Where is the best place to find EMT jobs?
That’s a hard question to answer, and one that isn’t highly studied or documented. That’s not for lack of the popularity of the job, as many people work as EMTs and the sector is expected to continue growing. It’s more likely that the majority of EMTs don’t take the job for the money, but instead for the challenging and rewarding aspects of the occupation.
As far as the average salary for an EMT in the 10 largest cities, there’s not much difference between the best-paying and the worst-paying. For instance, San Jose, Calif., has the highest average salary, at $31,502 per year, but that’s not much higher than last-ranked San Antonio, Texas, which has an average annual salary of $25,595.
When contemplating where you should look for EMT jobs, there are other factors to consider in addition to the salary you would earn. For instance, you should know the population of the city, because a bigger population means the competition for finding any job will be tough. It’s also helpful to know the cost of living for the city, as that can greatly impact exactly how far your salary will go.
Here is a list of the 10 largest cities and how they stack up as far as salary and cost of living:
- New York – Even though the Big Apple pays out the second-highest EMT salary, at $30,832 per year, it is perhaps the worst city in which to find an EMT job. Not only does NYC have the biggest population, at 8,363,710 people, it also has the highest cost of living.
- Los Angeles – The second-largest city, with 3,833,995 people, pays EMTs the fifth-lowest salary, at $27,721 per year. Unfortunately, it is only 14 percent cheaper to live in L.A. than New York.
- Chicago – The third-largest city, with 2,853,114 people, also has the third-highest EMT salary, at $29,827 per year, and is 34-percent less expensive than New York.
- Houston – In addition to having the second-lowest EMT salary, at $26,324 per year, Houston has the fourth-largest population, with 2,242,193 people. However, it costs 47 percent less to live here than it does to live in New York City.
- Phoenix – This city has the fifth-largest population, at 1,567,924, and the third-lowest salary, at $26,864 per year. However, it’s 41 percent cheaper to live in Phoenix than New York.
- Philadelphia – This city has the fifth-smallest population, with 1,540,351 people, and the fourth-highest EMT salary, at $29,406 per year. In addition, it’s 28 percent cheaper to live here than in New York.
- San Antonio – Despite having the lowest EMT salary, San Antonio has the fourth-smallest population, at 1,351,305 people, and it costs 44 percent less to live here than it does to live in New York.
- Dallas – Although this city has the fourth-lowest EMT salary, with $27,554, it has the third-smallest population, at 1,279,910 people, and is 46-percent less expensive than New York.
- San Diego – EMTs here make $28,853 per year, the fifth-highest salary, and live in the second-least populated city, with 1,279,329 people. Another plus – it’s 21 percent less expensive to live here than New York City.
- San Jose – Aside from having the highest salary, this city also has the smallest population, at 948,279 people. However, the cost of living here is only 8 percent lower than New York City.
Now you can choose where the best place for EMT jobs is, based on what’s important to you, whether it be population and your chances of getting a job, how much you’ll get paid or how much it will cost to live there.
The population statistics are based on data from the 2000 U.S. Census, while average salaries and cost of living are based on data from PayScale.