Paramedics Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $48K, rent takes 30.9% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,047/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 paramedics typically earn — is $40K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,422/month. At HUD’s $1,047/month FMR, rent would take 43% 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 — $48K here vs. $61K nationally. Cost of living is 14% below the national average, which narrows that gap in real purchasing power.

Brownsville-Harlingen pays $48K median vs. the U.S. average of $61K — that’s -21%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 86), the purchasing-power equivalent is $56K — below the national median.

The median is $48,110 a year, that works out to about $23 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $40,370, and experienced paramedics can clear $59,060. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $3,391/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,047/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.

Brownsville-Harlingen has a Regional Price Parity of 100 (100 is the national average). That's right at the national average. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median paramedics salary is worth about $55,942 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.