Firefighters Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $47K, rent takes 30.9% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,017/month. The 30% guideline puts the comfortable ceiling at roughly $1,000/month in rent — so roommates or a 1-bedroom would ease the math significantly.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new firefighters typically earn — is $34K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,014/month. At HUD’s $1,017/month FMR, rent would take 50% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Local pay runs 21% below the national median — $47K here vs. $59K nationally.

Panama City-Panama City Beach pays $47K median vs. the U.S. average of $59K — that’s -21%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 97.3), the purchasing-power equivalent is $48K — below the national median.

The median is $46,580 a year, that works out to about $22 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $33,570, and experienced firefighters can clear $72,140. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $3,289/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,017/month, which eats 30.9% of your paycheck. That's above the 30% rule of thumb, housing will be a stretch at the median salary, though you can manage with roommates or a smaller place.

Panama City-Panama City Beach has a Regional Price Parity of 97.3 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median firefighters salary is worth about $47,873 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.