How Much Money Does a Fire Investigator Make a Year?
- For the purposes of its May 2010 survey of national employment trends, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics categorized fire investigators alongside their close colleagues, fire inspectors, who assess building for safety measures. It concluded that the mean annual salary across the occupational grouping was $56,160, which equates to an hourly rate of $27. Those among the top 10 percent of earners received wages of over $85,260, while their counterparts in the bottom 10 percent earned less than $34,210 per year.
- The vast majority of fire investigators work within the public sector, according to the bureau’s analysis. It listed the mean yearly wage for individuals working for local government as $57,990, while at state government level, the mean was $47,340. Investigators may also work for agencies, brokerages and other insurance-related activities, which was listed at $76,510, or insurance carriers, within which the mean annual wage was $74,880.
- Location also impacts a fire investigator’s salary. The bureau listed Nevada as the state in which, across all industry sectors, a practitioner was likely to earn the highest compensation levels, with an annual mean of $76,930. Washington and Oregon were also reported to be comparatively lucrative locations, with respective means of $75,680 and $73,090. Pay rates were comparable between Connecticut and Delaware -- $48,720 and $47,330, respectively – while South Carolina was among the states with the lowest wage levels, a mean of just $40,460 per year.
- The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects to see an approximate 9 percent growth in employment opportunities for fire investigators over the period from 2008 to 2018. This is in line with national projections across all occupations, put at between 7 percent and 13 percent through 2018. As the population grows so urban building density will increase, prompting the rise in demand for investigators. As such, wage levels for the role should remain competitive in the immediate future, although the bureau cautions that competition for vacancies will be keen.