Skip to content

An independent salary reference. Not affiliated with BLS or any U.S. government agency.

Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Emergency Management Directors Salary: Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL vs Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

Emergency Management Directors earn a median of $117,530 in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL and $153,910 in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV. That is a nominal gap of $36,380 (-23.6%), with Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 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.

$117,530
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL median
$102,957 after COL
$153,910
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV median
$141,352 after COL
-23.6%
Nominal gap
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV leads
-27.2%
Adjusted gap
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV pays $36,380 more per year than Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL for emergency management directors, a gap of +23.6%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV still comes out ahead, with roughly $38,396 of extra purchasing power (+27.2% 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

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL

Median salary
$117,530
Mean salary
$118,250
Employment
170
Location quotient
0.74
Jobs per 1,000
0.1
COL-adjusted median
$102,957
Regional Price Parity
114.2%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Emergency Management Directors page for Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL →

Emergency Management Directors

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

Median salary
$153,910
Mean salary
$146,670
Employment
300
Location quotient
1.17
Jobs per 1,000
0.1
COL-adjusted median
$141,352
Regional Price Parity
108.9%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Emergency Management Directors page for Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV →

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.