Salaries for Jobs in Public Safety

About the numbers

Burning Glass (BG)* and NCCareers.org (NCC)** use various data, including quarterly wage and salary information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, to project salaries for entry-level positions, as well as after four to five years and after 10 years in specific careers.

The projections are sometimes far apart because the two services use different methodologies in their calculations. NCCareers.org, for example, includes data from the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Labor and Economic Analysis Division, while Burning Glass adds its own proprietary internal projections into the mix.

Program BG
Entry-level		 BG
4-5 year		 BG
10 year		 NCC
Entry-level		 NCC
4-5 years		 NCC
10 years		 Star rating***
Emergency Dispatcher NA NA NA $42,024 $58,728 $93,982 3
Emergency Medical Technician or Paramedic $36,400 $37,700 NA $26,841 $38,809 $60,171 4
Firefighter $39,700 $40,000 NA $25,512 $36,360 $52,805 3
Homeland Security/Law Enforcement $42,000 $43,900 $63,600 $35,368 $49,318 $68,100 4
Police Officer $41,200 $41,500 NA $35,368 $49,318 $68,100 4

*Burning Glass is an Idaho-based labor market data analysis firm that aims to help communities understand the economic value of higher education and help colleges maximize the value of their education. Its data helps identify skill gaps that keep job seekers and employers apart and tools to bridge that gap.

**NCCareers.org is a partnership of state-level experts in public education, higher education, workforce development, college financing and labor market economics. It studies national, statewide and local economic trends to produce shot- and long-term employment projections for North Carolina and areas across the state.

***Star ratings are assigned by NCCareers.org based on wages, projected growth rate and projected job openings. Occupations are rated from one to five stars, and those with more stars are considered to have better career prospects.