Which Florida fire science program has the lowest debt?

Indian River State College reports the lowest median federal debt, $5,500, with first-year pay of $47,206.

How much do fire science graduates earn in Florida?

The median across 10 Florida fire science certificate programs is $46,952 in the first year after graduating and $68,028 five years after.

How many fire science certificate programs are in Florida?

10 Florida programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 5 of them also report federal debt.

Fire Science (Certificate) Programs in Florida, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

10 programs report first-year pay
5 also report federal debt
Certificate in Fire Protection

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Florida fire science certificate program pays its graduates $46,952 in their first year, $72 less than the national median. St Petersburg College reports the highest first-year pay ($55,829), and Indian River State College the lowest median debt ($5,500).

Median first-year pay$46,952National $47,024

Median pay after 5 years$68,028National $59,262

Median federal debt$9,557National $9,557

Debt-to-earnings17%National 18%

All 10 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	St Petersburg CollegeSt. Petersburg · public	$55,829	Not reported	$9,557	17%
2	Northwest Florida State CollegeNiceville · public	$52,856	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
3	Hillsborough CollegeTampa · public	$50,331	$68,028	$14,735	29%
4	Florida State College at JacksonvilleJacksonville · public	$49,810	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
5	Indian River State CollegeFort Pierce · public	$47,206	$54,187	$5,500	12%
6	Palm Beach State CollegeLake Worth · public	$46,698	$68,973	$18,971	41%
7	Daytona State CollegeDaytona Beach · public	$42,696	$52,443	$6,945	16%
8	George Stone Technical CollegePensacola · public	$39,560	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
9	Marion Technical College (Florida)Ocala · public	$37,678	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
10	Lake Technical CollegeEustis · public	$33,942	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported

5 programs report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every Florida fire science program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Florida medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 5 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

St Petersburg College$55,829
Northwest Florida State College$52,856
Hillsborough College$50,331
Florida State College at Jacksonville$49,810
Indian River State College$47,206

Lowest median debt

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

Careers this field leads to

These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to fire science, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Firefighters

$58,550

Median pay in Florida. 24,570 people work in this job in Florida. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 26,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: postsecondary nondegree award.

Bottom 10%: $37,260Top 10%: $93,310

First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers

$98,560

Median pay in Florida. 9,540 people work in this job in Florida. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 6,600 openings a year. Typical education to start: postsecondary nondegree award, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $62,520Top 10%: $133,450

Fire Inspectors and Investigators

$75,660

Median pay in Florida. 1,060 people work in this job in Florida. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 1,600 openings a year. Typical education to start: postsecondary nondegree award, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $51,990Top 10%: $105,540

Forest Fire Inspectors and Prevention Specialists

$51,690

Median pay in Florida. 100 people work in this job in Florida. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 13% from 2025 to 2035, with about 400 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $45,610Top 10%: $73,240

Common questions

St Petersburg College in St. Petersburg reports the highest median first-year pay, $55,829. Its median federal debt is $9,557.

Fire Science (Certificate) programs in the US, ranked25 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Florida rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the fire science certificate programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024