Pay and Benefits
Pay
Austin-Travis County EMS offers a competitive salary structure for our medics throughout their careers. Our medics are currently among the highest-paid in the state of Texas. Read through our list of benefits and see what makes us one of the top EMS agencies in the country.
Austin-Travis County EMS offers a competitive salary structure for our medics throughout the lifetime of their career. Our medics are currently some of the highest paid in the state of Texas. We are a 3rd service provider in the City of Austin, so EMS is offered a variety of City employee benefits as outlined on this page. Read through our list of benefits and see what makes us one of the top EMS agencies in the country.
Salary
Medic wages are set by the Meet and Confer Agreement between the Austin-Travis County EMS Employees Association and The City of Austin. Currently, our new agreement became effective on October 1, 2024, and is a four-year contract.
View current pay scale.
Cadet and Direct Hire Pay
All newly hired Cadet-Field and Cadet-Communications employees will be paid $23.61 an hour based on a 42-hour work week during the Academy.
Direct Hire Clinical Specialist - Field & Communications employees will be paid immediately upon hire at the base pay step $32.17 an hour based on a 42-hour work week. If a Paramedic candidate has verified experience of 2 or more years of full-time work experience in a 911 EMS system, they will be eligible to be paid at the 2 year pay step $33.46 an hour based on a 42-hour work week.
- Upon graduation from the Academy, cadets will transition to a Medic-Field or Medic-Communications pay schedule based on a 42-hour work week. All newly graduated Medics will start at a base pay rate of $25.97 per hour.
- Direct Hire Clinical Specialist - Field & Communications cadets will graduate and will resume the Clinical Specialist title and pay that was offered at hire: base pay or pay with experience.
In addition to base salary, Austin-Travis County EMS offers several forms of incentive pay to qualifying medics. These pay incentives are stackable (medics may qualify for more than one pay incentive at a time). Below is a list of our most common pay incentives:
- Bilingual Translation Pay $150/month
- Education Incentive Pay
- Bachelor's degree $220/month
- Master's degree $300/month
- Special Operations Qualified Pay $175/month
- Qualified Aeromedical Communications Specialist Pay $175/month
Benefits
Health, dental and retirement benefits will begin on the first day of the EMS Cadet Academy. Austin-Travis County EMS employees are eligible to enroll in the following benefits:
- Medical
- Vision
- Dental
- Life insurance
- Short term disability
- Long term disability
- FLEXTRA Health Care
- FLEXTRA Dependent Care
- Group Legal Plan
- Wellness Program
- Employee Assistance Program
- Childcare Programs
- Commuter Program
- Retirement (mandatory)
- Tuition Reimbursement: Up to $3,000 per year
- Deferred Compensation
Additionally, the following four types of coverage are offered at no cost to the employee:
- CDHP with HSA (employee only)
- Dental (employee only)
- Basic life insurance
- Short term disability
Medical Benefits
A Consumer Driven Health Plan (CDHP) with Health Savings Account (HSA) is offered at no cost for employee only coverage. PPO and HMO medical plans are also offered, with contributions made by the employee per pay period (every two weeks) as follows:
| Coverage type | CDHP with HSA | PPO | HMO |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employee only | $0.00 | $5.00 | $10.00 |
| Employee & spouse/domestic partner | $91.78 | $191.12 | $196.12 |
| Employee & children | $45.52 | $140.80 | $145.80 |
| Employee & family or domestic partner & children | $211.08 | $320.87 | $325.87 |
Other benefits
- Vacation Leave: 7.50 hours accrued per pay period (24 pay periods)
- Sick Leave: 7.16 hours accrued per pay period (24 pay periods)
- Exceptional (City observed Holiday) Leave: 8.4 hours accrued
- Personal Holiday: 16 hours annually
- Military Leave: 15 days annually (126 hours)
- Emergency Leave: 3 days (12 hours per day) for immediate family
- Paid Parental Leave
- Uniforms and associated equipment provided, including ballistic gear and bunker gear
For a complete list of benefits, please visit the Austin Human Resources website.
Shift Schedules
Field Shift Schedules
Austin-Travis County EMS serves a population of over two million citizens and over 1,300 square miles, including most of Travis County and parts of Williamson and Hays Counties. ATCEMS operates 42 full-time ambulances and 8 Peak Load Units (PLUs). The 8 PLUs ambulances are assigned to a 12-hour shift schedule starting at 09:30. The remaining 42 ambulances are on a 24/72-hour shift schedule. Below are samples of our 12 and 24 hour shift schedules.
Medic-Field positions are classified as an "essential" position and employees will be required to work during holidays and bad weather (ice storms, flooding, etc.) when the City is otherwise closed.
Sample 12 Hour Shift
12-hour shifts begin at 9:30 a.m. for all shifts.
On-call assignments are based on the employee’s assigned work shift. For example, individuals working a 12-hour day shift schedule will be on-call for 12 hours during the day. During this time, you will be compensated at $5.00/hr on-call pay. In the event that you are called in while on-call, you will be compensated at an overtime rate for any time worked while called in and for any hours over 40 hours for the week.
Sample 24 Hour shift
24-hour shifts are on a 24/72hr rotation and begin at 10:00 a.m.
On-call assignments are based on the employee’s assigned work shift. For example, individuals working a 24-hour schedule in field operations will have an on-call shift on a pre-determined rotation once every 28 days. During this time, you will be compensated at $5.00/hr. on-call pay. In the event that you are called in while on-call, you will be compensated at an overtime rate for any time worked while called in and for any hours over 40 hours for the week.
Communications Shift Schedules
Austin-Travis County EMS serves a population of over two million citizens and over 1,300 square miles, including most of Travis County, parts of Williamson and Hays Counties. Below is a sample of our 24/72-hour shift schedule.
Medic-Communications positions are classified as an "essential" position and employees will be required to work during holidays and bad weather (ice storms, flooding, etc.) when the City is otherwise closed
Communications Sample 12 Hour Shift
24-hour shifts are on a 24/72hr rotation and begin at 10:00 a.m.
On-call assignments are based on the employee’s assigned work shift. For example, individuals working a 24-hour schedule in communications will have an on-call shift on their middle day off after every 8th shift. During this time, you will be compensated at $5.00/hr. on-call pay. In the event that you are called in while on-call, you will be compensated at an overtime rate for any time worked while called in and for any hours over 40 hours for the week.