truewise Honest US education data

Fire Protection

Homeland Security & Law Enforcement

Fire Protection graduates with a bachelor's typically earned about $82,152, measured a few years after finishing (median across US programs, College Scorecard).
Explore this major →

Median earnings by degree level

Earnings range across schools, by degree levelEach row is a degree level: the bar is the middle half of schools' program medians (25th to 75th percentile) and the dot is the overall median. Certificate median $59,084, $54,286 to $68,031; Associate's median $73,375, $64,585 to $81,482; Bachelor's median $82,152, $70,972 to $97,980.$54k$76k$98kCertificate$59,084Associate's$73,375Bachelor's$82,152
Earnings range across schools, by degree levelEach row is a degree level: the bar is the middle half of schools' program medians (25th to 75th percentile) and the dot is the overall median. Certificate median $59,084, $54,286 to $68,031; Associate's median $73,375, $64,585 to $81,482; Bachelor's median $82,152, $70,972 to $97,980.$54k$76k$98kCertificate$59,084Associate's$73,375Bachelor's$82,152
DegreeMedian earningsTypical rangeSchoolsClear the bar
Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma$59,084$54,286 to $68,0314298%
Associate's Degree$73,375$64,585 to $81,48226100%
Bachelor's Degree$82,152$70,972 to $97,98020100%

"Clear the bar" is the share of programs whose graduates out-earn a typical high-school graduate (the federal earnings-premium test). Typical range is the 25th to 75th percentile of program medians.

Job outlook

Projected employment growth +4% (2025 to 2035), about 144,300 openings a year across the occupations this field commonly leads to.

OccupationMedian payGrowthOpenings/yr
Managers, All Other$141,900+4.9%100,900
Firefighters$59,280+3.7%26,800
Career/Technical Education Teachers, Postsecondary$63,820-0.3%8,000
First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers$93,530+3.7%6,600
Fire Inspectors and Investigators$75,920+4.2%1,600
Forest Fire Inspectors and Prevention Specialists$56,870+13.1%400

Occupation pay and outlook: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS wages, Employment Projections). A field maps to several occupations, and the same occupations serve many majors, so these are the jobs this major commonly leads to, not positions reserved for its graduates; the openings should not be added up across majors.

Where this is studied

The 8 colleges where the most students complete a fire protection program, of 397 that report one. Ordered by number of completions only: this is where people study it, not a judgement about where to.

Earnings source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (release 2026-06-10), median earnings of graduates measured up to four years after completing. Figures describe past graduates and are never a promise. Method: methodology. Report an error.