Ohio Firefighter Salary 2026 by Department: Sixteen Cities, Their Own Documents

The short answer. There is no single Ohio firefighter salary. This page opens sixteen departments' own documents, read September 8, 2026, and prints what each one says. The first six: Toledo's Local 92 agreement (rates effective January 2026), Cincinnati's Local 48 agreement (Appendix A, effective December 7, 2025), Dayton's civil service class specifications under the 2024-2026 IAFF contract, Akron's recruiting page and open posting, Cleveland's Local 93 agreement (wage scale effective April 1, 2026), and Columbus's Local 67 agreement (Fire Pay Plan effective the pay period including November 1, 2025). All six print an annual starting figure, and seven more agreements read the same night add Avon, Hamilton, Huber Heights, Troy, Grandview Heights, Kent and Canton; Youngstown, Parma and Springfield publish no current agreement we could open, and their rows say so. The registry counts 1,148 Ohio fire departments, 13.8 percent career, so this is a kickoff, not a census.

Last verified: 2026-09-08.

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, with one exception: Akron's Firefighter/Medic posting is open through September 30, 2026. Every other row records what the department's page or agreement prints and nothing more. Recruit pay and post-academy pay are two columns. A December 2025 table and a January 2026 table are not averaged into one "Ohio start."

The Texas comparison, built the same way at a larger N, is Texas firefighter salary 2026 by department. Missouri, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Colorado and California, built the same way, are 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 the printed trainee or recruit annual rate when the city prints one as an annual: Toledo's Trainee row ($59,178.08), Cincinnati's FF-R ($55,409.81), Dayton's Firefighter Recruit class ($43,971.20). A blank cell means the city printed the academy rate only by the hour (Akron $31.53; Cleveland's Apprentice Firefighter $27.69, 83 percent of the 4th Grade rate) or not at all.
• Starting (certified) is the first annual firefighter grade after the academy that the document names: Toledo's Probationary row ($63,410.88), Cincinnati's FF-PR ($73,141.05), Dayton's Firefighter-48 band minimum ($63,623.04), Akron's printed starting salary after graduation ($71,968), Cleveland's 4th Grade Fire Fighter after the academy ($69,407.19, April 1, 2026 scale), Columbus's Fire Fighter step A/1 ($69,975.64, November 1, 2025 table). From the seven agreements read the same night: Avon's Firefighter/Paramedic Start ($82,163.55, 2026 table on a 50.3-hour week), Hamilton's FFEMT column ($68,889.60, December 27, 2025 schedule; a paramedic enters at $72,334.08), Huber Heights' Firefighter/Paramedic Step 1 ($63,045.71, 2026), Troy's Firefighter 2/EMT entry ($53,290.76, 2026 column; the paramedic entry is $66,613.45), Grandview Heights' first-year FF/EMT rate ($72,418.70, December 24, 2025), Kent's Step 1 ($69,512.76, August 25, 2025 exhibit), and Canton's Step 1 ($58,118.88, 2026, after a probationary year the agreement does not price).
• Top firefighter step is the highest printed firefighter-rank annual before promotion: Toledo after 10 years ($88,936.64), Cincinnati FF-4 ($92,451.68), Dayton's band maximum ($84,264.96), Cleveland's 1st Grade Fire Fighter over five years ($89,476.60), Columbus's step E/5 ($112,164.16), Avon after three years ($96,044.20), Hamilton FFPM5 over four years ($84,414.72), Huber Heights Step 5 ($92,866.41), Troy's 1st Class Firefighter 2/Paramedic Step 2 ($92,220.35), Grandview Heights after five years ($106,369.50), Kent Step 6 ($92,385.42), Canton Step 5 at ten years ($79,058.95). Akron prints no top step on the page opened.
• Source is the document title, the link, the effective date where the document prints one, and the date we read it.
• Every annual figure is base pay. Cincinnati prints EMT, Special and Paramedic add-pays on the same page ($3,698.07, $6,471.62 and $9,245.17 a year at December 7, 2025); they are in the row's notes, not in the columns.

Why isn't there a statewide starting salary?

Because Ohio does not publish one, and averaging thirteen city starts across two calendar years and three different workweeks would be our arithmetic, not a city's. The Texas, Missouri, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Tennessee, Virginia, Colorado and California clones use the same rule: null is a value, conflicts are named, and hourly academy rates are not multiplied into annual salaries the city never printed.

The universe is measured but not yet counted. The U.S. Fire Administration's National Fire Department Registry Quick Facts page (read September 8, 2026; registry last updated June 11, 2026) prints 1,148 registered fire departments in Ohio, 13.8 percent of them Career and 6.9 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; the Colorado and California pages carry that count from the registry's state file, and pulling Ohio's is the next unit. Thirteen departments with a printed start, and three that publish none, against a universe of roughly one in five of 1,148 is a kickoff, not a census.

Seven agreements, one night

Avon. The Local 4310 agreement runs January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2028 and prints one classification, Firefighter/Paramedic, on a 50.3-hour week in 2026: Start $82,163.55, then $86,840.35, $91,404.85 and $96,044.20 at one, two and three years. On January 3, 2027 the workweek drops to 48 hours with a 3 percent increase, and 2028 adds 3 percent more. A new hire may be placed at the one- or two-year rate for prior experience on the Chief's recommendation.

Hamilton. Schedule B-1 of the Local 20 agreement, wages effective December 27, 2025, prints a Trainee at $65,345.28, a certified firefighter-EMT at $68,889.60, and paramedic steps from $72,334.08 in the first year to $84,414.72 after four; Apparatus Driver sits at $86,087.04 and longevity runs from 2 percent at five years to 11 percent at twenty.

Huber Heights. The Local 2926 agreement for 2026 through 2028 prints Firefighter/Paramedic Steps 1 through 5 at $63,045.71 to $92,866.41 for 2026 on a 49.5-hour rate, with 4 percent increases in each of the next two years. The years between steps are not on the pages read.

Troy. The Local 1638 wage chart for 2025 through 2027 prices two tracks in six-month steps: Firefighter 2/EMT from $53,290.76 and Firefighter 2/Paramedic from $66,613.45 in 2026, topping at $92,220.35 for a 1st Class Firefighter 2/Paramedic. The EMT rows are 75 or 80 percent of the matching paramedic step.

Grandview Heights. Ordinance 2023-36 carries the Local 1792 agreement for 2024 through 2026; the table effective December 24, 2025 runs from a first-year FF/EMT rate of $72,418.70 to $106,369.50 after five years, on 2,912 hours a year.

Kent. Exhibit C of the Local 721 contract, effective August 25, 2025, prints Firefighter Steps 1 through 6 at $69,512.76 to $92,385.42. The contract ends in 2026 and no successor was posted on the read date.

Canton. Article 59 of the Local 249 agreement for 2025 through 2027 prints Step 1 at $58,118.88 in 2026, reached after a probationary first year the agreement does not price, rising to $79,058.95 at ten years; a paramedic premium of $3.50 an hour applies on a medic unit. The city posts the agreement as a scanned image, so the figures were read by optical character recognition against the table's own step order.

Youngstown, Parma and Springfield. No current agreement could be opened for any of the three on September 8, 2026: the cities do not post them and the state board's contract archive holds only older fact-finding and conciliation documents, which carry proposals rather than adopted wages. Their rows are null with the reason, and they will fill the day a document posts.

Two rows to read carefully

Cleveland. The row is the Local 93 agreement, effective April 1, 2025 through March 31, 2028, not the city's recruiting page, which had not been updated to the agreement's scale on the read date. The wage scale has three columns, April 1 of 2025, 2026 and 2027, with a 12 percent base increase plus 3 percent in the first and 3 percent in each of the next two. A recruit is an Apprentice Firefighter paid by the hour at 83 percent of the 4th Grade rate on 2,080 hours, $27.69 in the April 2026 column; after the academy the 4th Grade rate is $69,407.19, and the grades step yearly to 1st Grade over five years at $89,476.60. Where a city page and a later agreement differ, this page follows the agreement and says so.

Columbus. The Local 67 agreement's Article 12 prints three Fire Pay Plan tables, for the pay periods including November 1 of 2023, 2024 and 2025. In the 2025 table a Fire Fighter runs from step A/1 at $69,975.64 to step E/5 at $112,164.16, $28.04 to $44.94 an hour on the 48-hour schedule. The section read does not state the years between steps, so the top-step column carries the figure and the years column stays blank. No recruiting page was opened; whether Columbus hires uncertified recruits, and what it pays them in the academy, are not on this row.

Dayton. The Firefighter-48 class specification that prints the $63,623.04 to $84,264.96 band is written for lateral hires, who must already hold Ohio Firefighter Level I and II and an Ohio paramedic certification and who enter at the step closest above their current pay. A recruit enters the Firefighter Recruit class at $43,971.20 and completes Level II and EMT at the training center first. The band is the firefighter classification's; the timing of its steps is in the contract's wage addenda, not on the class page.

Which application doors are open today?

• Akron: Firefighter/Medic, posting 2026-O-23-522, opened July 1, 2026 and closes September 30, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern. The written exam is the National Testing Network's FireTEAM, by city voucher, and testing must be completed by October 14, 2026. Ages 17 through 40 by August 31, 2026; diploma or GED; a valid driver's license at application and an Ohio license at hire. Sixteen-week academy at $31.53 an hour, then $71,968 a year.
• Cleveland: apply during the identified filing period; the page prints no dates. Eighteen at the test and under 40 at appointment; residents and veterans receive additional points on a passing score.
• Dayton: class specifications only; JobAps offers a notify-me for the recruit class.
• Toledo and Cincinnati: no dated posting was opened for these rows. Toledo's National Testing Network listing exists and prints the January 2026 trainee rate.
• Columbus: no recruiting page was opened for this row.
• Avon, Hamilton, Huber Heights, Troy, Grandview Heights, Kent, Canton: agreements only; no posting was opened for these rows.