City of Boston / Fire Fighter
Role across City of Boston
Fire Fighter
Carry out the duties of this position in support of the agency's public mission.
803 people hold the Fire Fighter role across 1 department in City of Boston, with a median total compensation of $165,008. Among 8 jurisdictions where this role is reported, City of Boston ranks #3 by median pay.
- Employees
- 803
- Median pay
- $165,008
- Departments
- 1
- Cross-jurisdiction
- #3 of 8
Compared with the local labor market
Fire Fighter pay vs. the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area
Across all employers in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area, the median wage for Firefighters — about 8,510 people — is $73,990. City of Boston pays a median base salary of $134,912 for this role, 82% above that figure — above the 90th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where City of Boston sits in the local pay range
The bar is the range of annual wages for Firefighters across every employer in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows City of Boston’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Firefighters — about 345,990 people — is $59,280. City of Boston’s median base salary is 128% above that national figure, above the 90th 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 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 765 of 803 people in this role paid at least $25,000in base salary. The rest are part-year or part-time records, whose actual pay isn’t comparable to a full-time annual wage.
Median total compensation for this role at City of Boston is $165,008, 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 jurisdictions
Fire Fighter pay in other jurisdictions
Where Fire Fighters are paid most
Median total compensation for comparable Fire Fighterroles in other jurisdictions (highest first). Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not by identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for this role.