Paramedics salary

SOC 29-2043 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$60,600

per year, nationally

Middle half

$49,660–$73,470

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

100,610

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+5.0%

4,900 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.

$44,230$84,850

10th: $44,230
25th: $49,660
Median: $60,600
75th: $73,470
90th: $84,850

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Postsecondary nondegree award
Related work experience: Less than 5 years
On-the-job training: None

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

Where paramedics 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	Washington	$104,310	107.0	2,110	0.92×
2	New Jersey	$86,630	108.8	540	0.19×
3	Hawaii	$81,280	110.0	140	0.33×
4	District of Columbia	$78,550	109.9	90	0.19×
5	Connecticut	$77,480	103.6	1,000	0.91×
6	Minnesota	$76,300	98.6	1,690	0.88×
7	Oregon	$74,840	103.4	1,210	0.95×
8	California	$74,590	110.7	5,190	0.44×
9	New York	$73,200	107.9	6,110	0.97×
10	Alaska	$71,860	102.4	310	1.49×
11	Maryland	$66,660	105.0	1,910	1.07×
12	Massachusetts	$66,340	105.8	1,860	0.79×
13	Utah	$65,420	98.9	960	0.86×
14	Delaware	$64,240	99.8	340	1.09×
15	New Hampshire	$64,210	104.2	420	0.95×
16	Wyoming	$64,040	92.7	230	1.28×
17	Colorado	$63,910	103.1	2,110	1.14×
18	Rhode Island	$63,550	102.3	160	0.50×
19	Maine	$63,050	97.0	470	1.14×
20	North Dakota	$62,320	89.0	220	0.78×
21	Pennsylvania	$61,000	97.6	4,750	1.21×
22	Illinois	$60,660	100.0	3,890	0.99×
23	Iowa	$60,590	87.8	1,170	1.16×
24	Virginia	$60,480	101.1	1,960	0.74×
25	Idaho	$60,380	95.5	440	0.79×
26	Vermont	$60,360	98.0	190	0.96×
27	Indiana	$60,320	93.3	2,680	1.30×
28	Florida	$60,140	103.4	6,970	1.09×
29	Wisconsin	$59,710	94.1	1,990	1.04×
30	Nevada	$59,280	100.0	950	0.95×
31	Missouri	$59,180	90.8	3,300	1.74×
32	Arizona	$58,600	100.7	2,200	1.05×
33	Tennessee	$57,690	91.9	3,710	1.75×
34	Georgia	$57,660	96.3	3,250	1.03×
35	Texas	$57,500	97.1	8,410	0.92×
36	North Carolina	$57,320	94.3	5,660	1.77×
37	Nebraska	$56,230	90.1	490	0.75×
38	Louisiana	$56,050	88.2	2,040	1.63×
39	New Mexico	$55,530	92.2	810	1.44×
40	Mississippi	$54,630	87.0	1,150	1.52×
41	South Carolina	$53,550	93.7	2,250	1.51×
42	Michigan	$52,080	96.2	2,750	0.96×
43	Ohio	$51,300	92.8	3,600	1.00×
44	Kansas	$51,020	90.1	1,030	1.10×
45	Montana	$50,890	94.6	300	0.91×
46	Arkansas	$50,310	86.9	1,170	1.39×
47	Kentucky	$49,890	90.2	1,800	1.39×
48	South Dakota	$48,830	88.6	280	0.94×
49	Alabama	$48,540	88.8	1,700	1.24×
50	West Virginia	$48,460	89.5	1,090	2.40×
51	Oklahoma	$46,790	87.8	1,590	1.44×

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 paramedics wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for paramedics

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	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$123,310	111.1	750	0.56×
2	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$120,260	103.7	100	1.20×
3	Bellingham, WA	$119,970	103.3	70	1.15×
4	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$119,700	105.6	80	1.33×
5	Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	$109,620	102.4	70	2.04×
6	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$101,250	100.1	80	0.99×
7	Redding, CA	$88,740	100.7	40	0.93×
8	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$84,480	110.4	110	0.15×
9	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$83,090	115.6	780	0.51×
10	Ogden, UT	$82,650	100.3	50	0.31×
11	Coeur d'Alene, ID	$82,310	98.3	40	0.82×
12	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$82,060	106.9	140	0.53×
13	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$81,430	106.7	390	0.56×
14	Salinas, CA	$80,710	109.0	50	0.45×
15	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$80,590	110.5	60	0.27×
16	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$79,550	112.6	3,850	0.63×
17	New Haven, CT	$79,440	104.6	230	1.26×
18	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$79,400	100.3	170	1.05×
19	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$78,950	109.4	260	1.51×
20	Port St. Lucie, FL	$78,570	100.2	310	2.84×
21	Waterbury-Shelton, CT	$78,000	99.8	140	1.31×
22	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$77,670	103.6	2,560	0.88×
23	Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT	$77,600	100.4	130	1.62×
24	Salem, OR	$77,460	103.6	180	1.45×
25	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$77,430	104.8	820	0.65×
26	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$76,810	102.7	260	0.66×
27	Santa Fe, NM	$75,660	98.8	80	1.96×
28	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$75,190	108.9	840	0.41×
29	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$74,900	113.6	1,200	0.30×
30	Lexington Park, MD	$74,900	100.8	50	0.99×
31	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$74,080	107.8	70	0.53×
32	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$73,930	108.6	40	0.46×
33	Barnstable Town, MA	$73,570	98.4	70	1.23×
34	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$72,520	106.4	580	0.52×
35	Modesto, CA	$72,170	104.1	130	1.05×
36	Salt Lake City-Murray, UT	$71,440	100.9	660	1.23×
37	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$71,390	109.9	40	0.62×
38	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$70,630	111.9	430	0.43×
39	Bakersfield-Delano, CA	$69,050	100.9	120	0.55×
40	Sheboygan, WI	$68,810	94.0	60	1.65×

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 paramedics wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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

Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses$64,400
Pharmacy Technicians$45,750
Clinical Laboratory Technologists and Technicians$62,930
Radiologic Technologists and Technicians$80,110
Medical Records Specialists$51,140
Health Technologists and Technicians, All Other$50,290
Emergency Medical Technicians$44,470
Psychiatric Technicians$45,130