California / Fire Captain
Role across California
Fire Captain
Respond to fires and emergencies, perform rescue and medical aid, and carry out prevention and inspection.
2,876 people hold the Fire Captain role across 1 department in California, with a median total compensation of $175,601. Among 19 jurisdictions where this role is reported, California ranks #6 by median pay.
- Employees
- 2,876
- Median pay
- $175,601
- Departments
- 1
- Cross-jurisdiction
- #6 of 19
Compared with the local labor market
Fire Captain pay vs. California
Across all employers in California, the median wage for First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers — about 8,170 people — is $127,630. California pays a median base salary of $91,863 for this role, 28% below that figure — about the 18th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where California sits in the local pay range
The bar is the range of annual wages for First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers across every employer in California, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows California’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. California’s median base salary is 2% below that national figure, about the 48th 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 California range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 2,558 of 2,876 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 California is $175,601, 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 pay in other jurisdictions
Where Fire Captains are paid most
Median total compensation for comparable Fire Captain roles 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.
Within California
Department with this role
The California department holding this role
The one department in California that reports this role. The bar links to that department’s page for it.