Firefighters in Vermont
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,187
after federal, FICA and Vermont tax
Tax takes
$8,243
17.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,517
Vermont costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Vermont — 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
$46,430
Kept after tax
$38,187
Worth in national money
$39,517
State rank
40
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for firefighters is on the low side in Vermont. The middle earner gets $46,430. That is 40 of 50 states, and about 21.68% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 453 occupations Vermont publishes, firefighters lands at 366. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Vermont does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $46,430 you keep $38,187, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $39,517 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $49,570, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For firefighters, Vermont sits in the lower band at $46,430, ranking 40 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 21.68%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Vermont, this work ranks 366 of 453 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After federal, FICA and Vermont income tax, retained pay for firefighters on $46,430 is $38,187. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $39,517 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $49,570 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Firefighters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,790 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $77,200 |
| This salary | $46,430 |
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 Vermont | $38,187 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,487 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,117 |
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 | $44,813 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,351 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,430 as a midpoint for Vermont, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $29,790 and the ninetieth is $77,200 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Vermont the take-home figure of $38,187, from $46,430, 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 366 of 453 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $39,517 uses one figure for the whole of Vermont. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 453 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 366.
- The Vermont median of $46,430 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $29,790 to $77,200. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Vermont is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $38,187 from $46,430. 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 366 of 453 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $39,517, worked from $46,430, 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 Vermont address, on work sitting at 366 of 453 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 $49,570, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $29,790, the highest tenth $77,200, 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. Vermont is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $39,517 in national terms.
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 Vermont adds its own income tax on top — which is why $38,187 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Vermont is $49,570. 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 ($29,790) and the ninetieth ($77,200) 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?
Vermont'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 $39,517 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 $38,187 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Vermont 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.