How Much Does a EMT/Paramedic Make?

What's happening guys? My name is Sam and welcome back to Pragmatic. In this week's video we are talking about salary. It's one of the things that comes up again and again in the comments section. EMS salaries. Can you

make

a living in this profession? You can not do it? You have to work eight jobs and today I want to discuss some of the national statistics on average salaries and then express my own opinion from my own experience. This is a taboo topic because I am going to talk about what I do, I don't do it to brag or to try to surpass anyone, but I think it is very important for people who enter this profession, and even for some people who are already in it. this profession, to have an idea of ​​what I do.

Other people are earning and they have an idea of ​​whether that fits their lifestyle, whether it fits their long-term goals, about how they want to live, what kind of money they want to

make

, because you're not going to get rich doing this. , but with In my opinion, you can make a pretty good living in EMS. Another thing I want to mention very quickly is that I think I've been paid pretty well in my career, but I completely understand that others haven't and that there are places that don't pay. very good for EMS, so I understand that I think EMS needs a pay increase overall because we are not being compensated for the level of experience we bring to this field.

With all that said, let's get into some of the numbers, so let's start with some of the statistics that are found online and this is a really easy Google search. All you need to do is google

paramedic

salary by state or national average and you will find pretty

much

the same numbers I did, most of these numbers are pulled from zip. recruiter and in fact they are not necessarily 100% accurate but I tried to look for websites that correlated with my experience and what I know about the field and what some of my friends get paid in these states so the first thing I We did Let's talk about

paramedic

salaries so we are breaking down paramedics into EMT because there are two completely different certifications and often two completely different jobs for those of you who don't know that EMT is a level position input in general.

The class lasts approximately three weeks to a semester and is approximately one hundred and fifty hours of education. A level of basic life support is reached. Paramedic usually takes another two years on top of that, which takes you to a more advanced level, so paramedics are naturally Paramedics are going to get paid a little more nationally, so let's start with the salary of a paramedic, so in fact the average salary for a paramedic nationwide is $40,000. These are problems that now result in about nineteen dollars and seventy-four. cents per hour according to zip recruiter, the best paying state is New York and the average starting salary is twenty-two dollars and thirty-nine cents per hour, which is equivalent to about forty-six thousand five hundred and sixty-four dollars a year, the worst state paid is North Carolina and they start at fifteen dollars and ninety-three cents an hour, which works out to about thirty-three thousand one hundred and twenty-eight dollars a year, so we have to talk about a couple of things there even though New York It is the best paying country. in the nation, keep in mind that most of the salaries earned for this site will be from New York City, which has an astronomical cost of living, so if you compare it to the lowest paying state, you're probably making further. in North Carolina because the cost of living is

much

lower, so these statistics are relatively skewed now.

I will tell you that when I started my first job at Mary Greeley in central Iowa, I started at about seventeen dollars and fifty cents an hour right now. With New York, you have to keep in mind that the cost of living in central Iowa is very low. I bought my first house for about ninety thousand dollars and it was a nice, decent house, so keep that in mind as we move on to the other one. What they don't take into account is the amount of overtime I work, so in my career I have never earned less than sixty thousand dollars in a year and that is not an astronomical amount of money, but for me to have something that It is less.

More than a two-year degree in some areas, that's not a bad life and you can live relatively comfortably on sixty-something thousand dollars a year, which is also long, so it will take you away from your family and friends for a period dragged on. If you want to make that kind of money since I moved to Colorado, my salary has increased relatively substantially. That said, the cost of living in Colorado is much higher, so the salary I make now is quite comparable to what I made at Mary Greeley. when I left, I started here with about eight years of EMS experience at about twenty-seven dollars an hour, which to me is a very good life and I feel very comfortable with that salary.

Now I will say that there are other agencies that do not pay. Well in the EMS world you have a couple different levels of EMS that will pay a little differently and this is kind of a sweeping generalization, it's not true everywhere but in my experience it's pretty accurate so it's in the top of payment. scale, you will have a third service EMS organizations, third service simply means that they are tax based, they are paid for by a completely non-profit community, so it all comes back to the employees and equipment that you will now have to have non-profit.

EMS agencies, that's what I work for, where I'm a hospital system, it's a non-profit hospital system, they pay us relatively well, but generally speaking, they will be paid a little less than the third-party service organizations and and finally we have the agencies For-profit ambulance companies, these are agencies like AMR and Phalke, these are corporations essentially that exist to make money from their business model, so they want to have net profits at the end of the year and they are going to pay their employees just a a little less in my area, a lot of them are paramedics and they start at fifteen to seventeen dollars an hour which is pretty low for this area, now there are some exceptions.

AMR and Phalke operate differently depending on where in the United States they are located. at or what specific company they are working at, so the salary will go up or down depending on where you are, it's not always a bad thing, so let's move on to EMT salaries and then back up, let's discuss selecting the right place to work and finding agencies that pay more because they exist, so EMT is the average annual salary of an EMT of $27,000 a year. The highest paying state is New York, starting with an average of fifteen dollars and 83 cents per hour. which is equivalent to thirty-two thousand nine hundred and thirty-one dollars a year and then, the lowest paying state is once again North Carolina and its initial average is eleven dollars and 26 cents per hour, which is equivalent to twenty-three thousand four hundred twenty-nine dollars. annually this is substantially lower than the paramedic group because it is a lower standard of education.

I think MTS needs to make more money, but in most areas EMT is not necessarily considered a profession, it is not considered a career. I must say now that that is not to give a close to someone who has made EMT a career, it is a very honorable profession to be in, that being said many people use it as a stepping stone to paramedic or PA or other healthcare jobs , so not many people stay in the EMT field all the time, my wife is a good example: she started as a paramedic in a small private service and is now a doctor, so she just uses that to provide something of basic experience to enter medical school.

Our EMT is that. the agency I work at now starts at about fifteen fifty an hour or so now these starting numbers will increase with more experience so if someone comes in with a couple years of EMT experience most agencies will pay them more Keep in mind now that in EMS, specifically, the hourly wage is not always equal to the annual wage, because many EMS agencies operate on 48 or 24 hour schedules, so a fairly common schedule for EMS providers. EMS is 24 48, so that's where you work 24 hours and then you get 48 hours off, if you mark it on a calendar most weeks you'll get at least eight hours overtime and then some weeks you'll get sixteen hours overtime, so That if you make about $15 an hour and you are working 24 48 your annual salary will be about $50,000 a year, so spend more time away from family, you are working for that extra money, however, the good thing about That's because I work 12 hour shifts when I get home, my day is completely shot, now I go straight to bed.

I may also get paid at night and wake up once or twice and make that extra money, so a lot of people enjoy the 24-48 hour schedule and that being said, it's very difficult. your body, especially if you're at an agency with a high call volume, so that kind of schedule isn't for everyone. Now the other variable that I'm going to include in this conversation is firefighter paramedics, so a firefighter paramedic is exactly what it sounds like. Someone who is trained as a firefighter works for a fire department that runs an ambulance, fire medics are going to earn a little more overall than EMS alone.

Now this is changing. EMS is moving away from a fire-based model in many areas, however, The national average salary for fire medics is about fifty-two thousand dollars a year and, in my area, if you go to work For South Metro in the south Denver area, fire medics start with about eighty to ninety thousand dollars a year, so there is good money in this field, but you have to be able to diversify and find the right place to work and that comes into the last discussion I want to have and that is selecting the right place to work just because someone offers you a job no I mean you should take that right away compare prices and always negotiate your salary.

I would always try to find a county or some type of third service or non-profit ambulance service if you are going to start an EMS, in my experience they will. Treat you a little better, that

does

n't mean everything is ours and the facts are bad or negative, however in my experience these places will treat you a little better. Well, this always brings me to the final discussion of this video and that is selecting the right spot. agency to work for, don't go to work for the first agency that gives you a job offer, there are many EMS positions available and I would highly recommend you shop around in your area and don't be afraid to move, there are some really great EMS agencies.

EMS that will compensate you very well for your time in your education and treat you well, you won't have to kill yourself with overtime, but you will have to compare prices and, as I have said in other videos. You have to find out what's in your area so it's all over the US except where. is going to operate a little differently, each city will have a different idea of ​​how they run EMS, some will be fire based, some will be county based, some will be private ambulance services, so you need to decide where He wants to work and then go. and talk to people, find out what are the good places to work.

If you walk into any EMS building and start talking to their paramedics and EMTs, they will be able to tell you where the places to work are and where to stay away. and they're great resources to have at your disposal, so I'll probably do a livestream next week that goes into more depth on some of these topics and I can answer some of your questions live. I'll let you know when it arrives. above, but in the meantime, if you have any questions, leave them in the comments below once again. This was not done to make anyone feel bad or to brag about my salary or not air private information just for the sake of it.

I think it is very important to have a good understanding of what others are doing in a field and I really hate that the only voice is about EMS on the internet, there are often really burned out paramedics and EMTs who have nothing positive to say about this profession because this is a great profession, you can make a living out of it, there are some great places to work and it's not as bad as some people make it out to be, like I said if you have any questions leave them in the comments below. I'm sure you'll like it and subscribe to my channel if you haven't already and we'll see you next week.