Reuters
Forest-fire inspectors and prevention specialists earn an average of $49,610 a year.
- Medical and protective-service workers save lives every day.
- Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we found the average annual salaries for 19 life-saving jobs around the country.
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Firefighters, paramedics, and nurses save and protect people's lives every day.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment Statistics program offers data on employment and wages across different occupations and industries.
We took a look at the average annual salaries, as reported by the BLS, for 19 medical and protective-service roles where saving lives is a part of the job.
Lifeguards tend to make a relatively low annual salary, while firefighters and police officers are well compensated on average. Surgeons are very highly paid.
Here are those occupations, ranked from lowest to highest average salary as of May 2018, the most recent period for which BLS data is available: