Fire Department Grants by State: Where AFG, SAFER and FP&S Money Went, FY2015 to FY2024

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Fire department grants by state: the FY2015 to FY2024 grant index

Per resident and per department give different leaders, so the index averages the two. Small northeastern states with city departments and Sun Belt states with large career departments score high; rural Plains and Mountain states score low.

The index answers a simple question: how much department-directed federal fire grant money (AFG plus SAFER) reached each state from FY2015 to FY2024, relative to its population and to its number of registered fire departments? A score of 100 is the 50-state and DC level of $2.44 per resident and $30,811 per registered department per year, in 2025 dollars.

Rhode Island ranks first with a score of 661. Its 68 registered departments drew $157.4 million in 2025 dollars over ten years, mostly SAFER staffing money for city departments; the City of Providence alone recorded $35.9 million in SAFER obligations. Arizona (318), Florida (303), Massachusetts (272) and Hawaii (238) follow.

At the other end, Utah (39), Arkansas (40), New Mexico (41), South Dakota (48) and North Dakota (54) score lowest. Texas ranks 41st with a score of 60: its $365.2 million total is the seventh largest, but spread over the second-largest population and 1,530 registered departments it comes to $1.11 per resident and $22,999 per department a year. See Texas fire code requirements and the state's department mix in volunteer fire departments by state.

Per resident or per department: two readings of the same grant dollars

States with many small volunteer departments look poorly served per department and average per resident; states with few large departments look the opposite. Neither denominator alone is fair, which is why the index blends them.

Per resident, the top five are Rhode Island ($14.05), West Virginia ($5.66), Massachusetts ($5.18), Arizona ($4.39) and Tennessee ($4.36). West Virginia shows how the two readings diverge: it is second per resident but only $23,370 per registered department, because its 428 departments are mostly small volunteer companies.

Per department, Florida ($154,629), Arizona ($140,519) and Hawaii ($132,492) rank near the top because they have few, large departments. North Dakota ($5,395), South Dakota ($6,002) and Arkansas ($6,507) rank lowest per department; those states have 92.0%, 91.8% and 84.2% all-volunteer departments in the registry.

Registered department: A fire department listed in the U.S. Fire Administration's National Fire Department Registry. Registration was voluntary and the registry stopped taking updates in June 2026, so counts are a floor.

Large states sit in the middle. California scores 185 with $1.94 per resident; New York scores 70 with $1.75 per resident and $21,201 per department; Georgia scores 90 and North Carolina 79. State pages for Florida and New York cover the local inspection rules these departments enforce.

Staffing grants versus equipment grants: program mix by state

SAFER pays salaries for several years, so each award is large and concentrated in departments with career staff. AFG buys equipment, vehicles and training in smaller pieces spread across many departments. The mix in each state follows its staffing model.

Across the 50 states and DC, SAFER made up 49.7% of real fire grant dollars from FY2015 to FY2024, AFG 45.4% and FP&S 4.9%. In SAFER-heavy states the money goes to fewer, larger recipients: Florida (77.1% SAFER), Nevada (76.5%), Texas (70.1%) and Arizona (69.7%).

AFG-heavy states are those with many volunteer departments: Vermont (94.5% AFG), Alabama (84.8%), Mississippi (82.4%) and West Virginia (77.3%). Pennsylvania, with the most registered departments, drew $363.3 million in AFG money, more than any other state.

The law sets the split inside AFG. Under 15 U.S.C. 2229(h), at least 25% of AFG funds must go to career departments, at least 25% to volunteer departments, at least 25% to combination and paid-on-call departments, at least 10% to open competition, and at least 10% to FP&S. For SAFER, 15 U.S.C. 2229a reserves 10% of hiring funds for volunteer or mostly volunteer departments.

Assistance to Firefighters Grant and SAFER totals since FY2001, adjusted for inflation

Nominal fire grant budgets have been close to flat for a decade, which means real money has fallen. Award obligations peaked with one-time money in FY2009 and FY2021 and reached a series low in FY2024.

OpenFEMA's fire grant records start in FY2005. In 2025 dollars, obligations were $1,121.6 million that year and $699.9 million in FY2024, a 37.6% decline. Two spikes interrupt the slide: FY2009, when the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act added $204.9 million in fire station construction grants, and FY2021, when $299.9 million in supplemental awards lifted the year to $1,258.1 million.

For FY2001 to FY2004, before the open data begins, the Congressional Research Service's appropriations table fills the gap. The program started with $100 million in FY2001, rose to $745 million in FY2003 and $746 million in FY2004, and has not returned to that level. In 2025 dollars, FY2003's appropriation equals $1,304 million; the FY2025 appropriation of $648 million is 50.3% lower, and 26.4% lower than FY2019's $881 million.

Most fire grants are small; a few staffing awards are very large

Half of all fire grant awards are under about $100,000, but the dollars sit in the top tenth. That pattern is driven by SAFER, whose multi-year salary awards to city departments reach tens of millions.

Across the three programs, the median award from FY2015 to FY2024 was $102,151 and the 90th percentile $591,428. The largest 10% of awards account for 60.8% of the dollars. For AFG, 54.3% of awards were under $100,000 and only 1.1% reached $1 million; for SAFER, 31.8% reached $1 million.

The ten largest award records are all SAFER awards to large city departments. The City of Phoenix appears four times and the City of Memphis three times; Oakland, Boston and Philadelphia complete the list. These amounts are obligations as recorded in OpenFEMA and can differ from the award amounts FEMA announces.

Volunteer, career and single-station departments: who wins awards

OpenFEMA does not record department type or size, so we matched recipient names to the USFA registry. On the matched share of dollars, volunteer departments win many small AFG awards while career departments take most SAFER money.

We matched 58.6% of AFG dollars and 66.2% of SAFER dollars to a single registered department in the same state. Among matched awards, all-volunteer departments received 36.5% of AFG dollars and all-career departments 37.0%, close to the 31% and 35% that GAO reported for FY2014 (as summarized by CRS). SAFER is different: all-career departments received 68.3% of matched SAFER dollars and all-volunteer departments 4.9%.

Single-station departments, a practical proxy for small departments, are 67.6% of registered departments and received 39.6% of matched AFG dollars. Their median matched AFG award was $74,775, against $127,815 for all-career departments. Over ten years, at least 43.8% of all-volunteer departments and 58.7% of all-career departments matched one or more awards.

Fire prevention and code enforcement money: the FP&S share

FP&S is the only fire grant stream aimed at preventing fires rather than responding to them, and it is the part closest to building owners: code enforcement, community risk reduction and public education. It is also the smallest.

FP&S received 4.9% of FY2015 to FY2024 fire grant dollars. By statute at least 10% of AFG funds go to FP&S, and the FY2025 FP&S program's $32.4 million equals 10% of the $324 million AFG appropriation. Allowed uses listed in 15 U.S.C. 2229(d) start with enforcing fire codes and promoting compliance with fire safety standards; each award is capped at $1.5 million.

FEMA's FP&S award list separates prevention activity from research. From FY2019 to FY2025, prevention activity awards in the 50 states and DC totaled $190.99 million across 677 awards. Maryland led with $35.50 million across 44 awards, most of it to national fire service organizations and a university based there; Virginia, also home to national groups, received $15.68 million. Maine and North Dakota had no FP&S activity awards in those seven years.

Prevention grants support the inspection and code programs described in fire code adoption by state. Building owners cannot apply directly: FY2025 FP&S eligibility covers fire departments and national, state, local, tribal and nonprofit organizations recognized for fire prevention expertise.

What the grant map means for building owners and facility managers

Federal grants are a small part of fire department budgets, but they pay for staffing and equipment that shape response capacity. They do not change what a building must do to comply with the fire code.

• SAFER money adds or keeps firefighters; in FY2025, 124 hiring awards were worth $285.5 million, 88.1% of SAFER dollars.
• AFG money is mostly equipment, vehicles and training in awards near the $89,204 median, spread across thousands of departments.
• FP&S money funds local code enforcement and risk reduction programs that can change how often inspectors visit, but it is 4.9% of the total.
• Response times depend on staffing and distance more than on grants; see fire department response times.

Inspection and testing duties stay with the owner regardless of how a local department is funded, as adopted by your state. The state and local rules are summarized in the fire code adoption report and on state pages such as Florida and Texas.

Key findings

1. From FY2015 to FY2024, AFG, SAFER and FP&S obligations to the 50 states and DC totaled $8.78 billion in 2025 dollars ($7.24 billion nominal) across 23,907 award records (OpenFEMA, refreshed June 4, 2026).^[1][15]
2. AFG and SAFER together averaged $2.44 per resident per year and $30,811 per registered fire department per year across the 50 states and DC, FY2015 to FY2024, in 2025 dollars.^[1][14][16]
3. Rhode Island received the most AFG and SAFER money per resident, $14.05 a year from FY2015 to FY2024; Utah received the least, $0.77, a gap of 18.2 times.^[1][14]
4. Per registered department, Rhode Island ($230,256 a year), Florida ($154,629) and Arizona ($140,519) led from FY2015 to FY2024, while North Dakota ($5,395) and South Dakota ($6,002) trailed.^[1][16]
5. California received the largest state total from FY2015 to FY2024, $798.6 million in 2025 dollars, followed by Florida at $614.1 million and Pennsylvania at $534.8 million.^[1]
6. SAFER staffing grants made up 49.7% of real fire grant dollars to the 50 states and DC from FY2015 to FY2024, AFG 45.4% and FP&S 4.9%.^[1]
7. SAFER was 77.1% of Florida's fire grant dollars and 70.1% of Texas's from FY2015 to FY2024, while AFG was 94.5% of Vermont's and 84.8% of Alabama's.^[1]
8. In 2025 dollars, national fire grant obligations fell 37.6%, from $1,121.6 million in FY2005 to $699.9 million in FY2024.^[1][15]
9. Firefighter assistance appropriations peaked at $745 million in FY2003, equal to $1,304 million in 2025 dollars; the FY2025 appropriation of $648 million is 50.3% lower in real terms.^{[13][8][9][15]}
10. The median AFG award from FY2015 to FY2024 was $89,204 and the 90th percentile $373,913; the median SAFER award was $507,957 and the 90th percentile $3,056,897.^[1]
11. All ten of the largest fire grant award records from FY2015 to FY2024 were SAFER awards to large cities, led by the City of Phoenix's FY2021 award of $43,939,200 (EMW-2021-FF-00266).^[1]
12. Among awards matched to the USFA registry, all-volunteer departments (69.9% of registered departments) received 36.5% of AFG dollars and all-career departments (9.6%) received 37.0%, FY2015 to FY2024.^[1][16]
13. At least 46.8% of registered fire departments in the 50 states and DC (5,313 matched by name) received one or more AFG, SAFER or FP&S awards from FY2015 to FY2024.^[1][16]
14. FP&S prevention activity grants, excluding research, totaled $190.99 million across 677 awards in the 50 states and DC from FY2019 to FY2025; Maine and North Dakota recorded none.^[7]

Summary for decision makers

• FEMA's three fire grant programs obligated $8.78 billion in 2025 dollars ($7.24 billion nominal) to the 50 states and DC across 23,907 award records from FY2015 to FY2024.
• Staffing money now outweighs equipment money: SAFER took 49.7% of real dollars, AFG 45.4% and Fire Prevention and Safety (FP&S) 4.9%.
• On our grant index (US = 100), Rhode Island scores 661, Arizona 318 and Florida 303; Utah (39), Arkansas (40) and New Mexico (41) score lowest.
• In 2025 dollars, annual obligations fell from $1,121.6 million in FY2005 to $699.9 million in FY2024, the lowest year in the series.
• The FY2025 appropriation of $648 million is 50.3% below the FY2003 level after inflation.
• The typical AFG award is small (median $89,204), while SAFER awards have a median of $507,957; the largest 10% of awards hold 60.8% of the dollars.
• All-volunteer departments are 69.9% of registered departments but received 36.5% of matched AFG dollars and 4.9% of matched SAFER dollars.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides, services and research

• Fire departments by state
• Fire code by state
• Fire department response times
• Fire Department Response Time in 8 U.S. Cities
• Volunteer Fire Departments by State
• Fire Extinguisher Recalls and Smoke Alarm Recalls
• Fire Extinguisher Inspection Cost

Methodology

Selection: the primary dataset is FEMA's OpenFEMA NonDisasterAssistanceFirefighterGrants v1 file, downloaded in full as CSV on 2026-11-01 (77,925 records; last data refresh June 4, 2026). We kept the 66,845 records whose program name is Assistance to Firefighters Grants, SAFER, Fire Prevention and Safety (each including supplemental rounds) or the FY2009 ARRA Station Construction Grants, and dropped the other preparedness programs (port, transit, homeland security and similar), which the dataset itself says should be treated separately.

Counting rules: every record is counted once, by fiscal year and by the recipient state field (vendorState). FEMA's own caveat applies: award amount by state does not mean the state government received the money. The award amount is the obligated amount and can change until closeout; zero and negative records (494 in FY2015 to FY2024) are deobligations and are kept in dollar totals but excluded from award counts and size statistics. Territories are in national totals but not in state tables.

Inflation: amounts are converted to 2025 dollars with the BLS CPI-U U.S. city average annual average (series CUUR0000SA0, period M13) from the BLS flat file. Federal fiscal years run October to September, so using calendar-year averages is an approximation.

Denominators: July 1, 2025 state population from the Census Bureau Vintage 2025 file, applied to every year of the FY2015 to FY2024 window; registered departments from the USFA National Fire Department Registry final file (last updated June 11, 2026), as counted in our report on fire departments by state. The index uses AFG and SAFER only because FP&S includes research and national program grants that are not money for the recipient state's departments.

Department matching: OpenFEMA has no department type or size field. We normalized recipient names and registry names (lowercase, punctuation removed, generic words such as fire, department, volunteer, city and county removed, registry names also truncated to 40 characters) and accepted only exact matches that point to a single registered department in the same state. This matched 58.6% of AFG dollars, 66.2% of SAFER dollars and 10.9% of FP&S dollars. Shares by department type use matched dollars only and the registry type as of 2026.

FY2025 and FP&S detail: OpenFEMA has no FY2025 fire awards yet, so FY2025 SAFER and FP&S figures come from the CSV exports on FEMA's SAFER and FP&S award pages, which tag SAFER hiring versus recruitment and FP&S activity versus research. FEMA's AFG export requires a browser-side batch job and was not used. Export figures are announced award amounts and can differ from OpenFEMA obligations (FY2024 SAFER: $324.0 million on FEMA's list, $354.6 million in OpenFEMA).

Conflicts and gaps: where FEMA's announced amounts and OpenFEMA obligations differ, state and trend tables use OpenFEMA; FY2025 statements use FEMA's list and fact sheets. Appropriations come from CRS RL32341 Table 2 (FY2001 to FY2019) and FEMA's FY2025 fact sheets; FY2020 to FY2024 appropriations are left out because we did not open an official table for them. Statutory set-asides are summarized from 15 U.S.C. 2229 and 2229a; this is a data summary, not legal or grant-writing advice.

Last updated 2026-11-01. Scripts in scripts/ rebuild every table from the files in raw/.

This report presents published data with its limitations. It is not legal, engineering, financial or investment advice. Requirements depend on the code edition your state and local fire marshal have adopted; confirm with your authority having jurisdiction.

Sources, ranked by quality

Tier 1: primary and official sources (16)

• [1] FEMA. OpenFEMA NonDisasterAssistanceFirefighterGrants (v1), full CSV. FY2005 to FY2026 records; refresh 2026-06-04. Accessed 2026-11-01.
• [2] FEMA. OpenFEMA dataset page: Non-Disaster and Assistance to Firefighter Grants v1. Last data refresh 2026-06-04. Accessed 2026-11-01.
• [3] FEMA. OpenFEMA DataSets metadata record (openfema-15). Metadata as of 2026-11-01. Accessed 2026-11-01.
• [4] FEMA. Assistance to Firefighters Grants Program. Page updated 2026-09-30. Accessed 2026-11-01.
• [5] FEMA. Assistance to Firefighters Grants: awards table. Page updated 2026-10-01. Accessed 2026-11-01.
• [6] FEMA. SAFER awards table and CSV export. Awards FY2015 to FY2025; page updated 2026-09-30. Accessed 2026-11-01.
• [7] FEMA. Fire Prevention and Safety awards table and CSV export. Awards FY2018 to FY2025. Accessed 2026-11-01.
• [8] FEMA. Fiscal Year 2025 Assistance to Firefighters Grant Fact Sheet. FY2025 (May 2026). Accessed 2026-11-01.
• [9] FEMA. Fiscal Year 2025 SAFER Grant Program Fact Sheet. FY2025 (May 2026). Accessed 2026-11-01.
• [10] FEMA. Fiscal Year 2025 Fire Prevention and Safety Grants Program Fact Sheet. FY2025 (May 2026). Accessed 2026-11-01.
• [11] U.S. Code (via Legal Information Institute). 15 U.S.C. 2229, Firefighter assistance. Current text, as amended by P.L. 118-67 (2024). Accessed 2026-11-01.
• [12] U.S. Code (via Legal Information Institute). 15 U.S.C. 2229a, Staffing for adequate fire and emergency response. Current text, as amended by P.L. 118-67 (2024). Accessed 2026-11-01.
• [13] Congressional Research Service (via EveryCRSReport). Assistance to Firefighters Program: Distribution of Fire Grant Funding (RL32341, April 25, 2019). FY2001 to FY2019 (report dated 2019-04-25). Accessed 2026-11-01.
• [14] U.S. Census Bureau. State population estimates, Vintage 2025 (NST-EST2025-ALLDATA). July 1, 2025 estimates. Accessed 2026-11-01.
• [15] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. CPI-U, U.S. city average, all items (CUUR0000SA0), annual averages. 2001 to 2025 annual averages. Accessed 2026-11-01.
• [16] U.S. Fire Administration (FEMA). National Fire Department Registry, national download file. Registry file last updated 2026-06-11. Accessed 2026-11-01.

Tier 2: trade bodies, market research, company data (1)

• [17] Data.gov / DHS. Assistance To Firefighters Grants (catalog record). Dataset last updated 2025-01-02. Accessed 2026-11-01.

Tier 3: journalism and expert commentary (1)

• [18] Veoci. Fire Management Assistance Declarations follow the 80/20 rule. Declarations 1953 to 2014. Accessed 2026-11-01.