Firefighters Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $65K, rent takes 97.6% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $4,214/month. The 30% guideline puts the comfortable ceiling at roughly $1,300/month in rent — so roommates or a 1-bedroom would ease the math significantly.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new firefighters typically earn — is $41K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,435/month. At HUD’s $4,214/month FMR, rent would take 173% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Pay here is roughly in line with the national average — $65K locally vs. $59K nationally, a 10% difference.

Santa Cruz-Watsonville pays $65K median vs. the U.S. average of $59K — that’s +10%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 109.9), the purchasing-power equivalent is $59K — below the national median.

The median is $64,980 a year, that works out to about $31 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $40,590, and experienced firefighters can clear $99,550. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $4,317/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $4,214/month, which eats 97.6% 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.

Santa Cruz-Watsonville has a Regional Price Parity of 109.9 (100 is the national average). Prices are above average here, so your dollar buys less than the same salary would in a cheaper metro. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median firefighters salary is worth about $59,126 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.