Money · 1 of 4
What firefighters make
Median
$95,000
Lower end
$60,000
Upper end
$128,000
Job Bank's national median for firefighters is $45.79 an hour, about $95,000 a year at 40 hours a week. Full-time departments pay you from your first day and raise your pay in steps each year until you reach first-class firefighter, the top rate. Volunteer and paid-on-call firefighters in small towns earn a small payment per call or per year instead.