City of Baltimore / Fire Department / Executive Director III
Job-title file
Lead staff and operations — set priorities, allocate resources, and oversee program delivery.
1 employee holds this title in Fire Department. Median total compensation for the role is $224,339, above the department median of $118,399.
Compared with the local labor market
Across all employers in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD area, the median wage for Chief Executives — about 1,970 people — is $268,030. Fire Department pays a median base salary of $226,576 for this role, 15% below that figure — about the 36th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
The bar is the range of annual wages for Chief Executives across every employer in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Fire Department’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Chief Executives — about 204,350 people — is $213,990. Fire Department’s median base salary is 6% above that national figure, about the 52nd percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Fire Department is $226,576, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.
Compare departments
Executive Director III is held in 26 City of Baltimore departments. In Fire Department, the median of $224,339 ranks #7 of 26.
Median total compensation for the Executive Director III role in other City of Baltimoredepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.
Compare jurisdictions
This role is reported in 16 jurisdictions. In City of Baltimore, the median of $181,781 ranks #3 of 16. See Executive Director across all of City of Baltimore →
Median total compensation for comparable Executive Director roles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.
Same department
Record list
Page 1
Executive Director III/Fire Department
Source-specific fields
James W Wallace is a Executive Director III at Fire Department. Hired in 1990, they have about 35 years of service. 2025 total compensation came to $224,339.