Los Angeles County / Fire Department / Fire Captain (56 Hour)

Job-title file

Fire Captain (56 Hour)

Respond to fires and emergencies, perform rescue and medical aid, and carry out prevention and inspection.

748 employees hold this title in Fire Department. Median total compensation for the role is $402,076, above the department median of $226,568.

Employees: 748
Total payroll: $295.1M
Role median: $402,076
Agency median: $226,568
Comparison: Above

What the records show

Role pay distribution

Pay distribution for this role

$0$591,239+

Hover a bar for its range; click to filter the list below.

How total compensation varies among the 748 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

Fire Captain (56 Hour) pay vs. the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA area

Across all employers in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA area, the median wage for First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers — about 2,410 people — is $169,350. Fire Department pays a median base salary of $180,477 for this role, 7% above that figure — about the 79th percentile of local pay for the occupation.

Where Fire Department sits in the local pay range

10th

25th

Median

75th

90th

$102,030

$119,470

$169,350

$169,380

$209,390

Fire Department median · $180,477

The bar is the range of annual wages for First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers across every employer in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA 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 First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers — about 99,140 people — is $93,530. Fire Department’s median base salary is 93% above that national figure, above the 90th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.

10th

25th

Median

75th

90th

$53,430

$72,140

$93,530

$119,500

$140,010

Fire Department median · $180,477

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 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA range relative to the national one.

Computed over the 727 of 748 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 Department is $402,076, 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 Captain beyond Los Angeles County

This role is reported in 19 jurisdictions. In Los Angeles County, the median of $402,076 ranks #1 of 19. See Fire Captain across all of Los Angeles County →

Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role

$352,297 · 181

$329,749 · 575

$246,977 · 330

$235,922 · 46

$175,601 · 2,876

$163,213 · 257

$149,775 · 31

$144,755 · 50

Median total compensation for comparable Fire Captainroles 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