Missouri Firefighter Salary 2026 by Department: Seventeen Departments, Their Own Documents

The short answer. There is no single Missouri firefighter salary. Missouri has no statewide firefighter examination and no state pay scale: cities and fire protection districts each set their own pay, hire on their own schedules, and print the figure wherever they choose, a pay page, a salary administration plan, a posting, a council release or nowhere. Of the seventeen departments and districts read on September 9, 2026, ten print an annual starting figure: Joplin's $44,723 (Firefighter/EMT, the first step printed for the grade, January 1, 2026 plan), Jefferson City's $47,888.59 (bulletin minimum), Kansas City's $51,480 (2024 release), Cape Girardeau's $52,458 (FY26 start pay, December 2025 release), Lee's Summit's $54,750 (step 1, 2025 table), Springfield's $57,241.60 (step 3), Central Jackson County's $59,028.70 (Firefighter/EMT new hire, FY 2025), Mehlville's $68,982 (Firefighter Paramedic), St. Charles's $69,981.50 (Firefighter/Paramedic posting minimum) and Kirkwood's $75,828 (Firefighter/Paramedic posting minimum). The printed tops run from Joplin's $56,653 (step 15) and Lee's Summit's $70,750 (step 9) to Springfield's $82,700.80 (step 11), Central Jackson County's $83,757.79 (Level 4) and Mehlville's $98,449 (after four years). St. Louis, Columbia, St. Joseph, Cottleville, West County and Wentzville print no figure, and Independence prints hourly rates only. One dated application window was open on the read date: Cottleville Fire Protection District takes Firefighter/Paramedic applications through October 30, 2026. The registry counts 752 Missouri fire departments, 11.8 percent of them career and 4.8 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. Missouri leaves fire pay and fire hiring to the employer: a city sets its own pay plan and runs its own process (St. Louis and Kansas City through civil service rules, smaller cities through a posting on a job board), and a fire protection district, a separate political subdivision with its own elected board under Chapter 321 of the Missouri Revised Statutes, does the same. The Division of Fire Safety certifies Firefighter I and II and the state licenses EMTs and paramedics, but neither sets a wage. So the figure lives in different places from one employer to the next: a careers page with a step list, a salary administration plan attached to a labor agreement, a job posting with a range, a district's pay and benefits summary, or a council release about negotiations. This page carries a figure only when the employer's own document prints an annual figure, with the document and the read date, and nothing more. An hourly or bi-weekly rate is never multiplied into a salary the employer did not print. A union's social post, a payroll database, a testing vendor's listing and a news story are not sources here. Where the document is labeled with a year that has ended, comes from a posting that has closed, or is a release rather than a pay plan, 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. Indiana, Maryland, 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 Missouri row does: Joplin's salary administration plan carries a Firefighter Trainee grade at $34,625 in step 1 and $35,663 in step 2, labeled Trainee by the employer. Kansas City prints $51,480 as a starting salary with paid fire and EMT training and no trainee label, so it sits in the starting column, and Springfield hires at step 3 and pays that rate through its 24-week academy.
• Starting (certified) is the first annual figure the document names for the firefighter title: Joplin $44,723 (Firefighter/EMT, step 7, the first step the plan prints for the grade), Jefferson City $47,888.59 (bulletin minimum), Kansas City $51,480 (2024 release), Cape Girardeau $52,458 (FY26 start pay), Lee's Summit $54,750 (step 1, 2025 table; Firefighter/Paramedic $63,500), Springfield $57,241.60 (step 3), Central Jackson County $59,028.70 (Firefighter/EMT new hire; Firefighter/Paramedic $69,673.67), Mehlville $68,982 (Firefighter Paramedic), St. Charles $69,981.50 (Firefighter/Paramedic, 2,912 hours) and Kirkwood $75,828 (Firefighter/Paramedic). In the St. Louis area the job that is posted is Firefighter/Paramedic, with a paramedic license required at hire, so those three starts are paramedic starts.
• Top firefighter step is the highest printed firefighter-rank annual before promotion: Joplin $56,653 (step 15), Lee's Summit $70,750 (step 9, eight years), Springfield $82,700.80 (step 11), Central Jackson County $83,757.79 (Level 4) and Mehlville $98,449 (after four years of service). Jefferson City, St. Charles and Kirkwood print ranges with no steps, so their ceilings ($54,755.34, $94,922.52 and $94,026) are named here and not carried as tops; Cape Girardeau prints start pay by rank and no top.
• Source is the document title, the link, the year where the document prints one, and the date we read it.
• Every annual figure is base pay as the document prints it. Paramedic and specialty pay sit outside the columns: Central Jackson County's $8,000 annual paramedic license incentive and its separate Firefighter/Paramedic scale, Lee's Summit's Firefighter/Paramedic table, Cape Girardeau's Firefighter/Paramedic rate ($55,065), Independence's 5 percent paramedic differential, Mehlville's $1,600 perfect attendance bonus and $700 uniform allowance, and Independence's $720 uniform allowance.

Why isn't there a statewide starting salary?

Because Missouri leaves both the hiring and the pay to each employer, and the employers are of two kinds. Cities run their own departments: Kansas City and St. Louis hire through civil service processes that open every few years and print no figure between them, Springfield qualifies a class each winter for a September academy, Columbia and Jefferson City post when they have vacancies, and Joplin's council adopts a salary administration plan for its fire bargaining unit. Around St. Louis and Kansas City much of the career fire service belongs to fire protection districts, separate taxing bodies with their own boards, and those districts post Firefighter/Paramedic jobs on their own sites, some with a figure (Mehlville, Central Jackson County) and some without (Cottleville, West County, Wentzville). Independence prints an hourly range that this page does not multiply out. St. Louis, Columbia and St. Joseph print the process and no figure, so those rows stay null with each page named. The Texas, Indiana, Maryland, 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 and bi-weekly 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 752 registered fire departments in Missouri, 11.8 percent of them Career and 4.8 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. Seventeen employers against it is a kickoff, not a census; the next documents to open are the pay schedules of the St. Louis County districts (Florissant Valley, Rock Community, Fenton, Eureka, Pattonville, Metro West, Monarch, Maryland Heights, University City, Clayton, Webster Groves, Hazelwood), the Kansas City area (Raytown, Grandview, Liberty, Gladstone, North Kansas City), Nixa, Ozark, Branson, Rolla, Sedalia, Hannibal, Kirksville, Poplar Bluff, Farmington, Festus, Jackson and Sikeston, plus Kansas City's next application period, St. Louis's next Probationary Fire Private posting, Columbia's next Firefighter posting and Lee's Summit's next requisition.

Rows to read carefully

Springfield. The Fire Careers page's Pay & Benefits tab says new firefighters start at Step 3 and earn annual increases, and prints Step 3 $57,241.60, Step 4 $59,924.80, Step 5 $62,857.60, Step 6 $65,624.00, Step 8 $69,617.60, Step 10 $73,528.00 and Step 11 $82,700.80. Firefighter posting 010126 (January 1 to March 31, 2026, for the Fall 2026 academy) prints the same range and the entry rate as $27.52 an hour on an 80-hour pay period or $19.6571 an hour on a 112-hour period. The page prints no year against the steps, so no years-to-top is carried. The city's Salary Schedules page lists its Fire union schedules as effective July 13, 2025 and its non-union schedules as effective July 12, 2026. Applicants need one of an EMT-B license, Firefighter I and II, 30 college hours, two years of active duty or a Department of Labor apprenticeship, and earn Firefighter I and II and EMT-B during probation.

Joplin. Exhibit D of the fire bargaining unit agreement, the Salary Administration Plan effective January 1, 2026, prints Firefighter Trainee (grade 1A) at $34,625 and $35,663 in steps 1 and 2, Firefighter/EMT (grade F2) from $44,723 at step 7, its first printed step, to $56,653 at step 15, Fire Driver/Engineer (grade F4) from $46,072 at step 4 to $63,775 at step 15, and Fire Captain (grade F10) from $50,980 at step 1, each annual figure under an hourly rate on a 2,912-hour year. The plan prints no year against any step. The trainee grade is carried as the recruit figure because the employer labels it Trainee.

Lee's Summit. The Fire Salary and Benefits page prints four tables labeled 2025: Firefighter from $54,750 at step 1 (0 years) to $70,750 at step 9 (8 years), Firefighter/Paramedic from $63,500 to $79,500, Engineer from $66,600 to $83,600 and Engineer/Paramedic from $75,350 to $92,350, with a note that after five years firefighters may test for engineer. The page prints no 2026 figure, so the row is partial. It links a Workday requisition (JR100038) that, on the read date, was not among the 22 jobs on the city's board.

Kansas City and Jefferson City. Two rows carried from documents with dates on them. Kansas City's release for the November 15, 2024 deadline prints a starting salary of $51,480 per year with paid fire and EMT training in a 24-week academy; the careers page read the same day prints no salary, takes Job Recruitment Interest submissions and repeats the rule that applicants must not have turned 30 before the period closes. Jefferson City's Firefighter bulletin 202512d prints $47,888.59 to $54,755.34 a year, requires Missouri Firefighter I and II and an EMT license in hand at application, says in its description that starting annual compensation is $50,000 plus and holiday pay, and says the position will be posted until filled past its January 5, 2026 closing date; the range minimum is carried and the two figures are named rather than reconciled.

St. Charles, Mehlville, Kirkwood. Three Firefighter/Paramedic figures from the St. Louis area. St. Charles's posting 4165081, posted August 3, 2026 and open until filled, prints $69,981.50 to $94,922.52 on 2,912 hours a year and requires a Missouri paramedic license, Missouri Firefighter I and II, ACLS, BLS, PALS, ITLS or PHTLS and a CPAT card. Mehlville Fire Protection District's Firefighter Paramedic page prints a $68,982 starting wage and $98,449 after four years of service on a 48/96 schedule, with a $700 uniform allowance, a $1,600 perfect attendance bonus and up to $5,000 a year in tuition reimbursement; a Missouri EMT-P license is required and St. Louis County Fire Academy training is preferred. Kirkwood's posting 1267612 printed $75,828 to $94,026 per year and closed February 3, 2026; the city's job list on the read date carried no fire posting.

Cape Girardeau and Central Jackson County. Two rows from documents that are not pay plans. Cape Girardeau's council release of December 16, 2025, written during negotiations with Local 1084, prints FY26 start pay by rank: Firefighter $52,458, Firefighter/Paramedic $55,065, Driver/Operator $57,778, Driver/Operator/Paramedic $60,631, Captain $66,689, Captain/Paramedic $73,471 and Battalion Chief $80,924, beside FY22 figures; the hiring page requires both Firefighter I and II and a Missouri EMT license to be hired. Central Jackson County Fire Protection District's summaries print an FY 2025 Firefighter/EMT scale of $59,028.70 at new hire, $61,803.92, $69,673.67 and $78,871.50 at Levels 1 through 3 and $83,757.79 at Level 4, a Firefighter/Paramedic scale from $69,673.67 to $83,757.79, and an $8,000 annual paramedic license incentive; the levels carry no years.

St. Louis, Columbia, Independence, St. Joseph, Cottleville, West County, Wentzville. Null, each for a reason the document states. St. Louis's page prints the requirements (18 to 33, plus up to six years for military service), an 18-week academy and an EMT license within a year, and says the Probationary Fire Private position comes up every few years. Columbia's page says applications were anticipated in the fall of 2025 and prints no figure. Independence prints an hourly range of $20.45 to $35.66 based on incentives, 5 percent annual steps and a $720 uniform allowance, and no annual figure. St. Joseph's Join SJFD page prints a competitive-salary line and a benefits link that returned the city's not-found page. Cottleville's 2026 Firefighter/Paramedic posting prints requirements and an October 30, 2026 deadline and no salary. West County's application page prints its minimum qualifications (21, Firefighter I and II through the St. Louis County Fire Academy, a Missouri paramedic license) and no salary. Wentzville's Career Center printed No Current Open Positions.

Which application doors are open today?

• One dated window. Cottleville Fire Protection District takes Firefighter/Paramedic applications through October 30, 2026; the posting prints no salary.
• Open until filled. St. Charles's Firefighter/Paramedic posting (August 3, 2026) builds an eligibility list; Mehlville takes a resume, credentials and application by email; West County is establishing a Paramedic/Firefighter list through its online application; Jefferson City's bulletin says it is posted until filled past its January 5, 2026 closing date.
• Interest cards and cycles. Kansas City takes Job Recruitment Interest submissions and emails applicants when a period opens; St. Louis posts Probationary Fire Private every few years; Springfield's 2026 window closed March 31 for the September academy and the page prints no next window; Kirkwood's posting closed February 3, 2026; Lee's Summit's requisition was not on its board; Columbia's page points to a fall 2025 window; Wentzville printed no opening; St. Joseph sends applicants to its Paycor careers site.
• Requirements differ by employer. The St. Louis area districts and cities post Firefighter/Paramedic and require the paramedic license, Firefighter I and II and a CPAT card at hire; Kansas City, St. Louis and Springfield train uncertified hires in a paid academy; Independence, Jefferson City, Cape Girardeau and St. Joseph require Firefighter I and II and an EMT license to apply or to be hired.