Who runs American EMS?
In some states a fire department answers the 911 call. In others it is a private ambulance company, a county service, or a hospital. This map shows it county by county, from the states' own licensing rosters.
Scroll to zoom · drag to pan · click a county
The model changes at county lines, not state lines, which is why this is drawn by county. The averages below come from state licensing rosters instead, so they answer “what share of agencies are fire-based”, not “who shows up here”.
25,104 agencies classified of 26,883 named, across 1,787 counties. 3,587 carry the state's own ownership label; the rest are read from the agency's name.
By state
State labels ownership
15 states · the roster carries the state’s own ownership field
Ownership read from agency names
23 states · roster exists, ownership inferred from names
Fire-station list, leans fire
6 states · no EMS roster, so fire share runs high
Not ranked
5 states · station list only, overstates fire; left out of national figures
AK, GA, MS, OH, TN
Show the numbers
agency counts and shares, every state
| State | Agencies | Fire-based | Private | Third service | Hospital |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IN | 1,197 | 73% | 14% | 11% | 1% |
| WA | 1,936 | 70% | 24% | 3% | 2% |
| VA | 1,323 | 66% | 25% | 8% | 0% |
| MA | 312 | 65% | 17% | 17% | 2% |
| RI | 78 | 64% | 36% | — | — |
| IL | 594 | 58% | 34% | 6% | 2% |
| NH | 366 | 55% | 42% | 3% | — |
| OK | 321 | 53% | 31% | 10% | 2% |
| PA | 1,501 | 53% | 40% | 5% | 2% |
| IA | 783 | 47% | 18% | 27% | 8% |
| AZ | 301 | 46% | 39% | 9% | 2% |
| CO | 281 | 45% | 36% | 14% | 4% |
| NC | 1,768 | 45% | 41% | 13% | 0% |
| MI | 285 | 45% | 39% | 10% | 6% |
| WY | 107 | 45% | 38% | 11% | 6% |
| UT | 131 | 43% | 33% | 17% | 2% |
| NY | 1,819 | 41% | 27% | 31% | 1% |
| MT | 258 | 41% | 33% | 12% | 14% |
| WI | 784 | 41% | 43% | 13% | 2% |
| OR | 116 | 41% | 52% | 3% | 2% |
| CA | 295 | 38% | 47% | 7% | 5% |
| NV | 101 | 31% | 49% | 11% | 7% |
| ID | 72 | 29% | 13% | 46% | 10% |
| MO | 536 | 28% | 38% | 22% | 11% |
| SC | 320 | 28% | 50% | 19% | 3% |
| LA | 67 | 26% | 49% | 11% | 13% |
| AL | 357 | 24% | 71% | 5% | 0% |
| KY | 247 | 20% | 45% | 32% | 1% |
| FL | 345 | 18% | 45% | 31% | 4% |
| TX | 749 | 15% | 52% | 18% | 9% |
| NE | 538 | 13% | 80% | 7% | — |
| NM | 123 | 12% | 75% | 8% | 1% |
| VT | 61 | 10% | 84% | 7% | — |
| AR | 124 | 9% | 67% | 18% | 5% |
| ME | 176 | 8% | 87% | 4% | — |
| MN | 485 | 7% | 76% | 4% | 11% |
| SD | 111 | 1% | 75% | 21% | 1% |
| ND | 131 | — | 97% | 2% | 2% |
| AKstation list only | 308 | 93% | 6% | 0% | — |
| CTfire-station source | 479 | 72% | 26% | 0% | 0% |
| DEfire-station source | 90 | 91% | 8% | — | — |
| GAstation list only | 1,477 | 84% | 4% | 12% | — |
| KSfire-station source | 228 | 27% | 29% | 42% | 1% |
| MDfire-station source | 543 | 89% | 7% | 4% | — |
| MSstation list only | 911 | 94% | 4% | 2% | 0% |
| NJfire-station source | 487 | 1% | 76% | 20% | 2% |
| OHstation list only | 1,769 | 93% | 4% | 2% | — |
| TNstation list only | 1,167 | 89% | 6% | 5% | — |
| WVfire-station source | 229 | — | 76% | 22% | 2% |
About this map
what the colors and shading mean
Colors: who provides 911 EMS
- Fire-based
- A fire department or fire district.
- Private
- An ambulance company or volunteer ambulance corps.
- Third service
- A county or city EMS agency that is not the fire department.
- Hospital
- A hospital or health system.
Shading: how sure we are
- Named
- A state or agency record names the provider for the county, or for its main towns. The only tier we treat as known.
- Confirmed biller
- A licensed ambulance service in the county bills mostly emergency transports (Medicare).
- Located here
- A licensed ambulance service is based in the county.
- Billing only
- Only Medicare billing points to it. The weakest signal.
Anything below Named is a lead, not a fact. Agencies are placed at their license address, so one covering many counties can be misplaced.
Known gaps
- AK, GA, MS, OH, TN publish no EMS roster. Their data comes from fire stations, so it overstates fire-based EMS. station list only, left out of national figures.
- CT, DE, KS, MD, NJ, WV list fire stations, with the same bias, milder. fire-station source
- Ownership is mostly guessed from the agency name, right about 53% of the time. National totals are more reliable than any single row.
This shows who holds the license, not quality or response times.
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Name the county and who answers its 911 calls. A link helps but is not required.