There were approximately 160,400 emergency medical technicians (EMTs) employed in the U.S. as of May 2021 according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports.  EMTs mostly work for ambulatory healthcare service providers, local government agencies and hospitals. Emergency medical technicians typically earn lower salaries and wages than many other healthcare workers.  According to BLS data, as of May 2021 EMTs earned, on average, $36,690 per year.  Pay for the profession varies widely from region-to-region, with EMTs in some parts of the country making substantially more annually than their peers elsewhere. This salary and wage variation can be easily seen in BLS data from May 2021, which reports the following about emergency medical technician pay in the top 20 metro markets in the U.S.:

Emergency Medical Technician Pay in the Top 20 Metro Markets

	Metropolitan Area		# Employed	Mean Annual Wage
1	New York-Newark-Jersey City		12,090	$43,310
2	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim		5,350	$39,930
3	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin		5,400	$50,820
4	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington		2,290	$36,370
5	Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land		2,350	$36,640
6	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria		1,820	$56,130
7	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington		3,790	$39,070
8	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach		1,210	$34,370
9	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta		2,950	$34,440
10	Boston-Cambridge-Newton		2,920	$43,390
11	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler		1,740	$33,370
12	San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley		2,850	$55,620
13	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario		1,890	$38,230
14	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn		1,250	$33,530
15	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue		1,150	$39,250
16	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington		1,290	$41,170
17	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad		1,250	$36,620
18	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater		980	$31,590
19	Denver-Aurora-Lakewood		1,370	$35,010
20	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson		1,420	$43,000
	National		161,400	$36,690

Report Period:  May 2021
Top 20 U.S. Metro areas from 2020 Census
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Occupational Statistics
Data extracted on September 17, 2022