City of Buffalo / Fire Engine 26 / Firefighter
Job-title file
Respond to fires and emergencies, perform rescue and medical aid, and carry out prevention and inspection.
17 employees hold this title in Fire Engine 26. Median total compensation for the role is $74,483, below the department median of $98,296.
What the records show
How total compensation varies among the 17 people in this role. Even for one job title, pay differs with seniority, step, overtime, and tenure. Each bar is a pay range; the far-right bar collects the highest earners.
Compared with the local labor market
Across all employers in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY area, the median wage for Firefighters — about 820 people — is $74,470. Fire Engine 26 pays a median base salary of $59,896 for this role, 20% below that figure — about the 26th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
The bar is the range of annual wages for Firefighters across every employer in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Fire Engine 26’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. Fire Engine 26’s median base salary is 1% above that national figure, about the 51st 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 Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 16 of 18 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 Fire Engine 26 is $76,628, 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
Firefighter is held in 38 City of Buffalo departments. In Fire Engine 26, the median of $74,483 ranks #23 of 38.
Median total compensation for the Firefighter role in other City of Buffalodepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.
Compare jurisdictions
This role is reported in 20 jurisdictions. In City of Buffalo, the median of $80,886 ranks #10 of 20. See Firefighter across all of City of Buffalo →
Median total compensation for comparable Firefighterroles 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.
Record list
Page 1
Firefighter/Fire Engine 26
Source-specific fields
Carla Duke works as a Firefighter for Fire Engine 26 within Public Safety. Carla earned $4,000 in 2023.