EMT Salary in Wisconsin 2026,
$43,060 Median | BLS Data by City

The published figure is $43,060 a year, or $20.70 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025 for SOC 29-2042, with a band from $33,550 at the 10th percentile to $60,910 at the 90th. That is 3.2% below the national median of $44,470. Every published Wisconsin metro pays above the state median, so a full-time metropolitan EMT position sits materially higher than the headline number.

Sheboygan, at $49,490, then Fond du Lac $49,160, Milwaukee-Waukesha $48,880, Appleton $47,130 and Eau Claire $46,440. Two smaller lakeshore and Fox Valley cities out-paying Milwaukee is the notable result: those services run full-time municipal positions on published scales while competing for a small local pool of licensed practitioners.

Complete an approved EMT course and examination, then obtain a licence from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services Emergency Medical Services Section, which credentials at the Emergency Medical Responder, EMT, Advanced EMT and Paramedic levels. Practice is authorised under the medical director of a licensed EMS service, so the working scope follows that service's approved protocols.

Because a large share of the state's EMS outside the metros is delivered by volunteer, paid-on-call and combination fire and rescue services. Where an EMT holds a part-time or on-call position rather than a full-time one, the annualised earnings that reach this row are low — which pulls the state median to $43,060 while Sheboygan, Fond du Lac, Milwaukee-Waukesha, Appleton and Eau Claire all sit above it.

On the numbers, substantially. The DHS EMS Section licenses the same practitioner ladder from Emergency Medical Responder through EMT and Advanced EMT to Paramedic, and Wisconsin's paramedic row carries a considerably higher median than the EMT row's $43,060. Advancing is a training and examination step within the same licensing system rather than a change of profession.

It splits the distribution. In much of rural Wisconsin, emergency medical services are provided by volunteer, paid-on-call or combination fire and rescue departments where an EMT responds from home for a stipend or an hourly call rate rather than working a scheduled full-time post. Those arrangements produce low annualised earnings on the OEWS row wherever they are captured at all, which is why the state median of $43,060 sits below every published metro. The metro figures — $46,440 to $49,490 — describe full-time employed EMS work, and they are the honest reference for anyone considering the occupation as a career rather than as community service.

Two. First, it is straight-time: BLS excludes overtime, and full-time municipal EMS in Wisconsin runs schedules where overtime is routine, so actual gross earnings commonly exceed the annualised band. Second, the row does not include the many firefighter-EMTs whose employers report them on firefighter rows, which removes a relatively well-paid segment of Wisconsin's emergency response workforce from this page. Read the $43,060 median as the wage of positions classified as EMT, not as the earnings of everyone doing EMT work in the state.

Licence level first: Advanced EMT and then Paramedic are steps on the same DHS EMS Section ladder and both price above the basic EMT credential. Employer type second — a full-time municipal or hospital-based service pays on a published scale with longevity steps, while private transport work generally does not. Third, roles that layer on responsibility without leaving practice: field training officer, scheduling, quality assurance, and EMS education, which is most of what the $60,910 ninetieth percentile represents.