First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$66,779
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$16,101
19.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$75,395
North Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Dakota — 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
$82,880
Kept after tax
$66,779
Worth in national money
$75,395
State rank
27
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. North Dakota is 27 of 50 states for this job, with a middle wage of $82,880. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within North Dakota this is well-paid work. Of 460 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 87 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $82,880 you keep $66,779 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $75,395 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $91,650, since top earners drag the number up.
- North Dakota ranks 27 of 50 for first-line supervisors of firefighting and prevention workers at $82,880. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Ranked against every occupation North Dakota publishes a median for, first-line supervisors of firefighting and prevention workers sits 87 of 460 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Retained pay in North Dakota is $66,779 after the full tax stack, from $82,880. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $75,395 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $91,650 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $63,820 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $82,880 |
| Top tenth earn over | $121,210 |
| This salary | $82,880 |
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 North Dakota | $66,779 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,136 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$6,307 |
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 | $82,373 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$8,713 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
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 first-line supervisors of firefighting and prevention workers in North Dakota earn under $82,880 and half over. The published range runs $63,820 at the tenth percentile to $121,210 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $66,779 take-home in North Dakota comes from $82,880. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 87 of 460.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $75,395 uses one figure for the whole of North Dakota. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 460 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 87.
- Figures are distribution medians for first-line supervisors of firefighting and prevention workers in North Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $63,820 to $121,210; 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.
- Retained pay of $66,779, from $82,880, assumes a single North Dakota filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 87 of 460 locally, and the state ranks 27 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $75,395, worked from $82,880, 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 North Dakota address, on work sitting at 87 of 460 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 $91,650 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $63,820 at the tenth percentile, $121,210 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in North Dakota sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $75,395 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 North Dakota's own levy, $66,779 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 North Dakota is $91,650. 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 ($63,820 to $121,210) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Dakota rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Dakota'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 $75,395 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 $66,779 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Dakota 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.