Firefighters in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,847
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$9,463
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,891
Utah costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Utah — 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
$48,310
Kept after tax
$38,847
Worth in national money
$40,891
State rank
32
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Utah is 32 of 50 states for firefighters, with a middle wage of $48,310. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Utah, this sits in the middle: 324 of 487 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $48,310 you keep $38,847 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $40,891 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $51,270, since top earners drag the number up.
- Utah ranks 32 of 50 for firefighters at $48,310. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Firefighters ranks 324 of 487 occupations in Utah 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.
- Retained pay in Utah is $38,847 after the full tax stack, from $48,310. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $40,891 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $51,270 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Firefighters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,660 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,310 |
| Top tenth earn over | $80,320 |
| This salary | $48,310 |
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 Utah | $38,847 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,997 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,298 |
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 | $45,634 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,570 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
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 Utah earn under $48,310 and half over. The published range runs $27,660 at the tenth percentile to $80,320 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Utah the take-home figure of $38,847, from $48,310, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 324 of 487 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $40,891, the adjusted value of that $48,310 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Utah. 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 324 of 487 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for firefighters in Utah, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $27,660 to $80,320; 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.
- Take-home for Utah is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $38,847 from $48,310. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 324 of 487 locally.
- This $40,891 adjusted figure, worked from $48,310, 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 324 of 487 in the state. The occupation ranks 324 of 487 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $51,270 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $27,660, the highest tenth $80,320, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Utah is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $40,891 in national terms.
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; Utah then takes its own share, leaving $38,847.
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 Utah is $51,270. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($27,660) and the ninetieth ($80,320) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Utah'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 $40,891 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 $38,847 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Utah 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.