New York Firefighter Salary 2026 by Department: Fifteen Departments, Their Own Documents

The short answer. There is no single New York firefighter salary. New York hires career firefighters through civil service examinations that each city, county or fire district commission announces, usually every two to four years, and the salary sits on the announcement. Of the fifteen departments read on September 9, 2026, nine print a starting figure: Schenectady's $49,067 (2025 announcement), Albany's $51,093 (Fire Fighter/EMT, plus stipends), Ithaca's $51,855 (2026 non-EMT rate), FDNY's $54,122, Syracuse's $54,445 (November 2025 county announcement), Yonkers's $58,714, White Plains's $59,417 (2024 announcement), Eastchester's $60,709.71 (first year, 2024 guide) and Watertown's $61,381 (October 2025 announcement). None prints a separate academy rate. The printed tops run from Watertown's $76,253 and Schenectady's $78,399 to Albany's $79,999 (Fire Fighter/EMT), Syracuse's $82,285, Eastchester's $108,632.89 in the sixth year and White Plains's $116,056; FDNY's $105,146 after 5.5 years is printed with two contradictory notes about what it includes, so it is named and not carried. Rochester, New Rochelle, Utica, Buffalo, Binghamton and Troy print the route and no figure. No application period was open on the read date; the next dates the documents name are Utica's January 9, 2027 examination and White Plains's anticipated March 2027 examination. The registry counts 1,644 New York fire departments, 4.2 percent of them career and 1.8 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. In New York the examination is the door and the announcement is the pay document: a city, county or fire district civil service commission announces a Firefighter examination, prints the salary or salary range that applies to the title in each jurisdiction it covers, tests once, and hires from the resulting list for one to four years. Between examinations most recruiting pages print the requirements and no figure. This page carries a figure only when the department's own page or its commission's announcement prints it, with the document and the read date, and nothing more. A union's social post, a news story and a salary aggregator are not sources here. Where the newest announcement is a year or two old, the row carries its figure and says so; where the announcement prints a range, the range is carried and no step count is invented.

The Texas comparison, built the same way at a larger N, is Texas firefighter salary 2026 by department. Missouri, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, 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. No New York row does: FDNY's $54,122 is its starting salary through the 18-week academy and probation, and the announcements print one starting figure for the title.
• Starting (certified) is the first annual figure the document names for the firefighter title: FDNY $54,122 (salary guide), Yonkers $58,714 (recruitment page and the 2025 announcement), Albany $51,093 (Fire Fighter/EMT, plus stipends; $53,900 for Fire Fighter/Paramedic), Schenectady $49,067 (2025 announcement range minimum), White Plains $59,417 (2024 announcement range minimum), Eastchester $60,709.71 (first year of the 2024 salary guide), Ithaca $51,855 (2026 non-EMT rate; $54,421 with EMT), Syracuse $54,445 (county announcement range minimum), Watertown $61,381 (announcement range minimum).
• Top firefighter step is the highest printed firefighter-rank annual before promotion: Albany $79,999 (Fire Fighter/EMT; $83,788 for Fire Fighter/Paramedic), Schenectady $78,399, White Plains $116,056, Syracuse $82,285 and Watertown $76,253 are the tops of announced ranges with no step count printed; Eastchester's $108,632.89 is the sixth-year step of its guide. FDNY's guide prints $105,146 after 5.5 years under a footnote that excludes overtime, fringe and holiday pay, while the paragraph above it says the same figure includes overtime and holiday pay; the column stays empty and the figure is named.
• 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. Albany's page adds "plus stipends" to every figure and a $2 per hour differential for a paramedic working a paramedic unit; Utica prints a $100 per day ambulance differential and a six percent holiday bonus without a salary; none of that is folded into a column.

Why isn't there a statewide starting salary?

Because New York separates the examination from the pay. Under New York State Civil Service Law each city, county or fire district commission announces its own Firefighter examination, usually on a two- to four-year cycle, and the salary on the announcement is the jurisdiction's own: Onondaga County's November 2025 announcement prints $54,445 to $82,285 for the City of Syracuse and "salary varies" for the DeWitt Fire District and the villages of Fayetteville and Manlius on the same page. Nine of the fifteen departments read print a figure somewhere the public can read it: FDNY, Yonkers and Albany on their recruiting pages, and Schenectady, White Plains, Eastchester, Ithaca, Syracuse and Watertown on an announcement or salary guide. Rochester, New Rochelle, Utica, Buffalo, Binghamton and Troy print the route and no figure on the read date, because no Firefighter announcement was open, so those rows stay null with each page named. A Facebook post with a salary, a testing vendor's listing and a news story about a contract are not carried. The Texas, Missouri, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, 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 daily 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 1,644 registered fire departments in New York, 4.2 percent of them Career and 1.8 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. Fifteen departments against it is a kickoff, not a census; the next documents to open are the Firefighter announcements of Buffalo, Rochester, Binghamton, Troy, Niagara Falls, Mount Vernon, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie and Long Beach when their commissions post them, Utica's announcement for the January 9, 2027 test, White Plains's March 2027 announcement, and the Westchester and Nassau County announcements that feed the fire districts.

Rows to read carefully

FDNY. The Firefighter page on JoinFDNY prints a salary guide of $54,122 to start, $56,788 after 1.5 years, $61,853 after 2.5, $68,039 after 3.5, $74,998 after 4.5 and $105,146 after 5.5 years, with the footnote "Overtime, Fringe and Holiday Pay not included," and a paragraph above it saying a firefighter can make more than $105,146 after five years including overtime and holiday pay. The start is carried; the 5.5-year figure is named and not carried as a base top step, because the page disagrees with itself about what it includes. Promotional maximums are printed at $130,260 for Lieutenant, $149,518 for Captain and $194,689 for Battalion Chief. The application period opens every four to five years; the newest exam the page names is the 2024 exam. A CFR-D certificate is required by the end of probation, not at appointment.

Yonkers. The Salary & Qualification page prints a $58,714 starting salary, and the March 1, 2025 announcement (examination 86-930010; filing November 18 to December 18, 2024; $50 fee) prints the same figure with no top step. One year of Yonkers residency before the written test, 17 years and 6 months to under 29 on the test date, 18 at appointment.

Albany. The Join the AFD page prints Fire Fighter/EMT $51,093 and Fire Fighter/Paramedic $53,900 to start, plus stipends, and $79,999 and $83,788 at the top, with a $2 per hour differential on a paramedic unit. The March 1, 2025 exam announcement (60001-460) labels $51,093 the 2025 schedule, and the lateral-transfer notice 14029, open until filled for New York State career firefighters, prints Firefighter EMT $52,626 and Firefighter Paramedic $55,517. The page figure is carried and the notice figure named; the row is partial until a current schedule is printed. EMT-Basic certification is required five weeks before appointment; the exam runs about every two years.

Schenectady, White Plains, Syracuse, Watertown. Each is an announcement range carried as a range: Schenectady $49,067 to $78,399 (2025 rate, examination 60038-940, test January 10, 2026, EMT at appointment, 19 at appointment); White Plains $59,417 to $116,056 (September 19, 2024 announcement for the March 1, 2025 test; next test anticipated March 2027); Syracuse $54,445 to $82,285 (Onondaga County examination 60043990, announced November 14, 2025, test January 10, 2026, county residency at application, $25 fee); Watertown $61,381 to $76,253 (examination 60048-320, issued October 1, 2025, filing through November 30, 2025, test January 10, 2026, Jefferson or a contiguous county for appointment, EMT-Basic within a year). The step count behind each range is not printed and is not guessed.

Eastchester. The fire district's Hiring Process page prints a 2024 salary guide: $60,709.71 in the first year, $70,092.12 in the second, $79,474.53 in the third, $90,971.90 in the fourth, $97,135.53 in the fifth and $108,632.89 in the sixth. Hiring runs from the Westchester County examination, last held February 11, 2023 and offered about every four years, through a 17-week academy.

Ithaca. Examination 60052600, issued October 30, 2025 for the January 10, 2026 test, prints $51,855 as the 2026 non-EMT rate and $54,421 as the 2026 EMT rate, with EMT certification due within two years of appointment, no residency requirement for the exam, and no vacancies at the time of the announcement. The non-EMT rate is the start; the EMT rate is named rather than turned into an incentive amount.

Rochester, New Rochelle, Utica, Buffalo, Binghamton, Troy. Null, each for a reason the page states. Rochester's recruitment page prints no salary, and the newest bulletin on the city's job board is 22ELOC2205 for the January 14, 2023 test, which printed $46,302.10 to $84,090.24; a three-year-old bulletin is named, not carried. New Rochelle's employment page says applications are closed and the exam date is to be announced. Utica's recruiting site prints a January 9, 2027 exam, a $100 per day ambulance differential and a six percent holiday bonus, and no salary. Buffalo's Civil Service Exams page and GovernmentJobs board carry no open-competitive Firefighter announcement; the only Fire bulletin is the promotional Fire Lieutenant examination at $92,966 to $99,263. Binghamton's Employment page lists a Police Officer examination and no Firefighter examination. Troy's Join TFD page prints "Competitive Pay" and no figure, and its job page lists Police Officer examinations only.

Which application doors are open today?

• None was open on the read date. The dates the documents name: Utica's Firefighter examination on January 9, 2027, with the application period not yet announced; White Plains's next examination anticipated in March 2027; Albany's examination on a two-year cycle after March 1, 2025; FDNY's application period every four to five years after the 2024 exam; New Rochelle's date to be announced.
• Yonkers, Schenectady, Ithaca, Syracuse and Watertown tested on March 1, 2025 or January 10, 2026 and hire from those lists for one to four years; Eastchester hires from the Westchester County list.
• Albany's lateral-transfer notice (14029) for New York State career firefighters was open until filled on the read date; it is a lateral door, not an entry examination.