Firefighter · Arizona · SOC 33-2011
Arizona Firefighter Salary — 2026 BLS + BEA RPP
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2024 reference period · BEA Regional Price Parity 2023 vintage · Last synced 2026-05-05.
TL;DR
- Headline Firefighter pay in Arizona is $58,650. Real take-home, after the state's cost-of-living index, lands at $58,218.
- Nominal: #21/51 · Real: #25/51 — ranking shifts by 4 positions after RPP.
- Cost adjustment is small — neither an arbitrage state nor a high-cost penalty.
- P25-P75 spread runs $45,160 to $71,970; P10 floor $36,650, P90 ceiling $79,780.
Wage breakdown — Arizona
| Percentile | Nominal (BLS) | Real (BEA RPP-adjusted) |
|---|---|---|
| P10 (entry tier) | $36,650 | $36,380 |
| P25 (lower quartile) | $45,160 | $44,827 |
| P50 (median) | $58,650 | $58,218 |
| P75 (upper quartile) | $71,970 | $71,440 |
| P90 (top tier) | $79,780 | $79,192 |
| Mean | $60,660 | $60,213 |
| Employment | 6,870 Firefighters in Arizona | |
Cost of living — BEA Regional Price Parity
| Component | Arizona index (US = 100) |
|---|---|
| All-items RPP | 100.7 |
| Goods | 97.9 |
| Services | 83.3 |
| Rents | 108.6 |
Arizona's overall RPP (100.7) is close to the national 100 baseline; nominal and real wage move roughly together.
After-tax take-home — Arizona (2024 BLS · 2024 tax year, single filer)
Layer-by-layer take-home math at the BLS median
| Layer | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Gross BLS P50 (Firefighter) | $58,650 | nominal median |
| Federal income tax | −$4,900 | 8.4% effective; std deduction $15,750 applied |
| State income tax | −$1,073 | 2.5% flat (2026) |
| FICA (SS 6.2% + Medicare 1.45%) | −$4,487 | SS capped at $183,600 wage base |
| Take-home (after-tax) | $48,191 | 82.2% of gross |
| Real take-home (RPP-adjusted) | $47,836 | ÷ (100.7 / 100) BEA cost-of-living |
What the Arizona state-tax burden means for Firefighter take-home
Arizona's state tax is light at this income tier (~1.8% effective). The bigger compensation lever is the cost-of-living premium (RPP 100.7), which still erodes real take-home despite the low state tax — net real after-tax $47,836.
Computed from 2026 IRS federal brackets (Rev. Proc. 2025-32), 2026 state DOR brackets, and 2026 FICA rates. Single filer, standard deduction, no other adjustments. See methodology · tax for limitations (married filers, ITM/SALT itemizers, retirement deferrals, HSA, dependent credits, etc.).
National context
Across the United States, BLS reports a national median of $59,530 for Firefighters with mean pay of $63,890 and total employment of 332,240. Arizona sits at #21 on nominal pay and #25 on real (cost-adjusted) pay among the 51 states and DC. After cost adjustment, Arizona falls 4 positions — the cost premium eats into the headline wage.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the real (cost-adjusted) Firefighter salary in Arizona?
- After BEA RPP adjustment (regional price parity index 100.7 for Arizona), the real-wage equivalent is $58,218 — what the $58,650 nominal salary actually buys. Quartiles in real terms: $44,827 to $71,440.
- How are Arizona Firefighter salaries calculated on this page?
- Nominal wages come from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) — annual employer surveys, May 2026 reference period. Real-wage figures use BEA Regional Price Parities (2023 vintage) to adjust for state-level cost of living. No self-report or jobs-board data is mixed in.
- Where does Arizona rank for Firefighter pay?
- On nominal BLS wages alone, Arizona ranks among the 51 states and DC by median pay. After the BEA cost-of-living adjustment the ordering changes — high-cost states fall, low-cost states rise. Both rankings are shown in the data table on this page.
- How wide is the wage spread in Arizona?
- P10 to P90 spans $36,650 to $79,780. That spread captures entry-level to top-quartile pay, including specialty differentials and metro-area variance within the state.
- Should I negotiate based on the BLS median for Arizona?
- The BLS median is a calibration anchor, not a ceiling. Use it to validate that an offer is in-band — anything well below the P25 in this state is a flag, anything above the P75 typically requires demonstrable specialty depth, niche credentials, or a high-COL metro within Arizona.
- How does the 24/48 shift schedule distort BLS firefighter pay in Arizona?
- Most career firefighters in Arizona work a 24-hours-on, 48-hours-off rotation totaling roughly 56 hours per week — substantially more than the 40-hour assumption underlying many salary comparisons. BLS OEWS reports annual W-2 wages, which include the structurally elevated base from the longer schedule plus FLSA-mandated overtime above 53 hours/week. The headline number understates intensity: per-shift effective compensation looks high; per-hour-of-life-spent-at-the-station it's closer to a typical municipal worker's rate.
- Paramedic dual-certification premium for Arizona firefighters?
- Most Arizona fire departments respond to far more EMS calls than fire calls — roughly 70-80% medical response is typical. Departments add a paramedic-cert premium of 5-15% above firefighter base, reflecting the labor-market scarcity of cross-trained personnel. BLS aggregates all firefighters under SOC 33-2011 regardless of EMT/paramedic status; the actual Arizona median for paramedic-certified firefighters runs above the BLS figure shown on this page, while EMT-only firefighters cluster at or below it.
Sources & methodology
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES), SOC 33-2011, 2024 reference period.
- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities, 2023 vintage (all-items, goods, services, rents).
- Real-wage figures = nominal BLS wage ÷ (state RPP / 100).
- See the methodology page for full computation details and limitations.
Cross-comparison: see how Arizona Firefighter pay ranks against the other 254 state × occupation pages on the Real Wage Atlas → — four-way ranking by real wage, after-tax take-home, state-tax savings, and cost-of-living arbitrage.