There were approximately 167,000 emergency medical technicians (EMTs) employed in the U.S. as of May 2023 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 2023 EMTs earned, on average, $43,100 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 2023, 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		11,210	$51,020
2	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim		5,660	$49,980
3	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin		5,140	$59,970
4	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington		2,640	$41,130
5	Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land		3,030	$40,990
6	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria		1,300	$52,590
7	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington		4,060	$44,660
8	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach		1,300	$43,910
9	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta		2,580	$40,710
10	Boston-Cambridge-Newton		3,050	$51,120
11	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler		2,100	$36,600
12	San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley		3,150	$62,960
13	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario		1,530	$46,300
14	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn		1,650	$40,220
15	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue		1,130	$48,010
16	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington		1,180	$46,640
17	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad		1,310	$44,360
18	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater		1,280	$39,410
19	Denver-Aurora-Lakewood		1,510	$42,560
20	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson		1,680	$53,340
	National		167,040	$43,100

Report Period:  May 2023
Top 20 U.S. Metro areas from the 2020 Census
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Occupational Statistics
Data extracted on August 17, 2024