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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Emergency Management Directors Salary: Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI vs Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA

Emergency Management Directors earn a median of $92,010 in Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI and $127,200 in Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA. That is a nominal gap of $35,190 (-27.7%), with Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$92,010
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI median
$91,737 after COL
$127,200
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA median
$119,502 after COL
-27.7%
Nominal gap
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA leads
-23.2%
Adjusted gap
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA pays $35,190 more per year than Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI for emergency management directors, a gap of +27.7%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA still comes out ahead, with roughly $27,765 of extra purchasing power (+23.2% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for emergency management directors in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Emergency Management Directors

Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI

Median salary
$92,010
Mean salary
$99,120
Employment
60
Location quotient
0.42
Jobs per 1,000
0.0
COL-adjusted median
$91,737
Regional Price Parity
100.3%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Emergency Management Directors page for Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI →

Emergency Management Directors

Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA

Median salary
$127,200
Mean salary
$129,200
Employment
70
Location quotient
0.52
Jobs per 1,000
0.0
COL-adjusted median
$119,502
Regional Price Parity
106.4%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Emergency Management Directors page for Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA →

Related pages

Keep digging into emergency management directors from a different angle.

Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a metro specializes in.