Maryland Firefighter Salary 2026 by Department: Twelve Departments, Their Own Documents

The short answer. There is no single Maryland firefighter salary. Maryland's career fire service is mostly county-run, each county hires through its own recruit posting, and the figure is whatever that posting or the county's salary schedule prints. Of the twelve departments read on September 9, 2026, seven print an annual starting figure: Salisbury's $45,429 (Firefighter/EMT after a six-month probation at $43,265), Ocean City's $49,718 (Firefighter/EMT B, September 2025 posting), Prince George's County's $55,485 (Fire Fighter I, FY2026 posting), Baltimore County's $57,697 (minimum of the Probationary Firefighter and EMT range), Anne Arundel County's $57,671 (minimum of the FY27 proposed range), Montgomery County's $62,102 (Fire Fighter Rescuer I, Grade A, FY2026 schedule) and Howard County's $65,267 (firefighter trainee). One prints an academy-period rate: Salisbury's $43,265. The printed tops are ranges, not steps: Anne Arundel's $112,556 and Montgomery County's $103,472 at Grade M of the Fire Fighter Rescuer III scale. Baltimore City, Frederick County, Annapolis, Hagerstown and Carroll County print an hourly rate, a lateral figure or no figure at all. No dated application window was open on the read date; Carroll County's Firefighter/Paramedic posting carried a 2099 closing date and Baltimore County was taking paramedic and EMT applications with no date printed. The registry counts 262 Maryland fire departments, 6.5 percent of them career and 5.0 percent mostly career.

Last verified: 2026-09-09.

The national picture, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics medians beside these department figures, is on the firefighter salary guide 2026.

This is not a statewide table and it is not an apply-now board. Maryland has no statewide firefighter examination and no state pay scale: the large departments are county agencies (Montgomery, Prince George's, Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Howard, Frederick, Carroll) that post a recruit class once or twice a year on their own job boards, and the cities (Baltimore, Annapolis, Hagerstown, Salisbury, Ocean City) post when they have vacancies. The pay is on the posting, on a county salary schedule, or nowhere the public can read it. This page carries a figure only when the county or city's own document prints an annual figure, with the document and the read date, and nothing more. An hourly rate is never multiplied into a salary the employer did not print. A union's social post, a testing vendor's listing and a news story are not sources here. Where the newest posting is from a fiscal year that has ended, or prints a range the bulletin calls proposed, the row carries it and says so.

The Texas comparison, built the same way at a larger N, is Texas firefighter salary 2026 by department. Missouri, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, Arizona, Illinois, Ohio, Florida, Colorado and California, built the same way, are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

What do these documents actually show?

Three column definitions, because most published comparisons blur roles, and the blur is where the misleading numbers come from.

• Recruit / academy is a printed pre-certification annual when the employer prints one. One Maryland row does: Salisbury pays $43,265 for the six-month probation before the $45,429 Firefighter/EMT rate. Baltimore County, Howard County and the other counties pay the starting rate from the hire date through the academy and print no separate figure.
• Starting (certified) is the first annual figure the document names for the firefighter title: Baltimore County $57,697 (Probationary Firefighter and EMT range minimum; Paramedics $74,403 to $96,299), Montgomery County $62,102 (F1 Fire Fighter Rescuer I, Grade A), Prince George's County $55,485 (Fire Fighter I, grade Y-01), Anne Arundel County $57,671 (Firefighter II range minimum; Firefighter/EMT-Paramedic $71,225 to $133,766), Howard County $65,267 (firefighter trainee), Ocean City $49,718 (Firefighter/EMT B), Salisbury $45,429 (Firefighter/EMT; Firefighter/Paramedic $51,971).
• Top firefighter step is the highest printed firefighter-rank annual before promotion: Montgomery County $103,472 (Grade M of the Fire Fighter Rescuer III scale, the last firefighter grade below the competitive Master Firefighter rank; the F1 scale tops at $93,848) and Anne Arundel County $112,556 (the top of a range with no steps printed). Baltimore County's $73,841 is the top of a starting-salary range, not a step, and is named. The other rows print no top.
• Source is the document title, the link, the fiscal year where the document prints one, and the date we read it.
• Every annual figure is base pay as the document prints it. Howard County's $7,000 paramedic premium, Montgomery County's ALS differential, Salisbury's $5,000 and $10,000 sign-on bonuses and Baltimore County's longevity increments sit outside the columns.

Why isn't there a statewide starting salary?

Because Maryland has no statewide examination and no statewide pay plan for firefighters. Each county or city posts its own recruit class, tests its own applicants, and pays from its own schedule or bargaining agreement. The postings read here open for weeks, not months: Montgomery County's Recruit Class 60 posting ran January 5 to February 13, 2026; Prince George's County's Fire Fighter I posting ran March 16 to April 16, 2026; Anne Arundel County's two postings ran June 8 to 26, 2026 for academies in 2027; Howard County's Trainee Class #40 ran December 15, 2025 to January 15, 2026 and capped applications at 1,500; Frederick County's recruit posting ran July 1 to 31, 2026. Between postings the recruiting pages print the process and, in Montgomery, Baltimore County, Howard and Salisbury, the salary; in Baltimore City, Annapolis and Hagerstown they print no figure. Frederick and Carroll counties print hourly rates only, so those rows stay null with the rate named. The Texas, Missouri, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, Arizona, Illinois, Ohio, Florida, Colorado and California clones use the same rule: null is a value, conflicts are named, and hourly rates are not converted.

The universe is measured but not yet counted. The U.S. Fire Administration's National Fire Department Registry (state totals read September 9, 2026; registry last updated June 11, 2026) lists 262 registered fire departments in Maryland, 6.5 percent of them Career and 5.0 percent Mostly career. The registry prints those shares as percentages, not as a count, so this page does not turn them into a number of career departments. Twelve departments against it is a kickoff, not a census; the next documents to open are Baltimore City's next firefighter posting, Cumberland's Firefighter/EMT-Basic posting when it returns to the city job board, the Maryland Aviation Administration's fire and rescue postings, and the career EMS-only agencies in Charles, Harford, Calvert, St. Mary's and Queen Anne's counties, which hire paramedics and EMTs rather than firefighters and are outside this table.

Rows to read carefully

Montgomery County. The Salary & Benefits page prints the FY2026 Fire/Rescue bargaining-unit schedule, effective July 13, 2025, by grade A through M: F1 Fire Fighter Rescuer I from $62,102 to $93,848, F2 from $65,207, F3 Fire Fighter Rescuer III from $68,469 to $103,472, F4 Master Fire Fighter Rescuer from $75,317 to $113,815, Lieutenant from $82,855 and Captain from $93,429, with 17-, 20- and 24-year longevity rows. Recruits start at F1 Grade A, move to F2 after probation and to F3 after training; the F3 Grade M figure is carried as the top because Master Firefighter and above are competitive promotions. The January 2026 recruit posting (2025-00828) prints an expected starting salary of $62,102 and a posted range of $68,469 to $103,472, which is the F3 scale. Partial because the schedule is labeled FY2026 and no FY2027 schedule was posted.

Baltimore County. The Join the Fire Department page prints starting salaries as ranges, Probationary Firefighters and EMTs $57,697 to $73,841 and Paramedics $74,403 to $96,299, with no step table; recruits are paid the starting rate from the hire date. No certification is required to apply for Probationary EMT or Firefighter, applicants can be 17 1/2 at application with no upper age limit printed, probation runs two years, and Local 1311 represents the unit. On the read date the county was taking applications for entry-level Paramedic and Probationary EMT, with no closing date printed, and no firefighter posting.

Anne Arundel County. The June 2026 entry-level bulletin (08588) prints a range of $57,671 to $112,556 under the FY27 proposed budget (Bill 32-26), and the companion Firefighter/EMT-Paramedic bulletin (08589) prints $71,225 to $133,766 for paramedics licensed at hire. Both closed June 26, 2026, tested July 18 or 19, and feed Recruit Classes 68 and 69 in 2027. The range minimum is the start and the range top the top figure, with no step count because none is printed; the row is partial because the bulletin calls the range proposed. The June 2025 bulletin printed $56,402 to $110,079.

Howard County. The recruitment page prints $65,267 for an entry-level firefighter trainee with full pay during the academy and a $7,000 annual paramedic premium; the Trainee Class #40 bulletin prints $31.38 an hour and $65,270.40 a year. The two county documents differ by $3.40, so the page figure is carried, the bulletin figure is named, and the row is partial for the conflict.

Prince George's County. The FY2026 Fire Fighter I bulletin (PSI 53-1 FF1-FY2026, March 16 to April 16, 2026) prints $55,485 for grade Y-01 and no step table; the career page prints no salary. EMT or Paramedic certification is obtained after recruit school, probation runs a year, and a 24/72 schedule may follow the academy. Partial because the posting's fiscal year has ended.

Ocean City and Salisbury. Two Eastern Shore cities that hire certified firefighters. Ocean City's September 2025 Firefighter/EMT B posting prints $49,718 a year on a 45-hour week and the schedule that follows for that hire ($51,210 in January 2026, $53,770 in July 2026, $55,383 in January 2027), requires Firefighter I and a Maryland EMT-Basic certificate, and had no successor on the town's job board on the read date. Salisbury's posters, dated August 28, 2025 and listed on the careers page on the read date, print $43,265 on probation and $45,429 after it for Firefighter/EMT and $49,496 and $51,971 for Firefighter/Paramedic, with $5,000 and $10,000 sign-on bonuses and Firefighter I, HazMat Operations and National Registry certification required.

Baltimore City, Frederick County, Annapolis, Hagerstown, Carroll County. Null, each for a reason the document states. Baltimore City's recruitment page prints no salary and its Workday board carried no firefighter posting, only an EMT posting at $48,558.90 to $67,026.12 and a Paramedic posting. Frederick County's July 2026 recruit bulletin prints $25.44 an hour and no annual figure. Annapolis's recruiting page prints benefits and no salary; its April 2026 lateral bulletin prints $54,716 for a lateral EMT and $65,761 for a lateral paramedic, both for experienced Firefighter II hires, so no entry figure exists to carry. Hagerstown's Join Us page says the department was not accepting applications and prints no salary. Carroll County's open Firefighter/Paramedic posting prints $33.11 to $57.95 an hour and no annual figure.

Which application doors are open today?

• Carroll County had a Firefighter/Paramedic posting open on its career center, posted August 26, 2026 with a December 31, 2099 closing date, for Maryland-licensed paramedics; the pay is printed by the hour.
• Baltimore County was taking applications for entry-level Paramedic and Probationary Emergency Medical Technician with no closing date printed; firefighter applications open only when a posting is active.
• Salisbury lists its Firefighter/EMT and Firefighter/Paramedic posters on the careers page and notifies applicants of the next testing date; Baltimore City's EMT posting takes applications through October 30, 2026, but it is not a firefighter posting.
• Montgomery, Prince George's, Anne Arundel, Howard and Frederick counties closed their 2026 recruit postings between January and July 2026; each posts the next class on its own job board, and Anne Arundel's next academies are January and July 2027.