Firefighters in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$74,939
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$26,021
25.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$69,629
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$100,960
Kept after tax
$74,939
Worth in national money
$69,629
State rank
1
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for firefighters is strong here. New York's middle earner gets $100,960, putting the state 1 of 50 — about 70.31% ahead of the national figure.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 493 occupations New York reports, firefighters comes in at 102 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $100,960, tax leaves $74,939 — and because New York is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $69,629 would nationally. Here the average runs under the middle, at $87,150.
- For firefighters, New York sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $100,960, ranking 1 of 50 and running about 70.31% 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 102 of 493 occupations by median in New York, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- After tax, $74,939 remains from the New York median of $100,960 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $69,629 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $87,150 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Firefighters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $56,390 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $100,960 |
| Top tenth earn over | $106,440 |
| This salary | $100,960 |
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 New York | $74,939 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,855 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$12,548 |
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 | $93,972 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$17,332 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of firefighters in New York earn under $100,960 and half over. The published range runs $56,390 at the tenth percentile to $106,440 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New York's $74,939, worked from $100,960. 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 102 of 493.
- Two cautions on $69,629, the adjusted value of that $100,960 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of New York. 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 102 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for firefighters in New York, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $56,390 to $106,440; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The New York take-home of $74,939, on $100,960 for work ranking 102 of 493 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 102 of 493 in the state.
- This $69,629 adjusted figure, worked from $100,960, 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 102 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 102 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $87,150, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $56,390 at the bottom tenth to $106,440 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. New York costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $69,629 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and New York adds its own income tax on top — which is why $74,939 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 New York is $87,150. 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 ($56,390 to $106,440) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to New York rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $69,629 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 $74,939 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.