Firefighters in Nebraska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,152
after federal, FICA and Nebraska tax
Tax takes
$11,888
19.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,386
Nebraska costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Nebraska — 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
$61,040
Kept after tax
$49,152
Worth in national money
$54,386
State rank
16
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for firefighters is strong here. Nebraska's middle earner gets $61,040, putting the state 16 of 50 — about 2.97% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Nebraska, this sits in the middle: 211 of 488 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Nebraska is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $61,040 the take-home is $49,152; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $54,386 would nationally. The average lands at $59,190, below the middle of the range.
- For firefighters, Nebraska sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $61,040, ranking 16 of 50 and running about 2.97% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Firefighters ranks 211 of 488 occupations in Nebraska by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Post-tax income for firefighters in Nebraska, on $61,040, is $49,152 — equivalent to $54,386 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $59,190 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 | $46,660 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,040 |
| Top tenth earn over | $69,460 |
| This salary | $61,040 |
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 Nebraska | $49,152 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,226 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,671 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $58,459 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,021 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Nebraska earn less than $61,040. The published range is $46,660 up to $69,460, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Nebraska's $49,152, worked from $61,040. 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 211 of 488.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $54,386 uses one figure for the whole of Nebraska. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 488 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 211.
- Reported values are medians; for firefighters in Nebraska the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $46,660 to $69,460. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Nebraska take-home of $49,152, on $61,040 for work ranking 211 of 488 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 211 of 488 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $54,386, worked from $61,040, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Nebraska address, on work sitting at 211 of 488 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 $59,190, 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?
The range here is narrow. From $46,660 at the bottom tenth to $69,460 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Nebraska is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $54,386 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Nebraska's own levy, $49,152 remains.
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 Nebraska is $59,190. 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 ($46,660 to $69,460) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Nebraska rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Nebraska's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $54,386 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $49,152 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Nebraska 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.