Compared with the local labor market
Battalion Chief pay vs. the Pittsburgh, PA area
Across all employers in the Pittsburgh, PA area, the median wage for First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers — about 250 people — is $80,370. Ps - Fire Bureau pays a median base salary of $28,889 for this role, 64% below that figure — below the 10th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Ps - Fire Bureau sits in the local pay range
$76,610
$80,370
$80,370
$96,890
$111,590
Ps - Fire Bureau median · $28,889
The bar is the range of annual wages for First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers across every employer in the Pittsburgh, PA area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Ps - Fire Bureau’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. Ps - Fire Bureau’s median base salary is 69% below that national figure, below the 10th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$53,430
$72,140
$93,530
$119,500
$140,010
Ps - Fire Bureau median · $28,889
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 Pittsburgh, PA range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 13 of 18 people in this role paid at least $25,000 in 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 Ps - Fire Bureau is $31,480, 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
Battalion Chief beyond City of Pittsburgh
This role is reported in 7 jurisdictions. In City of Pittsburgh, the median of $31,480 ranks #7 of 7. See Battalion Chief across all of City of Pittsburgh →
Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role
Median total compensation for comparable Battalion Chief 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.