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All 39 departments / City of Chicago

Chicago Fire Department

Headcount, pay, and awarded contracts for the Chicago Fire Department, computed live from the City of Chicago's open data. Salaried and hourly employees are reported separately, because the city records only one of the two pay fields for each person.

4,780

People on the payroll

Salaried and hourly combined

$122,376

Median salaried pay

Across 4,780 salaried staff

$129,517

Average salaried pay

Excludes hourly employees

$619,088,983

Total salaried payroll

Annual, before benefits

Most common job titles in the Chicago Fire Department

  1. Firefighter-Emt1,645
  2. Firefighter-Emt (Recruit)499
  3. Lieutenant-Emt488
  4. Fire Engineer-Emt411
  5. Paramedic388
  6. Paramedic I/C276
  7. Firefighter/Paramedic262
  8. Captain-Emt171
  9. Battalion Chief - Emt92
  10. Ambulance Commander87

Contracts awarded

The city's contracts dataset records 2,229 contract actions naming the Chicago Fire Department, with award amounts totaling $591,830,425. Award amounts can be negative when a contract is revised downward or funds are de-obligated, so the total is a net figure rather than a spending total. Departments are named slightly differently in the contracts and payroll datasets, so this covers contracts filed under the exact name "CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT".

  1. Lion Apparel, Inc$45,023,192
    Purchase and Maintenance of Bunker GearApproved Aug 29, 2025
  2. Silk Screen Express, Inc.$33,327,405
    1279230: Uniform and Commissary Related Services 25% MBE and 5% WBE GoalsApproved Dec 8, 2023
  3. Safety Solutions, Incorp.$20,988,949
    EMERGENCY, HEALTH, MASS CASUALTY AND DISASTER RELATED MEDICAL EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIESApproved Nov 25, 2008
  4. Allstar Fire Equipment, Inc.$15,062,768
    BUNKER GEAR (REFERENCE CONTRACT WITH ORANGE COUNTY FIRE AUTHORITY B01020)Approved Oct 3, 2012
  5. Air One Equipment Inc$12,976,840
    994831: SAFETY AND TECHNICAL RESCUE EQUIPMENTApproved Jul 24, 2020

Sources

Pay figures are base pay only — no overtime, benefits, or pension costs. Medians are the middle record of the ordered list, computed over employees with that pay field filled in.

Related pages

Department of Water ManagementDepartment of Streets and SanitationChicago Department of AviationChicago Department of TransportationChicago Public LibraryDepartment of Fleet and Facility ManagementAll City of Chicago salariesSearch every employee by name or titleCity job titlesPay ranges for each titleCity vendorsWho the city buys from

Chicago Fire Department FAQ

How many people work for the Chicago Fire Department?
The City of Chicago's payroll extract lists 4,780 employees in the Chicago Fire Department. The city republishes the extract periodically, so the figure moves as people are hired and leave.
What does the Chicago Fire Department pay?
Median pay for salaried employees in the Chicago Fire Department is $122,376 a year, and the average is $129,517. These are base pay figures — they do not include overtime, benefits, or pension costs.
What jobs does the Chicago Fire Department employ?
The most common job titles in the Chicago Fire Department are Firefighter-Emt, Firefighter-Emt (Recruit), Lieutenant-Emt, Fire Engineer-Emt, Paramedic. The full list of titles in the department, with headcount for each, is ranked on this page.
How much has the Chicago Fire Department awarded in contracts?
The city's contracts dataset records 2,229 contract actions naming the Chicago Fire Department, totaling $591,830,425 in award amounts. That total is a net figure: revisions and de-obligations are recorded as negative award amounts, so it is not the same as total spending.