What is the real (cost-adjusted) Firefighter salary in North Dakota?

After BEA RPP adjustment (regional price parity index 88.2 for North Dakota), the real-wage equivalent is $60,857 — what the $53,660 nominal salary actually buys. Quartiles in real terms: $53,213 to $73,105.

How are North Dakota 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.

How many Firefighters does North Dakota employ?

BLS OES counts 750 Firefighters employed in North Dakota in the most recent release. Employment density relative to population determines whether wage tiers reflect a robust competitive market or a thinner labor pool.

Where does North Dakota rank for Firefighter pay?

On nominal BLS wages alone, North Dakota 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.

Is North Dakota a 'real-wage arbitrage' state for Firefighters?

Yes — the BEA RPP of 88.2 is below the national 100 baseline, so nominal $53,660 stretches to a real-wage equivalent of $60,857. The take-home advantage versus a higher-RPP state is meaningful for Firefighters comparing offers across regions.

When does this data update?

BLS OES releases a new May reference set roughly each spring; we re-run the ETL pipeline within two weeks of release. BEA RPP refreshes annually. The last-synced timestamp at the top of this page reflects the most recent build.

Volunteer / paid-on-call vs career firefighter pay in North Dakota?

BLS captures career (full-time) firefighters under 33-2011; volunteer departments and paid-on-call firefighters are not represented in the OEWS wage figures. Roughly two-thirds of US fire departments are still volunteer or combination, concentrated in rural and suburban North Dakota jurisdictions — those firefighters earn small per-call stipends, attendance pay, or LOSAP retirement credits rather than a wage. The BLS North Dakota median therefore reflects only career departments and dramatically overstates 'firefighter pay' if interpreted as the population average.

How Much Do Firefighters Make in North Dakota? $54K (2026 BLS + BEA)

TL;DR

North Dakota pays Firefighters a BLS median of $53,660 — the more useful number is $60,857, what that paycheck buys after rent and services.
Nominal: #28/51 · Real: #22/51 — ranking shifts by 6 positions after RPP.
Low BEA RPP (88.2) means the paycheck stretches further than the BLS number suggests; net lift roughly $7,197.
Bottom quartile $46,920, top quartile $64,460. The P90 ($74,610) is roughly 2.0× the P10 ($37,950).

Wage breakdown — North Dakota

Percentile	Nominal (BLS)	Real (BEA RPP-adjusted)
P10 (entry tier)	$37,950	$43,040
P25 (lower quartile)	$46,920	$53,213
P50 (median)	$53,660	$60,857
P75 (upper quartile)	$64,460	$73,105
P90 (top tier)	$74,610	$84,617
Mean	$56,000	$63,511
Employment	750 Firefighters in North Dakota

Cost of living — BEA Regional Price Parity

Component	North Dakota index (US = 100)
All-items RPP	88.2
Goods	97.0
Services	75.0
Rents	69.3

North Dakota sits below the national baseline (RPP 88.2), so nominal pay translates to a higher real wage than the BLS median suggests — particularly visible in rents at 69.3.

After-tax take-home — North Dakota (2024 BLS · 2024 tax year, single filer)

Layer-by-layer take-home math at the BLS median

Layer	Amount	Note
Gross BLS P50 (Firefighter)	$53,660	nominal median
Federal income tax	−$4,301	8.0% effective; std deduction $15,750 applied
State income tax	$0	0–2.5% (graduated, 2026)
FICA (SS 6.2% + Medicare 1.45%)	−$4,105	SS capped at $183,600 wage base
Take-home (after-tax)	$45,254	84.3% of gross
Real take-home (RPP-adjusted)	$51,323	÷ (88.2 / 100) BEA cost-of-living

What the North Dakota state-tax burden means for Firefighter take-home

North Dakota's state tax is light at this income tier (~0.0% effective). The bigger compensation lever is the below-baseline cost of living (RPP 88.2), which lifts real take-home above nominal after-tax — net real after-tax $51,323.

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. North Dakota sits at #28 on nominal pay and #22 on real (cost-adjusted) pay among the 51 states and DC. After cost adjustment, North Dakota climbs 6 positions — the cost of living is favorable relative to the wage.

Frequently asked questions

What is the real (cost-adjusted) Firefighter salary in North Dakota?: After BEA RPP adjustment (regional price parity index 88.2 for North Dakota), the real-wage equivalent is $60,857 — what the $53,660 nominal salary actually buys. Quartiles in real terms: $53,213 to $73,105.
How are North Dakota 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.
How many Firefighters does North Dakota employ?: BLS OES counts 750 Firefighters employed in North Dakota in the most recent release. Employment density relative to population determines whether wage tiers reflect a robust competitive market or a thinner labor pool.
Where does North Dakota rank for Firefighter pay?: On nominal BLS wages alone, North Dakota 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.
Is North Dakota a 'real-wage arbitrage' state for Firefighters?: Yes — the BEA RPP of 88.2 is below the national 100 baseline, so nominal $53,660 stretches to a real-wage equivalent of $60,857. The take-home advantage versus a higher-RPP state is meaningful for Firefighters comparing offers across regions.
When does this data update?: BLS OES releases a new May reference set roughly each spring; we re-run the ETL pipeline within two weeks of release. BEA RPP refreshes annually. The last-synced timestamp at the top of this page reflects the most recent build.
Volunteer / paid-on-call vs career firefighter pay in North Dakota?: BLS captures career (full-time) firefighters under 33-2011; volunteer departments and paid-on-call firefighters are not represented in the OEWS wage figures. Roughly two-thirds of US fire departments are still volunteer or combination, concentrated in rural and suburban North Dakota jurisdictions — those firefighters earn small per-call stipends, attendance pay, or LOSAP retirement credits rather than a wage. The BLS North Dakota median therefore reflects only career departments and dramatically overstates 'firefighter pay' if interpreted as the population average.

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.

By Marcus Liang · Founder & Editor · Last synced 2026-05-05.

Cross-comparison: see how North Dakota 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.