on $57,791, the adjusted value of that $77,630 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Connecticut. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 180 of 482 locally.
- The Connecticut median of $77,630 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $51,320 to $85,500. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Connecticut take-home of $59,923, on $77,630 for work ranking 180 of 482 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 180 of 482 in the state.
- This $57,791 adjusted figure, worked from $77,630, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 180 of 482 in the state. The occupation ranks 180 of 482 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $73,760, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $51,320 at the tenth percentile, $85,500 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Connecticut run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $57,791 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Connecticut then takes its own share, leaving $59,923.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Connecticut is $73,760. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($51,320 to $85,500) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Connecticut rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Connecticut's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $57,791 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $59,923 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Connecticut income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.