# AMR salary in Seattle?



## wilderness911 (Jan 28, 2016)

Hi EMTlifers,

I am flying up to Seattle next week for an interview with AMR. It's for a full time EMT basic position. I am looking into apartments and moving up there and was hoping to hear from a current AMR Seattle EMT about what I can expect to make (base salary, how much OT you usually get, what you can expect to earn annually) so I can figure out what my budget is for rent! I have dug through all the old threads on this topic but can't find anything from within the past year or two. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to PM me if you are not comfortable replying openly about salary. 

Thanks very much for your help!

Jordan


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## waaaemt (Jan 30, 2016)

AMR seattle starts brand new emts at $14.17 per hour. highest in the region for private ems. Typical shift is a 3/4 split. From what I'm told OT is either feast or famine. Holiday season is rough obviously for finding OT.


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## wilderness911 (Jan 30, 2016)

Thanks waaaemt, I was hoping you might chime in! So that's a 3/4 Kelly if I am reading you right? Didn't know that they ran 24h shifts up there, that is good for me. Appreciate you sharing the insight. PM me if you want a free beer next week while I am interviewing - I'll take you out if you let me pick your brain about life as an EMT up there!

Jordan


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## Drax (Jan 30, 2016)

Expect to live no where near in the big city on your EMT salary, unless you're working as many hours overtime as you are straight time.


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## wilderness911 (Jan 30, 2016)

Drax said:


> Expect to live no where near in the big city on your EMT salary, unless you're working as many hours overtime as you are straight time.



Dude, are you telling me that my plans to get rich through EMS are doomed to failure?!? Surely you jest. 

But in all seriousness, I'm in San Francisco right now...can't get any worse than it is here. 1575 to rent a room in an SRO full of violent sex offenders. Ridiculous.


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## NomadicMedic (Jan 30, 2016)

For 1500/month you can live decently in South King.


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## waaaemt (Feb 1, 2016)

wilderness911 said:


> Thanks waaaemt, I was hoping you might chime in! So that's a 3/4 Kelly if I am reading you right? Didn't know that they ran 24h shifts up there, that is good for me. Appreciate you sharing the insight. PM me if you want a free beer next week while I am interviewing - I'll take you out if you let me pick your brain about life as an EMT up there!
> 
> Jordan



Oh no I mean a 3/4 split with 12 hour shifts so like M, T, W every other Th or something along those lines.  The only 24s they have are the nurse cars. Not sure what kind of shift they work.. The only other places that do 24s are Northwest ambulance up in Marysville who actually pays the same as AMR and Olympic ambulance who pays like $10 an hour tops.


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## Drax (Feb 4, 2016)

DEmedic said:


> For 1500/month you can live decently in South King.



1500/Bi-Monthly you mean.


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## Drax (Feb 4, 2016)

wilderness911 said:


> Dude, are you telling me that my plans to get rich through EMS are doomed to failure?!? Surely you jest.
> 
> But in all seriousness, I'm in San Francisco right now...can't get any worse than it is here. 1575 to rent a room in an SRO full of violent sex offenders. Ridiculous.



What I'm saying is, don't hug so tightly onto the idea of working in Seattle, you can easily earn close to that wages and work in way more livable locations here. I recommend looking at Falck. Snohomish, King, and Pierce county.


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## Drax (Feb 4, 2016)

waaaemt said:


> Oh no I mean a 3/4 split with 12 hour shifts so like M, T, W every other Th or something along those lines.  The only 24s they have are the nurse cars. Not sure what kind of shift they work.. The only other places that do 24s are Northwest ambulance up in Marysville who actually pays the same as AMR and Olympic ambulance who pays like $10 an hour tops.



Just FYI, Falck has 24 hour shifts with Nurses and Medics in Pierce County. But yeah, like waaaemt is saying, you're not far from minimum wage on that schedule. Ultimately, I suggest 3/4 split and working back to back 12's (as your mind and body can tolerate) if you want to make decent money. Lot of guys around here are resident firefighters, so they've got a place to sleep in between shifts. Just a piece of advice, not sure what your goal in life is. Not many resident opportunities in King County (around Seattle).

How did your interview go?


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## wilderness911 (Feb 5, 2016)

Drax said:


> Just FYI, Falck has 24 hour shifts with Nurses and Medics in Pierce County. But yeah, like waaaemt is saying, you're not far from minimum wage on that schedule. Ultimately, I suggest 3/4 split and working back to back 12's (as your mind and body can tolerate) if you want to make decent money. Lot of guys around here are resident firefighters, so they've got a place to sleep in between shifts. Just a piece of advice, not sure what your goal in life is. Not many resident opportunities in King County (around Seattle).
> 
> How did your interview go?



Good advice, thanks Drax. Ultimate goal is to go for my MD but I'd like to do this for a couple of years and maybe do a bit of fire before I go in. As of right now the plan is to take things as they come and see where it leads me!

Interview went well - got a conditional offer of employment, pending drug test and background check. Really stoked for the opportunity to do some 911 work up here and relocate to the PNW. Thanks for the insight and advice guys!


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## Drax (Feb 5, 2016)

Nicely done, look beyond the rain up here or try to see it differently and you'll end up loving it.

Good luck to you and your future endeavors.


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## waaaemt (Feb 5, 2016)

Right on!  Be prepared to be treated like garbage my fire, police, King County medic one, hospital staff and your own company! Is this your first emt job or do you have some experience under your belt?


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## wilderness911 (Feb 5, 2016)

Drax said:


> Nicely done, look beyond the rain up here or try to see it differently and you'll end up loving it.
> 
> Good luck to you and your future endeavors.



Thank you, Drax. Good advice and nicely said. Appreciate the kind words! I have a girlfriend in Seattle so it's already got something going for it...


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## wilderness911 (Feb 5, 2016)

waaaemt said:


> Right on!  Be prepared to be treated like garbage my fire, police, King County medic one, hospital staff and your own company! Is this your first emt job or do you have some experience under your belt?



Hahaha. Spoken like a been there, done that kind of guy! I have been an EMT/Wilderness EMT since 2010 so it's not my first rodeo, but it will be my first gig with a 911 bls contract for a major metropolitan area. I have primarily worked in the remote medicine/wilderness medicine side for the past six years as a wilderness paramedic in and out of Africa, but since my wilderness paramedic training was done in Africa the cert is good for nothing out here. It will be back to the basics for me! Either way, a job is a job and I'm hoping it will have its good moments. I'm going to go either the MD or PA route, but since PA requires 2000 - 3000 clinical hours stateside this will at least take care of that requirement while I work out exactly which path to go down. Seems pretty clear though that if I want to not be broke forever it will be wise to begin the next phase of schooling in the next couple of years. Anyways, that's my story - thanks for the support and the insight you have thrown my way. Offer for beers still stands, if you are ever interested.


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## waaaemt (Feb 8, 2016)

wilderness911 said:


> Hahaha. Spoken like a been there, done that kind of guy! I have been an EMT/Wilderness EMT since 2010 so it's not my first rodeo, but it will be my first gig with a 911 bls contract for a major metropolitan area. I have primarily worked in the remote medicine/wilderness medicine side for the past six years as a wilderness paramedic in and out of Africa, but since my wilderness paramedic training was done in Africa the cert is good for nothing out here. It will be back to the basics for me! Either way, a job is a job and I'm hoping it will have its good moments. I'm going to go either the MD or PA route, but since PA requires 2000 - 3000 clinical hours stateside this will at least take care of that requirement while I work out exactly which path to go down. Seems pretty clear though that if I want to not be broke forever it will be wise to begin the next phase of schooling in the next couple of years. Anyways, that's my story - thanks for the support and the insight you have thrown my way. Offer for beers still stands, if you are ever interested.



Wow that's quite a resume you got! I'm sure your experience has been way more interesting than most of us here. But yea it's  really not the worst job ever, you'll get your legitimate calls and stuff. Sounds like you'll have it all figured out soon enough.  And I'm always open to the beer offer! Cant figure PMs on my phone so I'll leave that to you...


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