Emergency Management Directors salary

SOC 11-9161 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$93,330

per year, nationally

Middle half

$67,910–$126,490

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

13,500

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+3.0%

1,000 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$54,210$166,430

10th: $54,210
25th: $67,910
Median: $93,330
75th: $126,490
90th: $166,430

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Bachelor's degree
Related work experience: 5 years or more
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where emergency management directors earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	District of Columbia	$184,350	109.9	150	2.39×
2	New Mexico	$145,550	92.2	170	2.22×
3	Washington	$130,780	107.0	180	0.58×
4	California	$129,910	110.7	1,170	0.74×
5	Colorado	$129,660	103.1	—	—
6	Massachusetts	$123,250	105.8	220	0.70×
7	New Jersey	$120,990	108.8	490	1.33×
8	Connecticut	$113,380	103.6	180	1.23×
9	Oregon	$110,720	103.4	120	0.70×
10	Maryland	$107,200	105.0	150	0.63×
11	Minnesota	$106,880	98.6	190	0.75×
12	Nevada	$105,570	100.0	60	0.48×
13	Alaska	$101,850	102.4	120	4.40×
14	Virginia	$99,860	101.1	450	1.26×
15	Idaho	$99,720	95.5	80	1.02×
16	Florida	$99,020	103.4	720	0.83×
17	Louisiana	$96,550	88.2	180	1.07×
18	Ohio	$94,690	92.8	250	0.52×
19	North Carolina	$93,840	94.3	420	0.97×
20	South Carolina	$93,680	93.7	330	1.63×
21	Texas	$93,570	97.1	1,210	0.99×
22	New York	$92,570	107.9	790	0.94×
23	Nebraska	$89,740	90.1	120	1.38×
24	Michigan	$87,880	96.2	220	0.58×
25	Rhode Island	$87,690	102.3	30	0.76×
26	Utah	$84,860	98.9	170	1.12×
27	Maine	$84,050	97.0	80	1.50×
28	Illinois	$83,820	100.0	450	0.84×
29	Georgia	$83,200	96.3	430	1.02×
30	Arizona	$81,970	100.7	160	0.56×
31	Tennessee	$81,800	91.9	370	1.28×
32	Pennsylvania	$81,550	97.6	520	1.00×
33	New Hampshire	$77,420	104.2	50	0.84×
34	Wisconsin	$77,260	94.1	240	0.96×
35	North Dakota	$76,640	89.0	80	2.06×
36	Missouri	$75,660	90.8	310	1.20×
37	Kentucky	$74,730	90.2	150	0.88×
38	Hawaii	$74,290	110.0	90	1.71×
39	Iowa	$73,700	87.8	130	0.99×
40	Kansas	$68,000	90.1	140	1.12×
41	South Dakota	$67,180	88.6	120	2.97×
42	Wyoming	$64,370	92.7	50	1.97×
43	Montana	$62,770	94.6	90	1.95×
44	Oklahoma	$60,990	87.8	310	2.12×
45	West Virginia	$60,460	89.5	120	1.92×
46	Arkansas	$50,180	86.9	160	1.37×
47	Mississippi	$48,650	87.0	230	2.30×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where emergency management directors wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for emergency management directors

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$173,540	110.4	50	0.49×
2	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$163,220	108.9	310	1.12×
3	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$161,180	115.6	150	0.74×
4	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$155,320	111.1	90	0.52×
5	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$136,930	105.8	—	—
6	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$136,510	100.2	30	0.33×
7	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$136,270	106.4	90	0.60×
8	Jacksonville, FL	$135,910	99.5	50	0.74×
9	Worcester, MA	$133,690	102.5	30	1.06×
10	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$130,020	113.6	300	0.55×
11	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$130,020	114.2	200	0.83×
12	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$126,570	108.3	160	0.66×
13	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$119,870	105.4	50	0.51×
14	Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX	$118,370	90.0	40	3.08×
15	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$117,070	111.9	60	0.46×
16	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$111,950	104.8	110	0.67×
17	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$111,350	102.7	110	2.04×
18	Tallahassee, FL	$110,550	93.9	30	1.92×
19	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$109,140	98.6	280	0.98×
20	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$109,140	100.3	60	0.35×
21	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$107,430	106.7	270	2.90×
22	Baton Rouge, LA	$106,220	90.8	30	0.91×
23	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$105,230	104.5	60	0.52×
24	Omaha, NE-IA	$104,880	91.9	40	0.93×
25	Raleigh-Cary, NC	$104,620	98.2	70	1.02×
26	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$103,830	100.1	190	0.75×
27	New Orleans-Metairie, LA	$103,810	92.6	50	1.22×
28	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$103,120	102.6	170	0.67×
29	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$101,300	97.3	90	0.72×
30	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$101,130	103.6	240	0.62×
31	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$100,980	112.6	630	0.76×
32	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$100,920	98.1	120	1.09×
33	Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	$100,830	97.6	30	1.14×
34	North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL	$100,150	102.4	30	1.18×
35	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL	$98,830	100.9	80	0.65×
36	Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC	$97,990	97.9	60	0.95×
37	Syracuse, NY	$97,960	95.7	30	1.27×
38	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$97,610	101.8	40	0.64×
39	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$97,350	95.8	—	—
40	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$96,650	103.1	300	0.85×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where emergency management directors wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Managers, All Other$141,900
Medical and Health Services Managers$123,860
Construction Managers$114,990
Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary$105,870
Property, Real Estate, and Community Association Managers$69,990
Food Service Managers$69,390
Architectural and Engineering Managers$171,270
Social and Community Service Managers$80,390