City of Charlotte / Cfd Aviation / Fire Fighter I
Job-title file
Carry out the duties of this position in support of the agency's public mission.
9 employees hold this title in Cfd Aviation. Median total compensation for the role is $62,523, below the department median of $101,171.
What the records show
How total compensation varies among the 9 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 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC area, the median wage for Firefighters — about 4,700 people — is $38,700. Cfd Aviation pays a median base salary of $75,496 for this role, 95% above that figure — about the 87th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
The bar is the range of annual wages for Firefighters across every employer in the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Cfd Aviation’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. Cfd Aviation’s median base salary is 27% above that national figure, about the 73rd 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 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Cfd Aviation is $75,496, 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
Fire Fighter I is held in 2 City of Charlotte departments. In Cfd Aviation, the median of $62,523 ranks #2 of 2.
Median total compensation for the Fire Fighter I role in other City of Charlottedepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.
Compare jurisdictions
This role is reported in 8 jurisdictions. In City of Charlotte, the median of $72,378 ranks #6 of 8. See Fire Fighter across all of City of Charlotte →
Median total compensation for comparable Fire Fighterroles 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
Fire Fighter I/Cfd Aviation
Source-specific fields
Emma Swenson is a Fire Fighter I at Cfd Aviation within Fire. They work full-time. 2026 total compensation came to $75,496.